Does our frame of mind set the tone for our day, or is it the other way around…? Perhaps it’s other things like mood, health, weather, companions, or stress…? Probably some curious and varying combination of any two or more of those plus some others, I suppose. Like with so many things in life, there simply are no clear-cut, easy, black and white answers. Take my ride up to Springerville, AZ, the other day…
There I was riding along thinking to myself how happy I felt. Everywhere I cast my gaze, I saw only beauty, my Gerbings had neutralized the cold temps, so I wasn’t preoccupied with any physical distractions… The sun was hiding behind the few clouds, so, while everything seemed bright and cheery, there wasn’t any glare to take the edge off the views on such a wonderful cruise…
Heck, I didn’t even mind when we came to some road construction work, and we had to wait about twenty minutes for the pilot truck to return to lead the line of cars and trucks I was stuck in the middle of through. I just gave the key a little counter-clock-wise quarter turn and leaned back against that Russell backrest… and looked around!
I first rode that stretch of US HWY 70 east of Safford, AZ, back in 1993… on a Gold Wing. I hadn’t been all that impressed back then, but this day I was simply enthralled with all I beheld! It isn’t the most scenic part of the state by any means, but if one looks, there is much to see!
I recalled the San Carlos Apache Reservation we’d ridden through the other day between Globe and Safford… I thought about the mountains off in the distance and how unlike anything east of the Mississippi River they are! I also noticed rows of those very large bails of cotton recently harvested and brought to some marshalling area for shipment… Who knew there was this much grown in the desert? I had 'been there and done that' before, but…
I’d ridden through there several more times over the ensuing years, and each time I’d discovered something new… to me, anyway. Arizona itself is something my impression of has evolved greatly over the decades! On that initial visit, my reaction had been that I was glad I’d gone there and seen that interesting place, but also that I doubted I’d ever return! Particularly the southern part, and especially the southwestern area: It just seemed too inhospitable and ‘foreign’ to this fellow with an ‘eastern view’ of normalcy…
While I’ve still felt no urge to relocate out here, I do admit that prospect would not be hard to grab these days. Nothing out here has changed in terms of climate, terrain, and ‘hospitability’, but much indeed has changed! Those profound changes have all occurred within this diligent student of ‘us’. Perspective, more than anything else, has evolved, and it has grown considerably, the way I see it.
Much of my riding before retirement was done like so many other folks do their trips. Going somewhere on our ‘to do list’ precisely so we can see it for ourselves and tell others of our experiences… and, embarrassing to admit, also to brag about our adventures and demonstrate how cool we are…
That’s just the way things are done for some of us… We want to gain stature among our peers, appear cool and sophisticated when standing around the water cooler at work or at a cocktail party… Our egos lust for celebrity status!
Most of us riders also have a compelling curiosity about the world around us… some of us even have a very powerful urge to go out and see for ourselves what is out there and what there is to learn about ourselves, our fellow humans, our habitat, and life itself. Some of us even have an insatiable appetite for such things!
We travel to as many places as possible, always hurrying about and scurrying from one place to another… We crowd too much trip into a too little time slot, because we want to see as much as possible and broaden our perspectives as soon as we can… Being born with a ‘blank slate’ means we have many voids to fill-in during our brief time of life available, and time is a-wasting!
We escape our stressful routines, but we unwittingly apply stress in its place with over-reaching goals and aspirations; and, by hurrying so much, we invariably sacrifice some quality for quantity… at least I did for many years.
Well, I'm saying all of that to say this, my trips nowadays are altogether different and by far more enjoyable. I wouldn't take anything for all the memories of previous adventures; but, neither would I trade any of them for those of recent years!
And so it was that wonderful morning riding through some familiar yet unfamiliar territory! If it can get any better, I wouldn't know, because I've never experienced it!!! So, what was it that had set the tone and made that ride so fantastic? I guess I wouldn't know the precise answer to that either...
(Note: Click on photos to enlarge.)
Moon rise on the evening of Jan 1st '18 in southern Arizona
Sunrise Benson, AZ
First time on this road... AZ/NM SR 78... Glad we came!!!
Decided to skip the 'Polar Plunge' this time...
This guy probably would have taken the 'Plunge'!
DDT
