Episode 43:  Your Motorcycling Song and the Road Ahead

What music do you hear in your head when you ride?

This?

Rockin down that Highway

Or this?

Country Roads Take me Home

Or this?

Even Flow

Or this?

Mormon Tabernacle Choir

For me, it’s any one of those music styles, playing over and over in my head as I ride, but for yesterday’s ride, about a 300 miler, the song in my head changed multiple times.  I didn’t have a plan for this ride, but I felt compelled to ride for a few hours, out into the open spaces.  Yesterday, I needed the road time.  Maybe to unclutter my head.  And guess what?  It worked.  

You’re probably saying to yourself, “Ron you must be some mixed up guy if you think about everything from Pearl Jam to the Morman Tabernacle Choir while you ride”.  Yeah, you’re probably right, but hey at least I’m open minded.  Ha ha.  Another song in my head was this one:

Now and Then by the Beatles

If you’ve not already heard it, this is the new release called Now and Then from Paul, Ringo, and yes, even John and George.  They were the Beatles.  As you may know, John and George have already passed away, but recordings of their voices were used to bring the band back together for this perhaps melancholy tune about both love and loss.  That one was in my head as started off riding Northwest.

You may recall in a few episodes back I quoted someone who said “Young riders pick a destination and go.  Old riders pick a direction and go”.  I picked the second option, I picked a direction, Northwest and went with the song Now and Then by the Beatles in my head, repeating over and over, then after 20 or 30 miles, my song changed to the Mormon Tabernacle choir singing a song called Requiem, because I was approaching a very special place.

At about 50 miles into my direction of a journey, I stopped as I often do, at the Abbey of Saint Walburga.  The Abbey is in an all but abandoned town called Virginia Dale.  Here at the Abbey, some 30 nuns live, here they run a farm with cows and hay pastures, and they pray and sing, everyday.  I stop here on many motorcycle rides to leave a donation, talk with the nuns and sometimes to sit in the chapel and think and pray.  Sometimes the nuns are singing.  That’s just magical.

On this day on my motorcycle ride in the direction of the northwest, I shared with a nun my current concern and she was so kind and gracious, as always.  But it was back in the small parking lot, as I was about to put on my helmet to leave, I heard the voices of two men approaching.  It was two young priests.  I said hello and felt compelled to share with them the same conversation that I had with the nun just minutes before.  They too were so kind.  One of the priests told me that he also rides a motorcycle, in fact, he rides a BMW very similar to the one I was riding.  And then, he said something like “Riding is good for us”.  I replied, “It certainly is today”.  

We’ve talked about a lot of things this past year in this experiment we’re calling Peace Love Moto.I’ve wondered, what could we, as a community of motorcycle riders who care about others, what could we collectively do, to make the world a better place.  I thought about fundraisers for example, maybe we setup a fund that we could donate to and give it to some organization, or even some individual in need.  

Yeah, that sounds complicated for one thing, but what I’ve come to realize is, that’s not really what this podcast and community is about.  Instead, I think it’s  better that each of us, with our eyes and hearts wide open, discover for ourselves what needs to be done to make the world a better place, and just respond in our own way. 

As people ask me what a podcast called Peace Love Moto is all about, my explanation seems to get shorter every time I try to explain it.  Right now, I tell folks “It's about finding joy in riding motorcycles, then sharing that joy with others through random acts of kindness, or even just a smile.  That’s it.

So, if it’s OK with you, as we begin Season 2 next week, let’s keep this podcast simple.  Nothing shocking.  I hope to have interviews with really interesting people who share our same passion.  Maybe we’ll talk more about those songs that play over and over in our heads s we ride.  The hope remains to just discuss the joy we experience riding motorcycles and sharing that joy with others as we ride through this life together.

As always, thank you for listening.  I wish you peace.  I wish you love.