Why did it end?
Departing in May, myself and my battle buddy departed from Wilmington, NC to begin our journey around the Country. Bruce and I were finally on our way after months of planning and fundraising challenges. Changes had left us as a two person team from our initial three man team that was to include a Navy Veteran, and aspiring filmmaker, Jason Conyers.
Our first day was a hot and long one that began with an emotional departure. After bunking down in Short Stay at Lake Moultrie, SC we picked up the southern leg of the South Carolina Adventure Route. After several hours of riding in my least favorite terrain(sand) we communicated to one another that we didn’t need to be heroes on the second day. We made the call to find pavement at the next opportunity. As my luck would have it, the depth of sand became dramatically deeper the instant we agreed to a change of route. I did the best I could but ended up having a come-off resulting in some damage to the panniers and windscreen of my bike.
Not feeling too bad from it and successfully collecting the shrapnel from the incident, we made our way to accommodations for the evening. A good meal, a good night’s rest, and plenty of anti-inflammatories later we reassembled the epoxied pieces and resumed our journey. Our third day was to bring us to Suches, GA via Toccoa, GA where we hoped to visit the Currahee Military Museum. We spent most of this day riding in silence as our headsets weren’t working properly but I didn’t mind. We are both used to riding alone. The town of Toccoa and the Museum were great. Seeing such a collection of Airborne History really brought me back to training and to my service. The ride to Suches was beautiful and twisty but the conclusion of this third day was not going to be a positive one. Bruce had to go home.
I will not speak for his reasons as those reasons are his alone. I will state here that there really was not anything that occurred between he and I to bring his participation to a close. We spoke that last evening amid my surprise to his change of heart and again the next morning. He was done……I didn’t get it then but maybe that was foreshadowing. I left him sitting in the campground at his behest, my mind jumbled.
Riding alone leaving Suches was surreal. I felt upset, mad, feeling an overwhelming sense of deja vu, and mostly just alone. I did some scenic riding that day. A reroute to the Cherohala Skyway due to paving at The Tail of The Dragon was a last minute decision placing me in Tellico Plains, TN at the right place, and at the right time. Even though I felt selfish, I decided to stay at a lodge that I’d passed several times during previous trips. I was lost with time to kill and I needed a place to regroup. The Lodge at Tellico Plains was a welcome respite. Barely four days into this adventure and I was feeling beaten. Why did he tap and why was I jealous?
The scope of this ride was enormous. Three months and 15,000 miles is a daunting task under the best of mindsets, but while I was dealing with my own inner strife, Bruce was struggling as well. We don’t always find strength in others, especially when we are accustomed to doing it on our own. He and I had been
