Before I left on my Cancer ride in June, I purchased a wonderful trailer from California Sidecar.  The Escapade trailer is, in my opinion, the best pulling motorcycle trailer made.  I went to the factory and watched them finish it and hook it up to my bike.  Under way, I never even knew it was behind me.  The Escapade was color matched to the Gold Wing and held all the odds and ends I would need for the trip.  Another friend and I built a rack to hold an ice chest and the trailer's interior had ample room for the camping stove, tent, sleeping bags and the usual stuff. 

Cancer Trip - Total Mileage 5,903 Miles Note: The map route is not exact but will give you a general idea of the trip.

Day 1:  So, on the day after the last of my chemo treatments, I left my house in Yuma before sun-up and with only a general idea of where I was going, I headed North from Yuma on US 95 towards Las Vegas.  I had no fixed destination, no time schedule and no ideas other than to just ride.  And ride I did.  Early morning found me passing through Las Vegas on I-15.  I saw several Harley Davidson riders along the way as the annual Sturgis Motorcycle Rally was just a week away.  Waving as motorcyclist do, the miles unrolled comfortably and when I was ready to call it a day, I found my evening's rest in a hotel on the outskirts of Salt Lake City.  A good eight-hundred mile run for the first day

Day 2:  Day two dawned brightly and I was up with the birds and on the road - deciding to take some lesser traveled highways, I ventured through some of the most beautiful scenery en route to Yellowstone National Park traveling on Utah Route 39 out of Ogden to Woodruff and northeast into the Park.  By the time I reached the entrance, it was overcast and raining heavily.  Under the rain gear and full-faced helmet, I was dry and happy and although I was tempted to visit all of the sites in the Park, my goal was to ride and not to sight see.  So, I just drove through the park and stopped only once to take a picture along Lake Yellowstone. Because of the weather and some sight-seeing and traffic in the park, I made my second night's destination KOA in Sheridan, WY.  There were other bikes everywhere but I found a nice site to park the Wing and set up camp.  It was nice to get some rest after the long but beautiful ride. 

Day 3:  Day three promised to be another long day - All the way to River Falls, WI - the home of my friend Mark who had ridden the BMW on the break-in trip to Colorado earlier in the year and brought our son to the hospital the day I was diagnosed.  They had just relocated to River Falls and it was a nice stopping point for me.  At just under 900 miles - it made for a long days journey but gave me ample to think and feel about my life - to get my head back on straight and to realize all the good I had with no reason to focus on the bad.  Do you know how much talking to yourself you can do during a 900 mile jaunt?  A lot!  The ride was a catharsis and each mile I rode, a little bit more of the poison would leach from my system.  I arrived in River Falls and spent a wonderful evening with my friends - Mark, Robin and their son, Brant.  My favorite memory of my stop was a trip into the "cities" for an ice cream - the little things that mattered - Great Friends and good food :-)

Day 4:  After spending the night, I got an early start  since I had to make a quick three-hundred mile run to Manitowoc, WI in order to board a ferry to cross Lake Michigan.  The weather was great and the water calm.  The bike and trailer was safely stowed below decks and I enjoyed just sunning on the foredeck during the crossing.  There were several other bikers also making the crossing so there was also a lot of story telling going on.  After a wonder trip on the Ferry, I arrived at Ludington, MI and started my trek south to Fowlerville, MI where my brother lives.  The bikes were the first to unload so by the time the Ferry was empty, I was already on the interstate headed south for Fowlerville, MI.  My brother is still very active in motorcycling too!  He competes in WERA Road Racing competitions and helps to sponsor some fellow riders. He's # 29 in the photo here.  He's always been a better rider than me and keeps his weight down so he can still be competitive.  We spent much of the time I was there out at the Grattan Raceway where they were having a weekend of racing.  I had a ball.  At one point they let anyone on any bike ride it around the track. Somehow I just couldn't imagine taking the 'Wing and trailer for a lap or two. 

