The Spiritual Journey
So, this journey has turned spiritual as well as musical, I suppose musical and spiritual are to be one in the same in many ways. What is truly musical is spiritual and what is spiritual is in essence the music of life (words fail me).
Having accidentally heard of Airbnb’s and I can’t even remember how. I did a search when at Rick and Shirley’s place in Mosheim, TN. Rich and Shirley are some of my closest friends and they have been a great support through this journey.
The first Airbnb I stayed in with Brandon and Jeanette in Nashville is the start. Brandon is studing to be clinical psychiatrist so the full day I was there waiting for the evening to play the Blue Bird Cafe and not being a tour the city kind of person, I began a conversation with Brandon. We explored many topics but untimately it boiled down to a spiritual understanding of life. As such, and I remember little of the details now, the gist is we meet no one on this journey of life we are not meant to meet and we are meant to meet for a reason. Brandon, a young man, imparted much wisdom to me that imprinted on my soul though I cannot quote it the imprint is there and at just the right time. In the discussion the quote from Aristotle came up, I think it was “the beginning of wisdom is recognizing we just don’t know” and I just found another Aristotlism “ knowing yourself is the beginning of all wisdom”. I must say Brandon and I are friends who met at just the right time also.
The next Airbnb is in Memphis, TN. I checked in with Janet, Mike and their son Andy. Janet works 2nd shift as a nurse in a prison so the first night there is little contact. The next morning again I have nothing really planned for the day other than getting a bit of groceries so not in a hurry to get out, since once again I do not play until the night at the Old Whitten Tavern and visiting tourist sites is not what this journey is about. Janet is up and drinking coffee on the couch and I grabbed a cup and sit down and our discussion turns to the spiritual. Janet confirms all that I have come to recently understand about our connection with all we meet, even though people we may not like the meeting of it is for a spiritual reason ultimately (though it may be years before we realize the meaning of the meeting). I cannot remember the words Janet used to describe the tie we all have through the One, God, Great Spirit, however you want to put it, but that tie is bases for all spiritual growth I think. I know I’m rambling but I hope the meaning comes through in some way for the readers. And, this tie works when our frequencies merge on the quantum level I think, though I do not know. Janet added more which words fail me to present but once again it’s summed up in the final line of that Metallica song “Nothing Else Matters” the line being “but I know”. Mike and I also had a long conversation about all things we knew and the spiritual. He too offered amazing insights into this journey we call life.
Today, Friday, 20th of July I’m with Karen at her airbnb outside of Fort Smith. My arrival was a bit of an adventure in gravel roading on a fully loaded Multistrada with the 17” front tire, that thing wants to plow and makes keeping the line pretty interesting at times. But, this really isn’t a motorcycle blog so back to the topic (well maybe riding with a plowing front end is spiritual). Karen is amazing, she has a vast musical background with her husband. They have been professional singer song writers their whole lives. I didn’t know this when I picked their place as my next designation. Well, last night Karen and I sat and sang songs, I mostly hogged the whole singing thing with my songs but Karen offered me great insight into singing in a manner which flowed better and allowed the phrasing to flow in a better way to tell the story my songs want to tell. Karen has imparted more confidence to me through her coaching, though I still remain green as a gord in a lot of all this, my goal is simply to present my songs, my music, to people in a way that keeps me out of the way and allows the message to come through, sounds simple but it ain’t. I had planned to travel on to Shamrock, Texas today but decided, there is no rush and another day with Karen with our singing and spiritual discussions (as she and her husband, they are soulmates) would be a great thing, and the fact is, I’m on no schedule. As Karen noted, Tracey has given me a great gift in that I’m able to do my “walk about” and explore all that needs to be explored in this journey and not be rushed. Completely out of nature for me to take my time being one who always wanted to “get it on”. So here I am at Karen’s kitchen table typing this out and spending a day here taking my time and preparing for the next bit of the journey.
The next stop over was Shamrock, Texas on Route 66. The motel looks like it was in that cartoon movie “Cars”. 
