After 2 days of recovery---last post!

Greetings my friends,

After 2 days of recovery at home, catching up with Indy and friends, I thought I would finally make my last post for this trip.

First, I would like to thank my wife Cathy.  She is a saint to put up with me and my crazy dreams, like this trip.  She is a wonderful person, wife, mother and friend.  It was tough being away from her for almost a month.  Despite me being home, she is at Myrtle Beach until this Friday, along with Conor and Zach.  I can't wait to see her again late Friday. 

I also want to thank my kids and family for all their support.  It meant a lot to me to know they were paying attention to my trip via Facebook, Twitter and this blog.  It was nice to know they were with me during my trials and tribulations.

I thank everyone else who has gone for this ride with me and kept up with my silly postings and blog.  I originally thought it would be a good way for me to capture my thoughts on this epic journey and to stay in communication with a few people.  Turns out, I think quite of few followed me to Alaska and back.  That was cool to know as I was traveling.

So a few things I need to cover.

1. What clothes did I take with me?  I took 2 pairs of shorts, one pair of lightweight sweats, 1 long sleeved shirt, 3 t-shirts, one pair of jeans, 4 socks, 3 pair of underwear, bicycle shorts (what I wore under my riding pants), riding pants, rain pants, riding jacket, rain/electric coat, 2 pair of gloves and my trusty Shoei helmet.  I washed my clothes 3 times in laundry facilities and my biking shorts in the sink a few times too!
2. How much did I spend on fuel, rooms and food.  I don't have a total completed yet, but probably $2-3k.  Not bad for a major bucket list checkoff!
3. How's Red Velvet?  She is sitting in my garage recovering like I have been only I have showered a few times and not her. She suffered no damage that I know of.  I need to change the oil/filter and air filter.  The Heidenau tires I purchased in Calgary held up very well with about 7,500 miles, they look like they still have plenty of life left in them.  The slow leak in the front tire was cured with the fixaflat.  

So what's up with the title of my blog/trip?  For some reason, the book by Robert M. Persig called "Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance" has stuck with me for many years.  I think I was first turned on to the book in high school in English class by Mr. Queener or Mr. Powell.  I did not understand it that well then and some might debate how much I understand now.  The idea of the book is the debate on what is quality.  The book talks about this during a 14 day motorcycle journey of a father and soon across the US.  The book details two types of personalities: those who are interested mostly in gestalts (romantic viewpoints, such as Zen, focused on being "In the moment", and not on rational analysis), and those who seek to know the details, understand the inner workings, and master the mechanics (classic viewpoints with application of rational analysis, like motorcycle maintenance) and so on.   This idea has stuck with me for a long time and I have been interested in Zen for many other reasons.  Am I in the moment or want to know the details?

So the idea of the name of the trip comes from the book but also my idea that being able to achieve a big goal of riding to Alaska takes a Zen like approach and the attention to details, just to make it.
Sorta make sense?  Maybe not, either way the title makes sense to me.  I did this trip alone because that is how I wanted to do it.

Next up, wow we are very lucky to be alive and have all of the opportunities we do living in the US.  We should not forget this and take advantage of it.  Don't get stuck in the doldrums, get out and explore and set your goals for a journey.  What do I mean?  Get out and see our great national parks and the Canadian parks, like Banff and Jasper are spectacutlar too.  Everyone should make a similar journey some day.

The next time you are driving your car, truck, van, whatever and the urge to get on your phone to text or email....stop, don't do it.  Life is short.  I can't believe how many people I saw on their phones in some manner and they were not fully engaged in what they should have been, and that is driving.  It's scary when you see it and you are in your car...it's way scarier on a motorcycle.  Also, do pay attention to people on motorcycles, don't treat them like another car, truck, semi or whatever.  Give them plenty of space and respect.  I can't count how many people tailgating me on this trip 10 feet or less behind me.  It's not a good feeling to know you'll lose for sure if a sudden stop needs to be made.   Back up and give motorcycles space.  Also, if it is raining hard, dark, hailing, misting, etc., it's probably a good idea to stop texting and turn on your vehicle lights.

Somewhere along the way I started thinking of all the people I have ridden motorcycles with and it made me happy, happy, happy to do so!  I thought I would mention as many as I can think of, sort of a shout out to my riding brethren.

My dad, Ned Grewell, taught me to ride a motorcycle way back when, mastering a clutch, which was very mysterious way back when.  We have ridden on dirt and pavement and it all has meant a lot.  My best friend Scott Hoy and me have been riding together since the mid-80's.  He's a very methodical safe rider and I always have fun riding with him.  My BMW bud, Gary Stratton...he's taught me a lot about BMW's and ridden the most/furtherest with me...out to Calgary a number of years ago and also raced with me in the Buckeye Dual Sport 200 a few years ago.   All my childhood friends, like David Biddle (RIP), Scott Ehmann, Eric Seebach and many others from the Parkridge area riding what is now called Gantz Park.  Jesse Hopkins and his kids, Colin and Shaun, wow we had many great times riding on our dirt bikes and wrenching in Jesse's garage (master carb rebuilder).  Conor and Zach, some of my best memories with them is riding on our property in Licking County and tracks with the Hopkins.  The Whitt's clan (Terry, Terry Jr, Colin and Nate) riding the Hatfield McCoy trails, was always awesome.  My co-workers, Kyle Carroll, Leonard Issacs and John Boice---I aways have a blast riding with them.  Larry Macioce, who always seems to have a new bike and all of them have been way cool---and is fun to hang with.  My cousin Dave Warner, always fun and a cool rides.  My other cousin, Jimmy Albright, owner of Justified Defiance...a real hardcore bike builder and rider.  My Mothman rider buds (everyone above), plus Dave Clark, Tim and Pam Teeters, John & Andrea Kochensparger, Bill Bartram (Alaska rider himself), Kenny Caroll, Kory Caroll, Damian Macioce.  I am sure I have missed many others but I was doing this off of my 49 year old memory...I'm gonna forget people...so sorry.

So I had a blast and thanks for all the thoughts, prayers and encouragement, I could not have done it without you!