Day 7: At the end of the weekend, I packed up the trailer and wished my brother and his family adieu and headed north into Michigan's Northern Peninsula.  That too was a nice ride.  In my mind, I was headed off into the general direction of Canada and before too long, found myself at the Sault St Marie border crossing.  I got into Canada mid-day and by the time it was dark, I was already on the Trans-Canadian Highway headed West.  I finally found respite in heavy fog in Thunder Bay, Ontario.  Although that run had been just 750 miles, much of it had been at night in heavy fog.  However, earlier - WOW!  What scenery - crystal blue lakes everywhere along the Trans Canadian Highway (Highway 1) and not a soul fishing in any of them.  Another thing about Canada I filed for future reference.  They were beautiful!

Day 8:  I left Thunder Bay well before dawn the next morning to mixed rain and sleet.  I ran into long sections of construction that had turned the roadway into stretches of rock and gravel that made for slow going.  When the roads were paved however, they were quite good and with little traffic, both the bike and I were running like a champ.  By mid-morning I had arrived in Winnipeg and ran into heavy big-city traffic.  It was exhilarating as were the long stretches through Manitoba and Saskatchewan where I was alone on the highway racing the low clouds and listening to Gordon Lightfoot in my earphones.  People would occasionally pass me and you could tell they felt sorry for me out riding in the rain.  Inside however, I was dry and comfortable and the miles just slipped away.  My best recollection was of the wheat swaying in the wind next to the highway as I passed.  It was something I will never forget.  I stopped along the way for food and fuel and talked with people who were admiring my bike and trailer and found that Canadians were, by and large, a bit more friendly - more willing to talk - that many others I'd met along the highways of life and I was beginning to form a strong bond - even then - with our neighbors to the north.  I spent the night in Medicine Hat, Alberta and logged the best ride thus far - a distance of over 1,000 miles!  Although exhausted from the longest day in the saddle ever, I also felt great!  Physically and mentally!  That's probably why, when I called my wife and she asked "..aren't you ready to come home yet?", I didn't argue.  I just said sure and that I'd start south the next day.  That night, I ate dinner with a fellow traveler.  He was from Germany and was taking a vacation on his motorcycle.  We had a wonderful dinner and after parting, I was sorry that I wasn't going to be able to ride with him for awhile because the best part of the trip - the Canadian Rocky Mountains - lay just ahead.  Oh well, I was feeling great and knew in my heart it was time to head back home to my family and job.

Day 9:  Early the next morning, I was on the road and passed through Canadian/US Customs in Lethbridge and crossed over into the United States right smack dab in the midst of Glacier Park, Montana.  Talk about beautiful!  So it wasn't Banff or Kootenay National Park - it was beautiful and the ride south through Idaho and Utah were also noteworthy. I made that day's run to Salt Lake City after another long eight-hundred mile day.  However, I was ready to be at home and the miles just rolled beneath me. 

Day 10:  The run from Salt Lake City back to Yuma was done on one of the hottest summer days of the year.  I went through quart after quart of Gatorade from the cooler but when I arrived after eight hundred more miles, I was totally dehydrated and exhausted.  However when I rolled into my driveway after my little eleven day,  six-thousand mile odyssey, all the pain was gone and I was, truly, a man with a new lease on life.  I parked the 'Wing in the driveway and began pealing off helmet, gloves, jacket, boots and just walked through the garage onto the back yard and fell into the pool.  That's where my wife found me.  I was glad to be home and she was glad to have me there.  There's a lot more I could say and will be happy to talk with you, share thoughts about cancer, death and motorcycling or just about any other topic.  Drop me an email if you want. 

So you see, Motorcycles really did save my life - suicide never entered my mind again and thanks to God, my family and friends and that ride - I'm alive and "fairly" well adjusted today.  Unfortunately, the "thing" for bikes lives on.  To read about my motorcycling life after cancer - click here.

Above all else - Be thankful for what you have and take care of your loved ones.  Ride safe!