These are two things I’ve wanted to do ever since I can remember. So, that’s the simple answer. I don’t know when exactly I got bitten by these two bugs, but I am certain it was before the age of 12 for both.
A motorcycle was really a natural step up from my bicycle. While good exercise, and the only transportation under my control for many years, my bike was my vehicle for escape and exploration. But my legs could only carry me so many miles in one day, and I’ve always wanted to know what’s around that bend, down that dirt road, or over that rise. So, I would dream of the day when I had a motorcycle to take me farther. And then I’d dream of loading it up with a sleeping bag and extra clothes to go farther still.
Living where snow is an issue 3, 4, or in a bad year, 5 months of the year, a motorcycle must be a second vehicle. And when I could barely afford to keep a car on the road, a second vehicle was a luxury I couldn’t afford. Those who knew me in my salad days could argue successfully, that I didn’t really keep a car on the road. (My past self asserts, “Hey, they always passed inspection!” They were safe one or two weeks a year, or every 18 months if I could get away with it.) So, for years I had to satisfy the wanderlust with trips in a car or truck. Now, there are advantages to exploring from a car. I can chuck whatever I might ever possibly need into it, without worrying about volume or even organizing. A car can be slept in without a tent or a sleeping bag and the doors lock. You can haul even more stuff with a truck, and toss a mattress in the back to really stretch out.
But the exploring isn’t as satisfying somehow. I don’t feel nearly as connected to the environment I’m travelling through when I’m surrounded by a safety cage. The ability to carry anything I might need means I don’t have to plan so much. With all the resources with me, I don’t have to live off the land, so to speak. It’s a Zen thing. On two wheels, you have to remain solidly in the Here and the Now. Four wheels allows you to be a little bit lazy. You can check the map while moving, eat, drink and listen to the radio. But on two wheels, you have to be aware and deliberate. And there’s so little between you and the environment. So the desire for a motorcycle remained.
My other way of exploring the world is with a camera. With the camera, I must really see what’s around me to capture the feeling of what my mind perceives. Sometimes, I must explore to find a way to capture and communicate the beauty I see. And sometimes the exploration is just to see what’s there more deeply or in a new way.
Exploring the highways and byways of New England searching for photographs by car is even trickier than in my home state of New York. The roadways of Massachusetts are generally narrow, with a sad lack of shoulders and ditches, and trees perilously close to the road. There isn’t a whole lot of room to pull off the road when you spot that must-be-captured scene at just that golden moment. This makes a motorcycle a practical vehicle for the photographic explorer. But it does also make for more challenging motorcycling.
So, I’m off to explore. I’m not in search of the heart-stopping vista. The beautiful, the unique and the sublime can be found in the everyday and the ordinary. It may just be around the next bend. Sometimes I’m even lucky enough to find it.
