Posted by lil' jimi on August 4, 2003, at 16:03:29
In reply to re: vacations, depression, kids, adventure! » lil' jimi, posted by yesac on August 2, 2003, at 18:47:58
hi yesac!
> > and your responses are more severe too ... you win!
>
> ... ... (it's how you play the game?)... ...
>i love the implication that mental health isn't about winning or losing it's about ...
> Wow... I know Just What You Mean about the hurry-up-let's-do-as-much-as-we-can versus the more relaxed pace. Except - I have to admit - I am the hurry up one. Not that I don't sometimes like to sit down, chill out, and just take it all in... but, well, I just can't help myself from trying to rush around and do as much as possible. It just makes me feel like I've accomplished more with my vacation. I know that in some ways it doesn't make sense, because it should be more about quality than quantity, but like I said, I can't help it. And. This friend I told you about, who I do a lot of traveling with. She is beyond slow. Not only if we are on vacation, but just always. I shouldn't say ALWAYS, but usually. It drives me up a wall! Actually, come to think of it, I guess she is better when traveling than just when we are hanging around.
>okay, one time when i didn't go on a motorcycle or go camping, me and my buddy, Robb, drove his datsun B210 ... together for 2 weeks ... starting in austin; we went to
new orleans for the jazz hertiage festival
.... then back through austin on our way to visit his friends in ...
el paso
... then to visit my mom's family in ...
phoenix
... then we went to the
grande canyon ... ... for like 20 minutes (!!!) ...
... then ...
march afb ... spent an hour looking for my brother ... didn't find him
escondido ca ... stayed 3 nights with my friends
san diego
juarez mexico ... 3 hour walk through
north hollywood ca ... stayed 2 nights visiting another of Robb's friends
san fransico .... saw stan getz ! ...
portland or ... one night
seatle wa ... stayed at Robb's friends ... 5 days
vancouver ... one afternoon
seatle again
bozeman montana ... fixed a blow out ... 2 nights
yellowstone national park .... at about 70 mph ... flew through and saw Ol' Fathful: all in under 2 hours!
denver ... didn't stop except for gas
salinas kansas
oklahoma city ... a day ... visited my sister
dallas
austin13 states
3 countries
2 blown tires
2 weeks
3,000 miles
felt like we got a lot done ... i guessand you wrote:
> > > the book "Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance" - you know the one
>once upon a time in the seventies ...
... ... "Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maitenance" had just come out and was real popular among my friends then, so i was reading it when donna and her boyfriend (can't remember his name) decided they would go out to Mt. Shasta on our motorcycles: ... i on my honda 750; .. they on their bmw 750 ...
.. ... .. i read slow and was still in my book when we left ... but i had gotten to the part where the protagonists had started driving out west on their motorcycles, one, a bmw ...
... ... so i'm reading slower than we're riding ... hook up with friends in escondido ... head north to Mt. Shasta ... while i'm camping on Mt. Shasta, i get to read the part where the hero goes mountain climbing ... this i read the night before i and some other friends climb the summit of Mt. Shasta ... these synchronicities are compounding at this point for me ... ...
... ... fortunately, i don't turn out like the book, wherein our hero has a ... psychotic break, i believe it's called ... he (author Robert Pirsig) suffers a personal psychological alavlache while trying to climb his mountain, which i beleive was a metaphorical mountain ... ... anyway that book made my trip more exciting and more spooky for me ... good book though ... ...and those are the tales from my 70s traveling days ... ... i just don't feel up to it so much anymore ... ...
... ... for one (BIG) thing ...
... motorcycling across the country is about endurance ... your personal endurance ... in the absence of any, like, _comfort_ ... ... its about your stamina
... ... rain
... ... desert heat
... ... sudden storms at night in the mountains
... ... riding for 2 hours straight without anything in your helmet but the sound of the road and your thoughts
... ... then get off to pump gas in the middle of nowhere at 3 AM
... maintenance, repair, perserverance ... ... ...
... ... going by car is about 1000% more comfortable .... and easier ... really no comparison ... .... rationally, cars, vans, trucks are better ... ... long-distnce highway motorcycling is
... way out there
... looks romantic
... feels masochistic
.... .... seriously ... ...so nowadays i'd just as soon stay home ... and write to you ...
TAKE CARE !!
~ jimp.s. still hoping you'r edoing better there!
~ j
poster:lil' jimi
thread:246789
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/social/20030727/msgs/248086.html