Sojourn Chronicles

Winter still hangs on. Last night, freezing rain pelted the area. And, just as quickly, the temperatures climbed and all the ice was gone by morning. That freezing rain prevented us, my wife and I, from going to see the sneak preview Wild Hogs. Oh well, it opens in theaters next weekend. We can wait.

Thursday, I took the bike around the parking lot. I never winterize my bike. There are always days when the temps are warm enough to go for a short spin. Therefore, I try to ride it, or at least start it, every couple of weeks. The temptation was too great. The bike was running, the exhaust singing a tune that went something like … “ride me. Ride Me. RIDE ME.” So I did, and the short, one-minute ride to the end of the parking lot and back only invigorated my desire.

The next best thing is to read some journal entries and posts by motorcyclists on the internet. Today’s technologies, allowing words, images, audio and video, to be distributed by the lone author/editor is amazing. To just post an article on a web site is not enough. To send an e-mail to all your friends, is too limiting. But to post your words and images on a site that pushes content to anyone who wants to subscribe … that’s enriching! Anyone who is not familiar with, or not learning about how to subscribe to a blog is missing out on a lot of entertaining and informative reading. Anytime a post is written, it is automatically delivered through an RSS feed to the subscriber–you. If you have something to say, you really should be blogging.

A conglomeration of motorcycling writers can be found on the Motorcycle Bloggers International web site. From MBI, and other links, I found several worth reading.

Sojourner’s Moto Tales
Motorcycle Views
Chasing Horizons: two brothers in Australia on their dream trip
Forty Years on Two Wheels
Motorcycle Misadventures: by author of American Borders, Carla King
Last, but not least, a woman who put 52,000 miles on a bike in 2006: her web site is
Seize the Journey, and here is her blog.

There are others. Just start exploring, and you will find your own favorites.–DBrent

My wife and I try to talk with our son every week. The difficulty is that he is in the Peace Corps serving in the village of Chikwawa, in southern Malawi. He has been there since October, 2006, and seems to be doing very well. But … he has spoken of the difficulties there.

Malawi is a very poor nation. In fact, it is one of the most poverty-stricken nations in the world. In his village, Stuart says the average income is about $300 per year, and most of that comes from farming. Stuart’s voice was rather discouraging today. You see, there has been drought and too much rain at times. Between the dryness and the flooding, there will be no harvest this year.

That may not seem significant. After all, this is in Africa, a long way away, out of sight and out of mind. Stuart reports the people are hungry. His mother asked what would they do, and he replied, “Starve.” There was silence on the phone–both ends of the line. He reported that several aid agencies, including the United Nations, are trying to bring some food to the village and region. Although water is plentiful, the water comes from wells without the aid of pumps. Irrigation systems are non-existent.

One of his most profound statements: “It’s hard to teach young minds when they are only thinking about how hungry they are.”

It puts a completely different perspective on life, doesn’t it?–DBrent