I was really there!

I was really there! I can say that about a lot of places now.
I thank my parents daily for one tool for school  they purchased for us kids, which was really more like a gift to me. A big set of encyclopedias. World Book encyclopedias to be exact. Not exactly the kind of thing most kids look for at Christmas or birthdays but I was an information sponge and I loved them. I wanted to know more than what was just around me.
As a young lad and into my teens I would just grab a volume then flip through until I found something of interest and then read, repeat. I went through everyone of them. It was my version of the internet only better. There were no distractions like Facebook, Twitter, how to buy Viagra, earn a "college" degree online, how to make money (not really) on the internet, spam and the myriad of other useless distractions. It was just me and my books of information which I would explore, seeing the world through words and pictures, vowing to do some exploring of it in person. I'd say all of it but I am a bit of a realist and realize seeing everything was impossible.

Through these books I explored earth and space, or at least as much as was recorded in those volumes. I was intrigued with places to see. Some attainable only through those pages, or so I thought. I recall seeing a picture of the giant redwoods in northern California. Star Wars - Return of the Jedi shared them with me on the big screen only Hollywood called them a forest on the moon of Endor. Both the still images and  movie of these magnificent trees had me enthralled. In the encyclopedia was one tree in particular, one with a road through it. A plant so large that a hole large enough for a car to pass yet the tree was still alive? Our many family vacations took me to interesting places but never the redwoods and this drive thru tree.

It was on my list of things to see but over the years plans changed, life got busy and the tree was pushed into the recesses of my mind. Having seen news of forest fires and driven through smoke filled valleys I half convinced myself it probably didn't exist anymore. That picture was from a long time ago...in my lifespan, but memory can be selective, especially when presented with data that is hard to digest. Given my prairie upbringing, rain forest was just a term and it never really sank in that this tree, this giant redwood, was approximately 2400 years old. My life span was like a day in this tree's life.

Moving from my youth, past young adult hood I still never found the time to visit these giants, or more correctly nothing or nobody had lit the fire under my arse until my friend James,  just a few years ago. He had told me of these roads that started in the redwoods and then followed the coast. He was speaking of Highway 1, The Pacific Coast Highway. He went on about the curves, one after the other until you were convinced the road had been built by a sport motorcycle rider. When you emerged from the redwood forest suddenly wham! You were staring at the Pacific Ocean.
He had me at redwoods but the corners were enticing too.

James was planning a 25th year anniversary of his epic motorcycle trip down the coast. One he had done solo as every other riding buddy had found a lame excuse to jam out. (I did not know James then or I would have gone).
 "Would you like to go on my 25th anniversary of this trip? It will be the entire month of June."
If I had not been halfway through getting my breathing started again my response would have been a millisecond faster- "YES!"
Finally the day arrived and we were off. Up towards Whistler BC so we could then ride all the continuous paved road down the coast. Our final goal was San Diego. It took us 4 days from Whistler to get through Washington State and the scenic Oregon Coast before California appeared. The corners had been plentiful and fun but James said, "Just wait."
Huh? I had ridden what I thought was paradise and this was not impressing him? What lay ahead?
Following the 101 we saw fantastic ocean views, some fun corners but we left that where the 1 begins, in Leggett. That is where the tree is, Chandelier Tree. The one from my beloved World Book. It was still alive. I couldn't believe it and they only wanted $3.00 to go through it. My first major motorcycle trip and I got to see my tree I've been thinking of on and off all these years.
I was finally here! The last of 3 like it, with roads through. Once they die or burn down they will make no more due to new legislation protecting them. Riding through a forest of them still feels like a dream-like memory.  It was that moment it really clicked. I needed to get out and see all that I had seen in my encyclopedias and beyond those volumes I had read, all the places I had read about in magazines or heard from travellers. See it before this stuff is gone, or I am.
It is that desire that drives The Planet Tour, and I want to see as close to all of it as I can on 2 wheels. Once you find these gems you can proudly say "I can't believe I was really there! Holy shit I was!" I want to say that about a lot of places.