Welcome And Store Announcement

Ron 0:01

Hey friends, welcome back to the Peace Love Moto Podcast. I'm your host, Ron Francis, recording in Loveland, Colorado. Hey, before we dive into this week's episode, I have a quick announcement. Since launching the podcast about three years ago, I've occasionally had motorcycle images put on coffee mugs and stickers to be used as event prizes and gifts for my riding buddies. Well, now we have them available for anyone. We have them available for you. You can find Peace LoveMoto themed mugs and stickers at peacelovemoto store.com. How's that for using my imagination? I just stuck store at the end of Peace Love Moto. Hey, I hope that you like these for sharing a positive message about the joy you feel riding a motorcycle. Thanks for checking it out. That's Peace LoveMotostore.com.

Goldie Hawn’s Dad’s Reset Advice

Ron 1:18

As her star was rising fast in Hollywood, she said that life was getting out of control. Her dad was seeing that too. He heard the noise and saw the confusion of celebrity as she was getting famous really fast. He didn't want her to get hurt. Goldie said that she loved her dad and she always listened to his advice. It was simple advice, really, but she said that it saved her. Her dad simply told her this Goldie, when you feel too big for your bridges, just stand on the beach in front of the ocean and feel how small you are. A way to reset us, a way to set things straight. For those of us who love to ride motorcycles, we don't always have an ocean nearby, but my friends, we have lots and lots of other options. And we'll talk about that. Stay tuned. Recorded in beautiful, lovelin' Colorado, welcome to Peace Love Moto, the podcast for motorcyclists seeking that peaceful, easy feeling as we cruise through this life together. Are you ready? Let's go!

Coffee Shop Notes And Mountain Views

Ron 3:14

As I write down ideas for this episode, I'm sitting with the Hot Vanilla Latte at Coal Creek Coffee on Grant Street in Laramie, Wyoming. This little coffee shop is in a 120-year-old building so close to the railroad tracks that your coffee cup will shake every time a freight train goes by. And they go by pretty often. Keeps things interesting. The northern Colorado and southern Wyoming mountains got quite a lot of snow, late season snow these past three days. As I rode north an hour ago over the high ridge on Highway 287, where Colorado meets Wyoming, there to the northwest, it appeared. Even at 70 miles an hour, riding warm in my gear, it made me say, wow, inside my helmet. That massive wilderness right there for me to see on my motorcycle. I'm on a big bike, yeah. But like Goldie in front of the ocean, I felt really small. And that was okay.

Four Days Riding Heat And Snow

Ron 4:42

So I packed my motorcycle with camping gear and headed out for a four-day ride through the high desert expanses of Utah and southern Colorado. On a motorcycle, as you know, you are entirely exposed to the world. Yeah, there's some risk with that, but you and I know that the reward, oh, it so outweighs the risk. Temperatures ranged from 45 degrees Fahrenheit riding over Vale Pass on the Colorado side, then up to 95 degrees riding through downtown Moab, Utah the next day. Layers? Yep, they came and went with every fuel stop. Only a little rain on this trip, too. Wonderful. On a motorcycle, as you know, we're not insulated inside a metal box. We feel the temperature changes on the mountaintops and through the canyons. We smell the sagebrush out here in the west and the smells of approaching rain. And on the open highways, we lean into the corners like we're flying in an airplane, finding that moving meditation entirely present in the now. But the real magic of this trip, my friends, actually didn't happen on the road. It happened my first night out camping. Along

Camping By The Colorado River

Ron 6:23

the Colorado River, after a long day in the saddle, I set up camp about 50 feet from the river's edge. In this canyon, with its red cliffs about 300 feet above the river, the sun set early. By nightfall, the world around me grew completely silent, except for the sound of the river. I was tired from the day and there wasn't much left to do, I thought. So I crawled into my sleeping bag and went to sleep for a while. But right around 1 a.m., I woke up. There still wasn't a sound outside except for the river, still chugging away, no wind, no rustling trees. It was completely still. So I unzipped the tent, stepped out into the crisp, cold air now, grabbed my warm jacket, and I sat down in my little campchair that I'd left set up next to my tent.

