One of my favorite authors is Peter Egan, His style of writing invites you to join him in his journeys. He writes in a column style, or short story style.

In one he wrote..” there is real romance in motorcycling, and its always recognized by a certain type of individual who values adventure above security and comfort. Luckily, every generation seems to produce a surprising number of these people “

Its in the spirit of that romance that I usually find myself flipping thru the pages of one of my paper maps wondering what is out there. Or reading a story of an adventure someone did and finding a map of that area and try to follow them along the way.

There is a lot to be said for the value of paper maps. In a world chuck full of technology, iPhones, iPads and gps devices I think fewer and fewer people look at paper maps. Now I do travel with my gps almost ever ride, and I realize it is one of the best tools for adventures. However I never go out without a map or map book, I never leave home without it.

It’s like listening to old music that I haven’t heard in a while. I was chatting with a friend sharing our love for music that we grew up with, as she was naming bands from our youth I was plugging them into Spotify to hear some great songs from our past. It was bringing me back to the early days of my youth. Days spent riding around without any technology, just me, my motorcycle and the possibility of new adventures.

I created a playlist of songs from that era to play thru my Bluetooth headset the next time I go for a ride so I can reminisce about simpler times.

Or, maybe I should leave the Bluetooth behind, unplug the gps and just strap a map to my tank an see where that road will take me. Just like the good ole days!

Read a map, Find some romance, loose yourself in an adventure and take a few risks!

Life is way to short not too.