He was standing alongside the road between Fairbanks and Delta. I pulled over and he threw his bike in the back of my truck. He's a young Canuck from Vancouver Island, BC headed to Mexico in the Fall for a semester abroad to learn Spanish. Very chill cat.
He left Anchorage about a week ago and rode, I assume since he was riding with me, up to Fairbanks. His goal was first to ride the ALCAN. Then head to Yellowstone and the Rockies, kick over to Tennessee, then straight down to New Orleans. Over across Texas and down a 1000 miles into Mexico to the school he's going to in the Fall. Ambitious?! definitely!!
We talked for the 45 minutes together we shared headed to the IGA in Delta, I needed steak and eggs for my breakfast this week. We ran into Richard in the parking lot.
Today, Richard said he'd trade places with Alec in a second. Just that level of freedom again for even a moment. He loves his wife and little girl and the life they've built but there is an appeal to that freedom too. No house. No car. No bills. No retirement. No 401K. No job to be at. No real set plans. Moments of road magic like getting picked up by wonderful, interesting people like myself.
I absolutely understand. I crave it from time to time too, I think we all do to some degree even well into adulthood and middle age. What mother or father, husband or wife, hasn't had a moment where running away seems the most glorious thing, even if only for an instant, to live another life of our choosing?!
Sail away, hike the appalachian trail, bike across the country, chill on a beach in the tropics, migrant farming in Tuscany or Southern France. The stuff dreams are made of.
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