To Hell and Back, Not Such a Bad Trip

Sunday the 26th of April was the Blessing of the Bikes in Macomb County Michigan and symbolizes the official start of the bike riding season.  To show our support, my Veterans association is always heavily involved.  This year there was almost 3000 bikes at the event.  I enjoy going mostly because I get to see some of our riders that don’t normally come around because they live quite a distance away, but this is the event that our Veterans club riders make a serious effort to come out to.  It is, actually, one of the only events where you will see so many different vests from so many different clubs.  Some reputable, some not so much but they all get along.  In the three years I have been going, I cannot recall one incident.

It is official now, it is Bike Season in Michigan.

In Texas, it has been Bike Season for a couple months now, in fact, I now have a bike down there that I can use when I do go down.  Although I have been down there to enjoy it several times, it’s just not enough for me and when I would come back North I missed riding.  So far this year, I have been down to Texas six times.  I am actually actively looking for a job that will transfer me down there permanently but until then I just have to be content with a weekend or a week here and there.

This weekend was the first one of the year that I was able to really get out and ride up in Michigan.  On Friday I made one of my favorite local rides, I rode to Hell, Michigan.

Hell is a fairly popular biker destination with wonderful winding roads and beautiful views.  The town has an Ice Cream Shop, a Tavern, a small shop, and a putt-putt golf.  The whole towns theme is circled around Halloween and they make quite a business out of it but Hell has a special meaning for me for other reasons.  Hell was the first trip on my own outside of my comfort zone after my husband had moved out.

Most all of my riding prior to that had been with a group or with just him and me.  I never really had to know how to get from point A to point B because I never led, I always followed so I didn’t bother to pay attention to what rode we were on, what direction we were going, or any other pertinent information.  So riding alone felt strange and I wasn’t really comfortable doing it.   Don’t misunderstand me, I can read a map and I can find my way around but there were some areas in the local area that I was extremely unfamiliar with and Hell was one of those areas.  

I remember that day pretty well and my feelings of determination, deciding that I was going to make the trip alone.  I wasn’t going to wait for someone to go with me if I wanted to go, why wait.  I think it was the start of finding me and who I was without someone next to me constantly to guide me or to decide for me.  

Hell laid the frame work for my first real Adventuring later that summer, when I went up and around the upper peninsula of Michigan, into Wisconsin, and around to Illinois, Indiana and back to Michigan.  It was a 1500 mile, four day trip, and I did it on my own.  On that trip I did a couple of things I had wanted to do for years; I went to the Harley Davidson Museum in Milwaukee, Copper Harbor, MI, the most northern point in Michigan, I visited some very good friends in Osh Kosh, and I began to enjoy being alone.  I found, on that trip that I got to stop when I wanted, for how long, and where I wanted.  It was a lonely trip and I remember wishing to have someone riding next to me to enjoy it with me but I was determined not to sit around and wait for that someone.  Just maybe I’d find that someone while I was out on my own.

Learning to be alone is an art, I feel.  It’s being able to know your limits and being able to step outside your comfort zone a little when needed.  Trusting that what you want may not be what God has planned for you.  To acknowledge and understand that wanting someone is so much more different than needing someone.  It takes time too.  It took me almost two years after the separation to learn to be more than just ok with being alone as much as I am and there are days when I am more ok than others.