Episode 7: Peace Love Moto the real meaning

My original intent was to go for a motorcycle ride just before recording each podcast. That would make sense. I would have it fresh in my mind how it felt to be out on the bike and experience the joy of riding once more before speaking about it.

 well that was my intent but it won't happen that way for a little while. about 10 days ago I was involved in a little accident. no it wasn't a motorcycle accident it was a coffee accident. haha in my kitchen I was simply reaching for a ceramic jar full of ground coffee. the jar started to slip. I grabbed it right when it broke and let's just say it caused some complications to my right hand. hand surgery to reattach things that got detached happened a week ago today. 

I'm so grateful for the very kind and gifted hand surgeon, Dr Lisa Nash, who put things back together for me. For my neighbor Brandon who quickly drove me to the emergency room. for my wife who was several miles away at the time but who arrived shortly thereafter and held my  good hand while I tried to manage the pain and my emotions through the ordeal.  yeah a lot to be thankful for.

 but my reality now is that I won't be Riding a motorcycle for a while. they're saying several weeks if not months. I guess the timing could have been much worse. it could be right in the middle of the riding season where the weather is just perfect. So meanwhile I approach things a little bit differently while my hand recovers And I get through physical therapy, and maybe this will allow me to focus more clearly on what I'm trying to say in these podcasts.

So today I thought the timing might be right to try and explain where the name of this podcast came from. 

George Harrison’s lyric said “Give me love, give me love

Give me peace on earth”  

So the name of the podcast is Peace Love moto. Peace is a very strong word I know. but even stronger is love. Of course the Moto part makes sense, we're talking about motorcycles right?

 well I feel like the Peace and Love part needs further explanation. I'm not sure I can fully explain it but I'll try.

 if you've heard my previous podcast you'll know I absolutely love riding a motorcycle. I have for a very long time. I love to listen to podcasts on the topic of motorcycling. the podcast called Adventure Rider radio  by Jim Martin is one of my favorites But there are several others too. really good stuff. I suppose there's two things that I've experienced in the last year or so that made me feel compelled to call my podcast Peace Love moto. First I discovered mindfulness.

 I actually discovered mindfulness through my work. I have a job in Corporate America. I work for a very large IT company.   Our company embraces mindfulness and makes classes and discussions available to all employees. they discovered the fact that a happy, calm  and clear-headed employee will be a productive employee. I completely agree. 

So the word peace from Peace Love Moto means both a desire for peace on Earth certainly that we all have, but also a common desire for peace of mind. Many of us have found that a ride on our motorcycle brings just that. peace of mind. In the previous episodes I think just about every one of them have spoken to that fact. we're so very very fortunate to have a hobby Sport, whatever you want to call it, that takes us both physically mentally and emotionally to a different place. a place perhaps were all is right in the world. a place where time stands still.

As far as the word Love Goes, wow I know that's a strange strong word. It can mean so many things I can love to eat an orange, I can love my family. The spectrum is huge. but I think in this context maybe it relates back to the peace part and peace of mind. to have peace of mind I've always heard that you have to love yourself. Maybe I'm still figuring out what that really means. but I think as importantly,  we need to show love for others in one way or another. whatever that may look like for you.

The ancient scriptures say love your neighbor as yourself. 

So when it comes to motorcycling and our presence within the community as a motorcyclist, what might loving others look like? Well in the previous podcast I mentioned about the idea of not wearing your earbuds into a coffee shop but instead carrying a book or a magazine because it may make us appear more open to a conversation. It may be a simple way of expressing love for other people by simply making ourselves open for conversation or better yet starting that conversation on her own. you never know what's going on in the stranger's life. the world they live in may be just completely awesome or it may be completely broken. I'm just here to say that again I think we as motorcyclists are extremely fortunate. We have the finances and the physical ability to own a bike that we love. maybe the simple Act of saying hello and starting a friendly conversation with the stranger as one way of showing gratitude.

