Doom! Disaster! Death! War! Earthquakes! Tornados and cyclones! Foreclosures! Economic peril! And $5 gas! Just look at those headlines! Omigosh, when will it all end?
Truth is, it will never end, because all this is just part of our human condition here on earth. The big problem that we have as human beings is trying to cope with it. So we ride on, riding our Harley-Davidson or other V-twin bike, relaxing with that rumbling V-twin staccato, with the wind against us, enjoying the journey, maybe with a destination...or maybe not.
We have options, we Harley riders, and some of us will drive SUVs hauling trailers, or motorhomes, and we may even use a toy hauler with slide-outs, all while getting, perhaps, 8 or 10 or 12 miles per gallon. Our hearts—and our wallets—sink at the pump, reminding us of today’s woes.
Then we mount our V-twin-powered motorcycles, point the front wheel down the road, and end up thousands of miles away after spending $100 instead of $400 on gas. Ah! Life is good.
That’s only the first part of our journey, that 1,000- or 2,000-mile trip, because then we stop and shop, spend some cash on T-shirts and maybe some little doodads, maybe even some pinstriping on the bike or a tattoo on our arm, or on our girlfriend’s arm. We have the extra cash from—now this is wonderful—enjoying ourselves on the open road on our V-twins.
I was alerted to this prospect at the Laughlin River Run, held April 23-27 of this year. I noticed that, right along the banks of the mighty Colorado River and despite all the economic doomsday reports, Harley riders were out in the middle of this arid region of 90-degree heat, spending cash and enjoying themselves.
I would not have imagined that all these economic pressures—the foreclosures, the financial hardships, the high price of gasoline—even existed as I watched biker dudes and dudettes pulling out their wallets and purses to hand cash across the counter to merchants peddling their wares. It was business as usual, all in what would otherwise appear to be a world of catastrophic meltdown.
We all have the means of temporarily escaping our troubled world by just getting out on the road, traveling to events and rallies, enjoying our Harleys one day at a time. So let’s do just that. I say, “ride on!”
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