Have you ever...

Have you ever dodged a butterfly, or a bee in flight, cause like you, they are being carried by the wind...have you ever conducted a symphony of wheat across a North Dakota praire as it answered your direction it seemed...have you ever smelled the fresh water of Minnesota lake country without seeing the water, as it will appear around the next turn...have you ever yelled at the top of your lungs in the middle nowhere although nobody is listening and you can barely hear yourself...have you ever passed a cotton field and swore you saw the ghosts of generations of slaves picking the cotton shell from the plant on a Louisiana backroad...have you ever cut through the mountains of West Virginia and got caught in a storm that shut a town down...but you had potato chips and beer for dinner with your newly found friends you met at a rest stop...have you ever come out of a tunnel that goes under the ocean and come out the other side and all you see is that blue water...have you ever been across the deep south and seen a rebel flag fly high behind the pine trees, and felt the current that built that symbol still flowing beneath you...have you ever travelled up and down the ocean front for seven days going nowhere yet everywhere at the same time...have you ever been to a beer can chicken roast in the middle of nowhere Indiana, and tasted chicken like it was for the first time...have you ever smelled a field of fresh cut hay, shortly after it had been swathed...have you ever stopped alongside a road cause the photo opportunity in front of you feels like your life...have you ever shook hands with someone at 80MPH in the open air, cause you share the same spirit...have you ever shared something with a stranger, because you could make a memory for them...have you ever seen a Nebraska skyline and river valley that if you look close enough you can see the cavalry riding through...have you ever been to the land of the seminole, and your senses smelled the pipe smoke of the elders as you crossed their land...have you ever stopped at an oyster bar on the Florida gulf coast and partook of the same oysters that feed the nation, except you get them right off the boat...have you ever waved at people with your left hand dropped down to your side, and felt a brother hood though you will never seen them, and will never have met them...have you ever crossed bridges that extend for miles over open water...have you ever stopped to take a picture of a town cause the road sign said " Faith" and you were looking for a sign...have you ever taken a wrong road for a hundred miles, and turns out it was a better option afterall...have you ever crossed through cajun country, and seen alligators in a skiff freshly caught from the bayou...have you ever looked out over the badlands into a canyon, and felt you saw over the heat lines the silhouettes of a Sioux hunting party riding bareback, horses colored for the hunt alongside a painted butte...have you ever cried when you saw your state sign as you entered it with a light rain glassing over the prairies...have you ever hung your jeans up on a door knob to wear the next day although they are soiled cause your grandpa did the same thing...his soiled from the farm, yours from the road...have you ever felt like you wished a day could last a lifetime based on what you experienced with every sense you were given...have you ever looked up into the sky and talked to those who left you to early, and hoped they see you flying down the road you find yourself on now and are looking down with pride...

I have, and much more, cause I ride a Harley Davidson...and the states most fly over, I ride through, and experience the individual beauty and uniqueness up close and personal. The filters of books, and media...dont compare.

So excuse my questioning nature when asked "Why ride?" I ride to experience the above and more, riding through this world to see it, touch it, smell it...is the only way I know to live. A man is dead in his spirit without the desire for learning and adventure through new experiences.

I am not dead yet...and I choose to experience. Thats why I will ride.

" It's not the critic who counts."

People think you ride because you have a death wish...I ride because I have a life wish, and I embrace it through the wind we all one day will ride through, as fate takes course. I test it on open road, and if I should become a part of it...know I was not a cold nor timid soul who feared my destiny.