Connecticut to California – Day 15 – August 26, 2000

By all accounts, I spent the day doing something that doesn’t make much sense.

I cleaned my Valkyrie.

You probably can imagine how dirty a bike can get in 5,000 miles – not only dirty, but severely splattered with bugs.  And to clean it – when I am about to leave on another 3,500 mile trip – borders on the insane.  Just leave it dirty – it’s only going to get dirty again – would be the rational thought.

But today wasn’t about rationality.  And, upon reflection, cleaning the motorcycle today was probably more for my benefit – than for the bike.  You see, the unhurried and deliberate cleaning of a motorcycle is a therapy that was well prescribed for me today.

Right behind the Miner’s Inn there is a coin-operated car wash and a Laundromat and across the street is a food market and a hardware store.  I pick up coffee, and condiments from the market – a bag of rags from the hardware – and drive to the car wash with my laundry in the trailer.

I wash down the bike – then pull it into the shade of the Laundromat building – put my laundry in the machines – and then step outside for a couple of hours of careful detail work – removing all the bugs – and polishing up the chrome.

At once, I realize that the exercise I am engaging in – is one of paying attention to the details.  For two weeks now – I have been journeying through the widest and most wonderful scenery in America – and I realize that I am like the pie dough my mother used to roll out with a rolling pin on the kitchen table. – I have been rolled out very wide and extremely thin.

I need to wad up that dough – because tomorrow I begin that rolling experience again – and the quiet and unhurried process of removing bugs and shining chrome – provides the opportunity to focus my mind on the details.

And there are other details as well.  I unload the trailer and turn it up on its rear – the suspension needs a little service.  It gives me an opportunity to slowly and carefully repack it.  Air pressures checked – oil level checked – just slowly work my way around the bike – all the while admiring the machine – with feelings beyond what a person should probably feel for a machine.  But this machine is different – and always will be.  This machine and I have traveled across America together – and while – even before this trip – I had a fondness for her – this experience together has altered my feelings and perception of her.  Today, tomorrow – and I think – every day – from this day forward – I will see her as the one who carried me on her back – on a great adventure.

So, I trust you will pardon the lack of pictures today.  Everything rested today – including the camera and the photographer.  Tomorrow, we begin a new adventure – a last ride through Yosemite – over Tioga Pass and across Nevada on Route 50 – said to be the loneliest road in America.

But before I say good night, I want to say just a word about all the wonderful people I have met at Valkyries in the Valley.  I have received probably too many compliments from these wonderful people about the diaries I’ve been writing – and I thank you all from the bottom of my heart for all your very kind comments and words of encouragement – but most especially the meaningful stories you have told me about how your life has been affected by them.  I am truly humbled.

Above all, I want to tell you how much I have enjoyed meeting Oz and Karen and to thank them for their support and generosity during my stay here.  Dear friends, I truly do hope you will come to Connecticut.

The farewells have been said – the alarm has been set – the bike trip meter says .8 the Garmin III+ trip meter says .8 and I say Goodnight - for the last time - from Mariposa, California.

Connecticut Yankee in Yosemite Valley- the Trek
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