The stop over was more like any typical stop one would make at any motel, no real interaction with anyone else, just a bed and a room. I suppose that is the way a life goes much of the time. There is one meeting that was of interest in the scheme of life. I’d walked about 100 yards down from the motel to a drive in pizza joint and ordered a meatball sandwich, the lady said she could deliver it. So I went back to my room to literally chill, it was 108 degrees outside by then. I thought perhaps they had forgotten my sandwich but about 45 minutes later she knocked at the door with my sandwich and an extra Gatorade. She hands it to me an all my money back and I said what’s this. She said, “it took to long to get the sandwich to me and she was refunding the money” and I said “i’m In no hurry” and gave it back to her, 2 or 3 times before she’d take it.
Next, after crossing the deserts of west Texas and seeing the sign for Tucumcari, NM and remembering the lyric from the Little Feat song…I motored on into Trinidad, CO and found my airbnb for the night. Gary is the care taker and Gary and I had quite the conversation also. Gary is on the same journey as I and has been since his soul mate Tonya in 1998 also moved on to the next plane. We talked of the metaphysical, the meaning of life, the journey now and were it will lead and all the topics that have become constantly on my mind. Gary’s meeting with his Tonya is the story of a beautiful meeting of two people on completely different paths before but their paths became one once they met. Gary returned from Nam to be met by protestors at the airport, he heard them behind saying he was a baby killer, he turned to reply and stress he was no baby killer and there stood Tonya, in a yellow dress, a hippy chick. He was smitten and she to for that matter. And so began their earthly life as soulmates. They too joked of all the things Tracey and I joked of. Who would go first, who got the “luckiest” in the meeting (Gary and I both know we were the the luckiest when our soulmates found us). They too were opposites in many respects who grew to be a blend of each other. I wish I could write this with eloquence to express and impart the meeting and the growth through life we both went on so that the readers will take away a desire to cherish more fully their soulmates while on the journey together.
Monday, leaving Trinidad I headed out west on highway 12, the views and the ride amazing, no traffic at all for miles upon miles. The temperature high 60s and perfect weather. I then hit 160 and picked up a bit more traffic but still the temps and weather were great. At the fuel stop in Fort Garland (I think it was) I had a conversation with a fellow about the fires they’d had a few weeks earlier, I’d ridden by a burnt out section before Fort Garland. He’d moved out here 40 years ago and had already lost one place to fires several years earlier. This time not so, the timber all around was burned and he had been evacuated, he spent two weeks in his SUV with his dog, but the fire fighters saved his house,he was one of the fortunate this time around.
Then on across Wolf Pass. Haven’t checked the elevation as yet but it’s up there. I rode through beatle killed forest, perfect fuel for a fire. Just like at home if the winter isn’t cold enough, for us that is cold enough to freeze the tree 4” in for 10 days which kills the beatle larva and if this doesn’t happen then the result is the Beatles damage and eventually kill the trees.
Well, tourist traffic picked up with there motor homes and the heat rose as I dropped elevation so the last hour and a half was a bit slower going than I liked and a bit hotter. Having passed through the Arkansas, Oklahoma, west Texas and New Mexico dessert heat with their triple digit temperatures, it doesn’t seem near as bad when it hits the 90s anymore.
Arriving in Durango the traffic was creeping through this small Colorado city. Tourist again, I guess I are one too. Arrived at Nancy and Mike’s place and Nancy greeted me. Once again the discussion went spiritual, that’s where my mind is at I suppose. I told Nancy of the signs Tracey has given me and the one of the entertained snakes. Nancy understood where I’m at as her and Mike are soulmates who have many similarities to Tracey and I in their journey on this earthly plane. Nancy invited me to a meditation seminar that evening but I was ready to chill for a bit and decided to stay in. Nancy came back and said the talk turned to Quantum entanglements along the same lines as we had discussed earlier. Mike, Nancy and I went out to eat then and upon return whilst showing them the pictures from Scotland the discussion turned to the spiritual once again, I’m finding it hard once again to put into words the surety of our unity once our soulmate is found but not only that, the surety that all we meet in this journey we become entangled with on the quantum level and will be throughout infinity. As I think I gathered from our discussion we are all part of the sea of souls and connected in ways we mostly do not see but the connection is there though we may not see it as yet. I must add, we all must not be afraid to meet people, though some may not be the most pleasant and they will be few, the meeting is what is designed for our growth as we walk though this thing we call life.
