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Why Go??? How My Distraction Started

By Thom | January 11, 2008

Why did I take 6 weeks off in the summer to go and pursue a dream? Because I could… and I was hooked on seeing the world from a motorbike seat. It all started over my 2006 holiday vacation when Katie and I had rented “Long Way Round” which was a BBC TV series about Ewan McGregor (the famous actor) and Charley Boorman (the kinda famous actor) trip around the world. I was mesmerized, Katie was bored to death. Afterwards I thought to myself that I needed to plan a trip somewhere that I had always wanted to go and see. I had purchased a motorcycle in October of that year, my ‘82 Honda Silverwing, that was capable of making the trek and so I decided that I wanted to make it to the Redwood Forrest of California. As with any trip, the more I researched, the more places I wanted to stop and see.

The “Westward Distraction” title is derived from where I was going – westward, and the distraction part, well.. it’s all that I could think about.

In the end, I decided that I was going to attempt to camp for most of the trip to save money, not bring a stove (so I experienced local food), and invite my father along for the first part of the trip.

I also decided to attempt to earn membership in the Iron Butt Club These are people from around the world that due incredible distances and challenges on a motorcycle. They have several challenges, the Saddle Sore 1000 (riding 1000 miles in 24 hours), the Great Lakes Challenge (ride around the Great Lakes in under 50 hours) and 50CC (ride coast to coast in under 50 hours) along with an eleven day, 11,000-mile rally.

I decided that I would try my throttle at attempting the National Parks challenge, which you have a year to complete (great if the bike breaks down, which it did). The challenge states that you must visit 50 different National Parks in 25 different states. So with that in mind, I started to plan my trip around different National Parks. The rest is history (err.. in other posts too).

~Thom

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• Announcing Eastward Distraction ‘08
• Bike to Bayfield ‘08 – Day One
• Westward Distraction: Day Eight
• Westward Distraction: Day Two
• Bike to Bayfield ‘08 – Day Two

Topics: Westward Distraction '07 | 1 Comment »

One Response to “Why Go??? How My Distraction Started”

1. Looking for the start of my summer motorcycle trip? | Train With Thom Says:
   January 22nd, 2008 at 9:04 am

   [...] http://trainwiththom.com/2008/01/11/why-how-it-all-started/  [...]

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