I think it's safe to assume that if you're listening to a podcast called Peace Love Moto you probably ride a motorcycle or have an adventurous spirit but you are also a person who cares. I suppose that I am. something that I inherited from my parents and their parents.

 when I go out on a motorcycle ride I'll often stop at a coffee shop. I know you're hearing that over and over in this podcast right?  well on this particular day I rode out to a place called the forks which is between Fort Collins Colorado in the Wyoming border. It's on the way to Laramie wyoming. I was riding my smaller bike where I don't carry much in the way of tools or anything else for that matter. just the minimal stuff. anyway I went to the forks, ordered a coffee and sit out on the porch hoping, as always, that someone would be available to talk with me. a stranger. well on that day, it just didn't happen. other than the cashier no one really said a word. and I didn't really have an opportunity to say anything to anyone else. Everybody seems to be busy with their day. so I sat there on the porch enjoying my coffee in the scenery. It was mid-week and probably a good time to head back home, so I'll put back on my gear and head back the same way that I came. but a very strange thing happened along that road. On a lonely stretch of the road there was a large tractor trailer rig pulled off on the side of the road. standing in front of that rig was a lady waving her arms. She needed my help. so I crossed the road and parked in front of her truck. She already had the hood up so I know she was having a mechanical problem. she went on to ask me " how far is it to the next truck stop?   it. she said well I don't think I can get there. she went on to show me what was going on under the hood of her huge truck.   It seemed that the hose connecting the turbo booster had become disconnected because the steel bracket holding it had broken. when she tried to just reattach the hose and gun the engine then the hose would blow back off again. something occurred to me that I may be able to help.

 As I mentioned I was only carrying a minimal amount of tools but I got my tool bag  out and started digging around to see what I could find. I must tell you it was like a miracle. I found in my bag five or six heavy duty tie wraps and about 3 ft of gorilla tape. I thought what the heck? If she'll allow me to do it, let me give it a try. I told her what my proposal was. I'll just try to wrap it up good enough to get her to the next truck stop and let's see what happens. She was okay with that. so using the minimal tools that I brought and the zip ties and the Gorilla Tape I managed to reattach that turbo hose pretty firmly.

 It looked good to me so I asked her do you want to give it a try? she jumped into the cab start of the engine before she gunned the motor she said you better step back. haha. believe me I was already stepping back. she got the engine and the hose stayed. she got into two or three more times and the hose stayed perfectly where it was supposed to. 

Fixing her truck at least temporarily is not what stuck in my mind from this event. It's what happened next. this very kind lady said " can I give you a hug? ". I said yes absolutely. I stayed there in the parking lot until I saw her drive away with that huge rig down the road, fingers crossed of course that tape and the zip ties would hold until she could get a permanent fix.

 When I think back on that day, I think it was one of those things where the Stars once again aligned just right. Had I striked up a conversation with a stranger at the forks coffee shop I would have spent a lot more time there. maybe someone else would have shown up and helped her I'm not sure. but because no one talked with me there it allowed me to start down the road just in time for her to waive me down, possibly the first person to react to her waving for help. it felt so good to help a stranger in need. If you've ridden a lot of miles On your motorcycle like I have, I'm sure you too have benefited from the kindness of a stranger. In one of my early episodes I described how I fell in a ditch and I couldn't get my bike out but a kind stranger happened to drive up and help me get up going with my day again.

 If I could leave you with one bit of encouragement or advice that would be when we're out on our bikes, let's always be on the lookout for an opportunity to help somebody else. it may be just a kind word at a coffee shop or it may be fixing a big rig truck.  Maybe it doesn't really compare but I think for a very very long time I'll be grateful to my neighbor who drove me to the hospital for my wife certainly for being by my side all the time for the people the emergency room who were so kind and most certainly for Doctor Lisa Nash who fixed my very damaged hand. As a sign of gratitude now, I'll walk out to my garage pat my motorcycles on the tank and say I look forward to reconnecting soon. Thank you for listening. I wish you peace, I wish you love.