Darrin Dance
Nepal [Himalayas]. Motorcycle. 12 days.
A bucket list ride 11 months in the making starts in 19 days and I’m going.
A big big thank you to my wife, Giant Loop Moto | Soft Luggage forMotorcycles & Dirt Bikes, Far Xplorer and Royal Enfield – Official Website for helping this dream happen.
[Part 1] The Decision
On January 4th, I was sitting in the bleachers at my daughter's basketball game, scrolling through emails when Giant Loop Moto | Soft Luggage forMotorcycles & Dirt Bikes caught my eye. Giant Loop, in case you’ve been living under a rock, or didn’t hit the link, is a motorcycle/UTV/overlanding/snow machine gear company that makes luggage, gas bags and a ton of other great products for the machines and adventures we love. Being based out of Bend, Oregon with the motto “Go light, Go fast, Go far”, I’m obviously a fan.
I opened the email, in it were typical product spotlights, events and other happenings specific to Giant Loop. As I quickly scanned, near the bottom, I saw the spotlight “Giant Loop Ride Himalaya”. My interest peaked, maybe not Everest peaked at this point, but definitely Mt. Borah peaked! I read it thoroughly and was completely enthralled by the far away places being described. I had always thought it would be so amazing to do something like this. But, for reasons which were self imposed, I thought it was out of my reach.
Whatever it was that caused me to quit dreaming about seeing far away places on a motorcycle can go to hell. Even with Covid happening, this ride was also happening with or without me. A bucket list ride on a motorcycle in a far away place, yup, that’s for me. The idea changed from; man I wish I could do this to; I can actually make this happen! At that point, my mind and the world opened back up. Wide open.
I had my friend Travis read the email to get his take, he quickly concurred, definitely a bucket list ride! That’s all I needed, or so I thought at that point. My brain paused for a split second, then went full speed on how amazing this trip could be. Full of anticipation, I filled out the form and sent it to Christophe, owner of Far Xplorer, the company selected by Giant Loop to guide the ride. I then retreated back to high thoughts of the Himalayas.
While daydreaming, I was rudely snapped back to reality when the scoreboard buzzer screamed its displeasure of a time clock expiring. The buzzer also jarred the thought that I should probably discuss this with my beautiful wife before I let it go any further. We weren’t sitting by each other at the game because we’ve chosen to sometimes sit apart since she enjoys talking to other people. Who does that? Anyway, as I cautiously approached her to get the conversation started, all of a sudden the potential problems and concerns with my thought process seemed to grow to Himalayan proportions. The feeling of being unprepared welled up again, but I was committed so I hesitantly shifted the conversation into 1st gear and very slowly began to inch the dream forward. As the words to my beautiful wife began to stutter out, I went full throttle way too fast. I thought my rationalizations were smooth and my justifications were solid and was actually quite impressed with myself. Then, straight outta nowhere, the obstacles rose up and the questions came at me hard. Was I kidding? Had I even thought about what I was saying? How long had I been planning this? Why didn’t I tell her sooner? Do I even know any of the people I’d be going with? How much does it cost? How are you going to pay for this? The questions were rapid fire man. Her brain is amazing! I wasn’t prepared and wadded this conversation up spectacularly. Didn’t even make it over the first bump, let alone the first lap. Damn it. My response was slow and foggy, which she fully expected. She’s known for years that I don't have the ability to think things through well enough to satisfy the female brain. I’m sure she thought long and hard about this before she married me, but I’m grateful she chose to overlook a plethora of flaws. As the brain fog began to burn off, I gracefully and quickly admitted that we should table any firm decisions and circle back to this in a month or two, after the healing and thought process has had some time.
It didn’t take a month, it only took a day. She called, we talked, and she agreed that I should go. What? She said she knew it was something I had always wanted to do and I definitely wasn’t getting any younger. If I haven’t mentioned how beautiful and amazing she is, believe me, she is! And I was elated! I was so happy I decided that now was a good time to share the great news of being ahead of the curve. In my wisdom, I had already signed up and was officially part of the ride! The pause on the other end of the phone was deafening. Damn it! Slow down man! She sighed, again reaffirming the flaws in the prize she’d agreed to marry, and said she was actually excited for me to be able to do this. Yup, she’s that amazing.
So, I’m here to tell ya, dreams happen. Not really on their own though, if you’re like me, you’ll crash and burn a lot before you get to where you want to be. But, when the opportunities are knocking, get off the bleachers and in the game. Just get the ball rolling, start with a layup. Someone once said, you miss every shot you don’t take. I shot for the Himalayas and just drained a deep 3 pointer. So, on November 19th, I’m scheduled to fly to Kathmandu, Nepal. To ride a motorcycle. In the Himalayas. For 12 days.
I should probably prepare myself. I’ve got some ideas. I’ll share that next time. And yes, my daughter’s team won the game.
