I have been riding my motorcycle across over 100 countries for nearly twenty years, and I have spent a lot of time thinking about the moments that almost didn’t happen. The stranger who waved me over for food, and I almost kept riding. The table that ran late in a way I almost escaped. The […]
It’s 2:27 in the morning on a Saturday night in Austin, Texas. The crowd has cleared out. The band has packed up. And Ramsay Midwood and I sit in a dark corner of Sam’s Town Point — talking. I’d been listening to Ramsay’s music for five or six years before I ever made it down there. Found […]
Which Way Are You Turning? On opening up, closing down, and the signs we drive past without stopping Somewhere on a road in Alaska, I drove past a hand-painted sign outside a modest house. It said something like Meet Mr. Alaska. An invitation. But I kept riding. I’ve been wondering about that man ever since. […]
Eat The Beets A starting point for anyone who’s been deciding in advance. Because trying something new makes your world bigger. After I posted my last article, “Eat the Beets: Or Stay Stuck With Who You Used To Be,” something unexpected happened. Texts came in. Emails. From people I know and — this is […]
Eat the Beets Or stay stuck with who you used to be. At a formal dinner, a man in a tuxedo pushed his plate away as if it had offended him personally. “I hate beets,” he said. The dish didn’t look offensive. Quite the opposite. It was beautifully constructed — roasted golden and red beets […]
The Good Stuff Takes Its Time. We weren’t buried in snow. Not yet. The mountain gave us enough. A few solid runs. By late afternoon our thighs were burning and all three of us had our sights set on a chair, a decent restaurant, something worth eating — and for me, something worth drinking. Three […]
Last night wasn’t about miles ridden or borders crossed. It was about time. Eighty-five years old. Onstage. Live Jorma Kaukonen. Founder member of Jefferson Airplane and Hot Tuna. Inducted into the Rock n’ Roll Hall of Fame thirty years ago. The original. The real thing. Still playing like that. I’ve been a fan of Jorma […]
How curiosity fights the fear that keeps us stuck Several years ago I flew up to the Pacific Northwest to join my client, Mike, for a company retreat. He picked me up at the airport in a rental car, we tossed my bag in the back, and I asked the obvious question. “Where’s the retreat?” […]
Southwest Airlines ends open seating. I raise a hand. Not in mourning. I’m a traveler. I just don’t always look like one. Most days at home in San Diego, my motorcycle collects more dust than miles. But when curiosity taps me on the shoulder, I go. Ski towns. Wine country. Family scattered across time zones. […]
The ferry from Barcelona had deposited me in Sardinia four days earlier, and honestly, I was grateful just to be upright and riding. Barcelona hadn’t exactly ended on a high note. The last night—Johnny’s last night before he flew home—we’d discovered a tapas place in the Gothic Quarter where people queue for hours just to […]
