The story of a journey is not always just about the journey. Sometimes what prompts a ride is part of the story. These two journeys were responses to a black wall of stress and depression that threatened to overwhelm the author. The first ride (Northeast) became a journey that reawakened faith in humanity and restored a balanced view of the world that had been slipping away, and the second (Northwest) was a preventative measure to fend off a return to that darkness and retain the progress made by the first. This ride across the North American continent revealed the overwhelming beauty of the natural world and the goodness of people along the way. Stress may return, but the great wide world is always out there, waiting to restore and reaffirm the value of life in it for anyone who takes up the challenge of experiencing it.

Table of Contents:
About the Author v Prologue ix Northeast 1 Planning 3 2 The Day before Departure 15 3 Day 1, Traversing the Southeast 19 4 Day 2, Reaching the Mountains 27 5 Day 3, Crossing the Mason-Dixon Line 35 6 Day 4, The Ridges Surrounding Altoona 41 7 Day 5, Into the Pennsylvania Wilderness to the Foothills of the Catskills 47 8 Day 6, The Catskills, Adirondacks, and Lake Champlain 57 9 Day 7, Into Canada 69 10 Day 8, To Rimouski and South to Maine 79 11 Day 9, Sally and the Boys in the Mirrors and the White Mountains Ahead 93 12 Day 10, The White and the Green Mountains, Schenectady, and the Catskills Again 103 13 Day 11, The Road to Gettysburg 115 14 Day 12, Back to My Beloved Blue Ridge 125 15 Day 13, Into Familiar Territory 141 16 Day 14, The Empty Georgia Countryside 153 17 Day 15, Heading Home 161 18 At Home 169 Northwest 1 Planning, Prompting, and Preparation 175 2 Day 1, North to the Appalachians 181 3 Day 2, Ozark Bound 187 4 Day 3, A Bittersweet Reunion 193 5 Day 4, The Great Plains to the Edge of the Rockies 199 6 Day 5, Over the Continental Divide 207 7 Day 6, Flaming Gorge and a Wild Ride into Jackson 215 8 Day 7, The Grand Tetons North to Butte 223 9 Day 8, Butte to Huckleberry Pie 229 10 Day 9, O Canada! 239 11 Day 10, Prairie and Wind 247 12 Day 11, Leaving the Great Plains 253 13 Day 12, A Foggy Lake and an Aerostich Miss 261 14 Day 13, To the Land of My Youth 269 15 Day 14, A Day Off 275 16 Day 15, Flat Farmland to Rolling Hills above the Ohio 279 17 Day 16-18, A Gathering of Vintage Japanese Motorcycles 285 18 Day 19, Across the Mason-Dixon, Bound for Georgia 291 19 Day 20, A Romp through West Georgia 295 20 Day 21, Homeward Bound 299 21 Epilogue, Restoration 303 Appendix I, Gear and Statistics 309 Appendix II, Complete Route, Turn by Turn 313 Acknowledgements 323