1 A.M. Stargazing And Awe

Ron 7:32

And as my eyes adjusted, I looked up. There it was. There was the ocean that Goldie's dad had spoken about. Not an ocean of water, but an ocean of stars.

SPEAKER_00 7:50

Up there, an ink-black sky was overflowing with brilliant stars. A sea of stars.

Ron 8:11

In a world full of artificial light, computer screens, and constant distractions, sitting in a campchair in the middle of the night, just looking up, felt like a new reality. There was nobody for me to tell how pretty those stars were. Yeah, I said my go-to word for such views, wow. And I suppose my wow was just for God to hear. And I think he heard me because I felt it. Looking at clusters of light that have traveled for countless years across the void of space, the reality really hits us, doesn't it? I guess it's just like what Goldie's dad said. You realize how small you are, how insignificant we are in this massive timeline of the universe. And just like her, though, I didn't feel discouraged at all by that realization. It was kind of freeing.

Feeling Small Turns Into Gratitude

Ron 9:40

There's a lot of history out there in the high desert. Indian cultures were here long before people who look like me arrived. Explorers, miners, the westward expansion. I thought about the generations that came before me and the years and the people that will follow long after I'm gone and forgotten. In the grand cosmos, you might say, with more stars than we can comprehend, the generations of the past, generations yet to come. Hmm. My worries, my schedules, my little projects, this podcast, they don't even register. But you know what? That realization didn't feel lonely or discouraging at all. It felt calming. Like all is right with the world tonight. I'm right here where I'm supposed to be, doing what I'm supposed to be doing. Just looking. And if I'm doing anything right, I'm appreciating what I'm seeing. Just realizing how amazing the world really is. Realizing your own insignificance maybe should make you feel isolated or lonely, but sitting there in the dark, looking up at the stars, I felt the exact opposite. I felt an overwhelming sense of gratitude. I thanked my God for where I was, how I'd gotten there on my motorcycle, and I expressed how grateful I was for those stars I was under. I felt a quiet presence. The spirit of Mother Nature that was under my feet in my lungs as I breathed that perfectly clear, cool air. Maybe the same spirits that the Indians speak of, the spirit of protection looking down on my small little campsite. With that, I knew without a shadow of a doubt that I was being looked after. And I guess to quote from the Christmas song Silent Night, all was calm. And with those bright stars above, all was bright. So after a little while, I went back into my tent, bundled myself back into my sleeping bag, and went back to sleep. Then I woke again at first light, feeling really, really good. It was then I was reminded that this experience, the combination of motorcycling, which I love, setting up a tent, and waking up to a sky full of stars, wow, what a gift. Only a tiny fraction of the modern industrial world's population ever gets to step out of the daily noise anymore and be face to face with the whole universe. To maybe be more physically connected with creation than we could ever read about or talk about or ever imagine. But sometimes the greatest freedom, I think, is simply being reminded of our place in the world and that you are okay right where you are right now in life. Staring at the stars, for example, strips away the heavy armor we feel that we have to carry around every day. It reminds us that we are just small passengers on a beautiful ride in a spaceship called Earth.

Digital Detox And Finding Your Beach

Ron 14:14

I encourage you to also protect yourself from the craziness of this world, the shocking daily news cycle, the disturbing images and videos that keep us awake at night or worse, things that numb our senses and harden our hearts. Instead, find that place that makes you feel small, that makes you feel maybe insignificant. Step out of the digital artificial world, turn off the engine, sit down and just look around. Let the vastness of our world overwhelm you and maybe recalibrate your perspective on life. I would encourage you also to express gratitude for the rare privilege we have to experience this earth on two wheels. I hope too that you'll remember that you're never really alone. No matter how far your campsite is from the main road, no, you're never really alone.

Share The Episode And Closing

Ron 15:19

Hey my friends, thank you so much for joining me today around the campsite. If you enjoyed this episode, I hope that you'll share it with a fellow writer who might need a little midnight perspective. Hey, show them that you care. Buy them a mug or a sticker. I know right where you can get them. Until we visit again. I hope to see you out there. Peace.