Stories from the Road

How Many Days are you?

79 years = 28835 days
56 years =20440 days
25 years =9525 days

The average male lives to be about 79 in the state where I live. Which translates to 28,835 days. Now if you are reading this and you are in your mid 20s you are only 8500 days into your life, you may be thinking I have a long way to go, however let me tell you those next 20,000 are going to fly right on by!

Me, Well I just turned 20,440 days old, and it just seemed like yesterday I was about 10,000 days old! Now I hope I get to have a healthy average age, and maybe even a few hundred extra days added to my total. However, I’m not really thinking about day # 28,000 or beyond, I’m really concentrating on enjoying day # 20441. That is how I live my life, enjoying every day as it comes. You should too!

Some love to get outside and hike, others love to travel to foreign lands and others just enjoy their very own back yard. Or like my dad whose dream was to live on a lake and spend his golden days sitting in a canoe floating on a peaceful pond! Then there are fools like me that enjoy getting on a motorcycle and exploring. There is no wrong answer here on how to enjoy your days. Even the people who can’t seem to push themselves away from the work desk are living the best of their days doing what moves them. Although I read a quote once many years ago and it sticks with me it goes something like this…

“The only people who will remember you worked late will be your loved ones.”

Finding that balance between working late for the man and enjoying your life can be a challenge, or can it?

I’m here to tell you that it’s very easy. There is one very easy way to find this balance, go purchase a motorcycle and take a trip on it. Once you do this your life will change, and then you will see that spending your last 15,000 days on this planet will become so much easier to manage. I’m in the middle of taking the month of August off and traveling on my motorcycles. And yes, I feel very lucky and blessed that I am able to do this. However, I do work very hard and when it’s time to put my nose to the grindstone or make hay when the sun is shining, I don’t mess around. I recently connected with an old friend from high school whom I haven’t seen in 14,000 days, he also is a motorcyclist and travels on his bikes. We are talking about meeting up some day and riding together. When I told him I was off for the month exploring he was like, dude that is awesome! I followed that up with I want my last days to be like this.

Nearly broke, with no money left but instead have a memory “bank account” filled with the most amazing days. Whether its 20,442 or 28,836.

I’m currently packing up for another trip, this time on old Big Blue and we are taking off with a few friends to find some dirt roads in PA, then visit a racetrack in the Pittsburgh area to watch one of my all-time favorite sports, motorcycle racing.

I’ll bring a book with me so if it’s a rainy morning I’ll sip my coffee slowly and read a bit. When the sun is shining, I will explore some lonely back roads. I will stop and take photos and videos and post them up on social media. I plan on stopping at small diners for yummy foods, I will talk to strangers at gas stations. I will sleep in beds made by others. I will take some wrong turns, both by accident and on purpose. This is how I choose to spend my days.

Yes, I have work that could be done, and when I get back home after a week or so I shall do that work. it will wait for me. However, for right now, on this day. Which is 20,458 I’m going to continue making memories and not working late! My gift to my loved ones will be knowing that I lived my life trying my best to make my days the best possible each and every day.

So, my quest to you is this. Today is just another day in your life, what are you going to do in it?