As I was eating my breakfast Nancy and I talked again. Right now after a day riding through the desert I can’t remember verbatum what was said, but, it was good for my soul.
The journey today Tracey once again showed me the way and it was the most amazing journey yet in my earthly ride. See the tour page for pictures. It was as meaningful visually and to my senses as it was spiritually. The desert when one is alone speaks volumes to the soul.
So now I have entered the spiritually dead zone of my journey to date. I rolled down to Cedar city and though the trip to Cedar City was beautiful and spiritual as such, once I began to come down from the mountains I felt I was entering a black hole. And the closer I got to Vegas the blacker it got. Now I’m sure there are some good people here but in a city of millions of people who are mostly about a life style I find little I can relate too, well, chances of getting below that surface, behind the facade, are slim at best. It is perhaps a failing of mine because I shy away from crowds but will engage with individuals. People in groups rarely want to engage. Ah, this is the same thought Simon, an English motorcyclist I met, had as we conversed at Bryce Canyon. We were discussing riding alone and the observation that one will talk to others more intimately alone than if one is in a motorcycle group. This to I have noticed about any encounter with others.
So I’m preparing to leave “Sin City” tomorrow and head towards California and the Sierra mountains. One night in a motel then a visit with friends.
My stay with Mike and Cathy in Foresthill California was up lifting in many ways. Though fires raged all around California and smoke hung in the hills around Foresthill, I still gained some nice friends and had a good visit and met Mike’s breakfast bunch. Great people it was nice to sit and shoot the breeze with, which is needed many times in life. I was sad to leave but knew I had to roll on. I entered Oregon and received a call that the Deputies had invaded my home on a “wellness” check and why they could call me after invasion and not before is a bit fishy. So I have that to deal with with I get back I suppose. But that too can wait. I will continue to search for what I need even though this journey has many spiritual ups and downs. My thoughts on a constant roller coaster while I try to figure out why I should even want to remain is such a world as confronts me with constant craziness such as that call. We all live in a world lacking greatly in true spirituality and caring for others, but a world full of rules which in the end kill spirituality and flexibility with others views and needs. Such a world has little appeal to me anymore as I have tired of trying to fight it.
So my journey continues on and I passed through some beautiful places on my ride to Idaho. Names of these places caught my attention and have spiritual meanings which may come to me later but now, I have been so seriously shot down by recent events back at the old home that it plagues my mind with thoughts of this life. I am thankful to my good friends Linda and Fred who have told me I must continue on. As have my friends here on Lake Coeur d’Alene, Myra and Jerry. So I will endeavor to persevere. Sometimes that is all I can do as I try to find meaning and a reason to try and go on. Perhaps there is to be a great lesson in this dark time I have entered and I will see why on the other side of this darkness. Perhaps this journey is so I will find a place I can make a difference in others lives. A place where by sharing my struggles and music I can inspire others in their trials in this life. For all of us their are trials of some form and none of us are alone in the struggle, though, many times we all feel very much alone, none more so than I with Tracey’s going on before and the mind set that has put me in.
I’ve not written in some time. I have been in a bad way, a bit like that lost cowboy in the dessert, wandering aimlessly, seeing a mirage, dying of thirst, and all alone. Truth is I know I’m alone, and though friends and family have offered relief, they cannot offer the relief I need. When I’m with people I know I’m alone without Tracey. At least until yesterday I thought this way most of the time unless I was with Tracey in meditation. Then I received the psychic reading. Which, I knew was off in many key points that Tracey and I had already discussed. Then last nights meditation with Tracey made me realize clearly I’m not alone, Tracey is with me always until I too pass over and go to her. Until then Tracey will be my guide in this life, I can seek her council myself and I will have help with the questions of what I’m to do until that time.