When planning a trip like the one I was undertaking, the last few months aren’t good.
You will be focusing on planning to avoid on the road problems. You will not necessarily be looking at the things that will go smoothly.
If you have anyone that you care about, you may find that your concerns and focus on the dangerous issues that may arise, cause concern for that person too. They, if they care about you, will support your actions and not raise, or show the concerns that they have for you and your adventure.
They may well feel in a position where if they were to say, “please dont go”, that they would be spoiling things for you and/or your associated activities with the ride…charities, blogs, forums shared with peers, where you have made commitments to undertake the journey.
Asking if they are happy for you to go, will not ilicit an honest answer, it will only get you the answer they think you want to hear, or that you have inadvertently put them in a position to give.
And why should you expect an honest answer, will you have told them about the Seattle guy who hit a donkey in Mexico, was paralysed but kept blogging on AdvRider, right up until the moment he committed suicide?
Of course not…we care about each other, so we hide the hurt, conceal the worry, put on a brave show and say “I’m sure it will be okay darling”.
While focusing on the pure logistics of the trip, it’s too easy to overlook. Too easy to take things at face value.
It’s vitally important to step back and take a good hard look. Evaluate the situation for what it really is, not what it appears to be.
You can then make a choice.
I didn’t, I just went along with it, the bravado, the attention, the sense of purpose, are all able to sweep you along. They seem important…believe me when I tell you they are not. They are momentary and insignificant.
It will be my life’s greatest regret that I only just realised this.
To put this into perspective…the Tea Festival from where I departed raised $85 for the charities I was riding for. $85.
I could have given a hundred times that amount and not lost too much sleep over it.
What I have lost is incalculable, priceless, irreplaceable, plus, many, many hours of sleep.
I need you all to buy books from www.threecupsoftea.com for any of this to have even the remotes chance of having some meaning, some value, something that is even remotely tenuous enough to call success.