Night Riding, Motorcycle Yoga and the Mississippi Delta

My bike in Lake Ann at the beginning of the trip.

Finally I got to leave. While I still had some things to do for the trip, most of what was left was to simply drive. On my way south I stopped to see my dad at the AFC home he lived at in Big Rapids. I took a picture of him and some of the other residents (and yes he still has a way with the women), I also had a picture taken of us in front of the bike, the last time I would see him till Christmas two months later.

Dad and I at the beginning of the trip

Dad and fellow residents at the AFC home in Big Rapids, Michigan

I did 600 miles the first night needing to make up some time feeling I was already running behind schedule. I was suppose to be in Costa Rica the 3rd of November.

The first night was cold (about 40 degrees) and was only bearable because I had bought a new full length Carhart insulated suit while in Wisconsin. Without it I wouldn't have been able to stand it going 70 miles an hour with a wind chill of well.... very cold.

That night (early morning) I made it almost to Memphis, the home of Graceland. Unfortunately I didn't  have time to visit Elvis. He's still alive you know, like Tommy Lee Jones said in the movie Men in Black, "he just went back home to his planet".  As it ended up there were a number of places like this it would have been fun to stop and see, but I wouldn't have the time (the next trip will be set up for sight seeing).

If you who have never rode a motorcycle before and wonder about the experience, what it is like and what is the attraction, especially when doing a long trip like this, I try to convey some of the experience through my posts over the coming two months. Like the night when I was traveling on almost deserted 5 lane freeways on a cold night through Chicago, feeling as if I was floating as I changed lanes and traveled through downtown with its skyscrapers and empty streets at 65 mph.

This floating comes from the accompanying heightened sense of being a couple of feet off the ground with very little separating you from it or the air around you. One does get a sense of "floating and freedom" that is as close to unassisted flying perhaps as one can come. Of course the danger of non protected flight has its drawbacks as well!

At other times I have drove through Chicago at midnight on my motorcycle, through tunnels of semi's on either side of me feeling almost non existent compared to a car or another truck. I felt a connection with the truckers, like maybe there is a certain respect from them for anyone riding a bike in the midst of all these 18 wheeled monsters. Yes, perhaps imagined but knowing we are all traveling a long way through the dead of night alone, feels like a connection indeed.....

Getting gas on a cold night in Illinois.

As for Yoga and Motorcycling, there are two kinds I mention here. One definition of Yoga is the union of creator, and created. When the microcosmic is balanced with the macrocosmic you have a union of the two, and both know each other. With motorcycling this "balance" occurs more easily in ways between the outer and inner. The sense of being out there in all the elements and weather and having to dress accordingly and be more aware of your environment at all times, including the traffic environment, brings about the union of the rider (inner), and the environment of the rider (the outer), into a sort of Yoga, or union itself.

The other Yoga of Motorcycling here is the physical. To do 600 miles on a bike in one night I need to do stretching exercises or I could never do it. I've tried it before and without exercising I could barely move the next day. Last night at each gas stop (I did one about every 120 miles because I only have a 3.5 gallon tank), I did a lot of leg and hip stretches, using my bike as a balance point. I then began to realize it would not be hard to set up a whole series of exercises using different postures either on the bike itself, or beside it. Postures which are somewhat unique to riding the bike or being able to use it as part of the exercise itself. These postures make it easier to target certain muscle groups, especially the ones affected by long rides. Throw in some disciplined breathing, a mantra or two and you have Motorcycle Yoga, developed by and for bikers. The book coming out soon to a Borders near you!

Lesson #4 In the Art of Learning to Travel Well: Understand your needs on all levels and plan on ways to meet those needs.

Joking aside, taking care of ones self while traveling is not only more important in ways then when one is at home because of the extra stresses you often face with long days and odd hours, but like motorcycle yoga, when you find ways to be creative and meet these needs you will feel better and the trip will be more enjoyable. It will no longer be a marathon or a way to sprint from point A to point B.

When I hit Memphis I was about half way to the Mexican border and was planning to stay in Texas one night before crossing. After that I thought my posts might become a little sporadic due to limited internet access in Mexico and beyond. 


Next post: Memphis, Cotton Fields and Jim Croce