Many 55,000 miles

Somewhere around Dixon, Illinois, on the way back to Chicago from Pikes Peak, the odometer on my motorcycle turned 53,000 miles.

A lot of water has passed under the bridge since the first mile, ridden with great fear and thrill over Storm King Mountain, near West Point, on the west bank of the Hudson, in November 2001, two months after the 9/11 attacks, 50 miles south. Since then, the bike and I have been all over the 5 boroughs of New York City, from Queens to Staten Island, up and down the New Jersey Turnpike, all over the Gettysburg battlefield, ridden from northern Maine to Vancouver Island, all over New England, from Orient Point, Long Island to Orlando to New Orleans and back, up and down the Ohio River valley, around Lake Michigan, and from Chicago to Colorado Springs, up and down Pikes Peak in 90 minutes, up and down the Illinois-Indiana border, from Chicago to Manhattan and back...these miles all four seasons, in rain and shine, and temperatures from 20 to 100. And in some great and happy times, and some bad and sad times.

Watch this space for an update at 110,000 miles.