Today marks the third year since I murdered a deer with my motorcycle. Somehow I managed to survive with minimal injury. I feel very fortunate to be alive having lost a few friends to motorcycle wrecks months before, one of them also involving a deer. I was released from the hospital the next day and spent the following few days repairing the bike. I had started traveling in May, taking trips around the Midwest: Michigan, Oklahoma, Arkansas, Missouri, Lake of the Ozarks.
Three days after my accident I was supposed to leave for an annual trip to NC that I'd been taking since 2003. I still went with my friends Scrap and Jennifer, although the bike was on my buddy Scrap's trailer with his and Jen's. Originally we were all gonna ride down, as usual, but they wouldn't let me miss it and the trailer was the only option as I was not able to ride immediately after the collision. The bike was up to it, but I wasn't. I was still a little broken and hopped up on painkillers. I spent the week with some dear friends I'd made over the years since going to the Rider's Roost campground in Ferguson, NC.
After returning to IL a week after my accident, Jen and I hit the road, each on two wheels, heading to New Orleans to visit our friend Clint, then riding back up to IL to join my Flatlander brothers and ride to another annual meet in Muskegon, MI that I'd attended since 2009. After leaving MI we remained on the road until October, zigzagging our way across the western United States. We rode to twenty six states, close to 30,000 miles, that year. It was epic.
Today also marks the day that I'd usually be leaving for that NC meet at the Rider's Roost, but not this year. Circumstances have kept me "home" this time. I'm working toward changing those circumstances.
I am constantly reminded to live, to live life, and enjoy it. It's quite short in the broad scheme, and we only get one go at it. Make it count.
To quote a cheesy mass produced sign that you can buy at chain stores: "Live. Laugh. Love."
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