Family and Friends
It’s been over a week since the cannonball ride through the midwest and landing in Elizabethtown, PA. I’ve intentionally paused on updating the site to focus on spending time with my loved ones. On Friday, I headed south to Virginia beach via Ocean City, MD. Then I headed west to visit Katy’s parents. I actually got started one day later than I expected, because as my bike was in the shop, they found I had a leaking final drive seal, and my aux lights were also flickering due to a bad potentiometer. While I felt like I was limping over there, they hooked me up, overnighted parts, and got Stormy back on the road the next day. (Yamaha, Triumph, KTM of Camp Hill is one of the best motorcycle shops I’ve experienced in my life, by the way.)
I’m not oblivious to the fact that we’re dealing with a pandemic. It’s made things different in how I engage with people. At the same time, we made an explicit decision to combine our “bubbles” and have a visit. It’s been a conflict for me to share my experience here, knowing that there will be some who will condemn my decisions. I realize that this is a polarizing issue, but it feels like the speed you choose to drive on the highway: people who are going faster than you are idiots, and the people who are going slower than you are morons.
In Ocean City, I spent a couple hours with an old friend and colleague from Andculture days, Pete. He, his wife, and his two kids were chilling on the beach, and up I walk, in boots, jeans, a black T-shirt, and my tank bag. It was about 90°F and humid, and I felt like a wet rag. It was so fantastic to catch up with them. Pete is a friend who I don’t see but maybe every other year, but we pick up right were we left off. He feels like someone I’ll know my whole life.
After that visit, I made it down to Sandbridge, VA to visit Justin. He’s another guy who I’ve known for years and always feel like I’m connected to. Up until this trip, he and I worked together at YouTube, but now that I’ve switched teams, we’re back to “just friends” after professionally dating for a little over a year. He and I have a complex relationship, and through it, I think our friendship is also in the lifelong category.
It’s strange though, the friends that last. Like many things in life, while you do your best to nurture various relationships, the test of time has its own opinions.
The following day, I made it to Stanley County, NC to visit Katy and her family. As expected, the visit has been wonderful. My parents also decided to drive down to visit and have dinner with us on Friday night. If you imagine days to be like musical chords, each independent interaction being its own note, there’s an intriguing overtone to this visit that was created by a conversation with my mom the last night I was in Pennsylvania. I don’t have permission to write about it now, but I will not forget it. Mom, if you’re reading this, I’m so proud of you.
I’m still in NC, expecting to leave in the morning for the Blue Ridge Parkway and the Tail of the Dragon in western NC. I love visiting Katy’s family. Both Bud and Theresa are wonderful people, and I feel like I can learn a lot from them. I’ve missed Katy a ton, so seeing her was a delight. It’s almost too much to process and write. There are things that are personal that I’m able to distill into sharable stories that make sense to others, and some things are personal and feel like they are only meant to be held by me. This past week was mostly the latter. When I’m back on the road, I hope I can integrate the thoughts an emotions of this week, and share the rest of this trip with you in a more interesting way. It’s hard to believe that while the trip is half over by the calendar, the second country-crossing will be twice as long as the first leg. I’m starting to get that feeling again: I’m ready to start the next chapter of this adventure.