6000 Miles of Thoughts

Today I hit the 6000 mile mark since I left Los Angeles two months and 1 day ago.  

<a href="../photos/toskovoradino/thumbnails/6000-miles.jpg"><img border="0" src="../photos/toskovoradino/thumbnails/6000-miles.jpg" align="right" hspace="5" width="122" height="80"></a>Along with the photo on the right which captured the occasion exactly at 6000 miles somewhere about 500 miles east of Ulan Ude in the Siberian plains, I would like to share some of my thoughts which are both personal and related to the journey on a motorcycle.

Two months is a long time on and off the bike to sit and think.   More time to ponder about a plethora of subjects than I have had in the past couple of years.  

As I have given away mostly everything I own for this trip, including my job and my American visa, a large portion of my personal considerations are dedicated to wondering what next lies ahead in my life, not only in work but location as well either in the short term or long.  With nothing to go back to, this leaves the future even more uncertain.

Before I came to America I made a habit of every year going to someplace new and different in the world where I was far away from my everyday life.  I would use this opportunity to climb a hill or mountain somewhere with a good view and spend the day thinking.  Thinking about where I was and where I was going and how this correlated to where I wanted to be.  

Sometimes in our everyday life, we get distracted by the obvious and take turns in life sometimes where we don't want to go.

So I would use these opportunities to identify those wrong turns before I headed down that path too far and work out a solution to rectify before I returned from the excursion.

As I haven't seemed to do that for a number of years, that perspective is working overtime at the moment when I have all this time to think.

After or during this trip, I would like to take this opportunity to side step the career path I have been following in Information Technology and pursue other professions such as flying or setting up my own business someplace where I see opportunities.  In other words thinking a lot about what do I want to do with the rest of my life.  

Where will I be?  Is it time to return to New Zealand for a while?  Or continue on with the 7 continents? 

What work shall I do?  Should I stay with what I know and pays well regardless of how un-interesting it may have become?  Or should I continue down the path as a pilot somewhere in Africa or Sth America like I have dreamed about for a long time.   What's in the short term to earn money so I can continue the trip as long (or short ;-) as possible?  Working in bars? crewing on boats? writing travel or motorcycle articles for magazines and newspapers?

Where does the personal life lie?  Thinking of past loves and future ones?  when is it time to find a partner?  is there such a time? does it just happen?  Where is that person?  Is there one?

Maybe, there are better and bigger things to achieve?  like helping in a variety of ways the countless number of people we have encountered, either individually or as a society?  That would surely be a worthwhile effort.

Will my motorcycle hold up?  what will break next?  how much money will all this take?  what can I fix myself without buying?  my, that is a beautiful river.

And the thoughts go on and on, mostly without conclusion.  Some will work their own way to termination whilst others will require more thought and adjustment.  The refreshing reflection is that I am indeed thinking.  Thinking about thinks that matter to me and are important to me - many thoughts that haven't crossed my mind in many years.

In a way, using this time to re-discover myself.<a href="http://www.websitetoolbox.com/tool/mb/wunderlust">Discuss this post</a>