Category Archives: For Good

Be Gone, For Good

Couple of things

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We are less than a week away from our leaving date for the big Honduran trip and time is flying.  My hope is to get a few videos out over the next couple of days to show you all the packing and prep we have done for this trip.  It takes quite a bit to travel by bike anywhere let alone across borders.  We also have a new logo for BGFG and we are going to show it off here first.

Without further ado, here is the new logo.  We used a site called Logo Design Guru to get more than 100 different designs from freelance artists all vying for our grand prize.  It is an amazing way to work with artists and I would suggest you use them if ever you need a logo created.  Let us know what you think.

We have planned our route but with the recent storms and flooding in Texas we might have to revise a little bit on the fly.  We are excited to announce our first stop will likely be somewhere in southern Alabama.  Our goal is Mobile with a fallback of Montgomery.  If you are in the area and have a place for us to stay please send us a message.  We will bring the beer.  From there we are shooting for Austin on the second night so we can have a clean shot at the border for our third day.  The weather and damage in Texas may force us to reroute but our hope is we will be able to keep the schedule pretty tight.  If everything goes well, we will be leaving the US before noon on the third day.  We will have our GPS updating the website all along the way if you would like to follow along or even send us a message.  We will answer anything we can during our stops.

 

 

Be Gone, Diary, For Good

So there is some good news and some bad news…

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The bad news, of course, is this is the first post I have written since February.  That is clearly unacceptable and I apologize.  It seriously shouldn’t happen again unless the big trip happens and I have no access to a signal for many months.

The good news is that I have so many new experiences to tell you about.  The Honda is incredible and I can’t wait to tell you about it.  I have new gear to show you.  There have been some really adventurous trips I’ve had the chance to participate in and I have the photos and video to prove it.  The travel video is being edited now.  There is a ton of footage but some of it is really nice.

Keep tuned in and I will make sure to get you some great info shortly.  Thanks for sticking around and having patience.

Be Gone, For Good

The Dates are Set – June 2nd – 11th

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We have our plan finally taking shape.  Wes, Kevin and I all got together via Skype (video update coming soon) and figured out the days for our first trip.  We will be going from Chicago to The Badlands on June 2nd.  The entire trip should take about 8-10 days and we are going to do our best to update everyone along the way.

It didn’t take much but this simple meeting has reinvigorated me for this trip.  It reminds me of a great lesson that can apply to almost any aspect of my life.  When I get bogged down and start to feel like my wheels are spinning, get everything moving forward again with a deadline.  It doesn’t have to be a final deadline but even a recognition of your next milestone.

Now our next step is getting everything ready for the trip and getting our route down.  We are trying to consider all our options for camping so we can do this trip as in touch with the outdoors as possible.  We are also looking at opportunities for charity work along the way.  Some of these options will depend on our route but we should be considering these possibilities as well.

If anyone has contact with someone that could use three Marines’ service or just want to hear a good story between Chicago and The Badlands please reach out to us through this blog.

Be Gone, Diary, For Good

Hurdles and The Inevitable Bog Down

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This idea sprung up based almost completely on inspiration.  My dreams were to get a bike, plan a trip and find a billion ways to help others along the way.  Unfortunately, passion fades and before long I am left with the nitty gritty of real work.

The time spent on the bike learning is still spectacular and I am enjoying my time on the local roads just as much as ever.  Each mile on the road makes me feel better about the trips we have planned for the future.  I am looking forward to exotic travels to places I have never seen.

The trips are tough to plan but I have faith we will get everything together.  Right now, our initial issue is getting three guys who are all very busy to have two weeks free together.  My goal is to coordinate my journey so I can stop over at a few friends on my way to Chicago before the collective trip.

Lastly, my goal in doing all this travel is the “for good” part.  I began this quest with way too much arrogance about how valuable my time would be.  I thought people would respond to the trip and be interested in our story.  The truth is, after some research, this type of trip isn’t even slightly uncommon.  There are people all over the world doing far more intense trips.  We are ordinary by comparison.

My goal at this point its to find what makes us unique.  I need to capture our hook.  From there I can capitalize on an original narrative to find ways to benefit those we meet on our travels.  My first thought is to interview the people we meet in restaurants, hotels, gas stations and bars so I can flesh out a picture of what makes us similar around the world.  I want our travels to be a link so people can see themselves in a total stranger.  If I do it well, the world can be just a little bit smaller for everyone following along.

Be Gone, Diary, For Good, Inspiration

Christmas Wishes

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I don’t know why Christmas always seems like a time of reflection but as It’s a Wonderful Life plays behind me, I find myself drifting to thoughts reserved only for quiet nights near the fireplace.  Each year provides wholly new considerations of the year before and the coming days.  This Christmas is no different.

It wasn’t long ago I was struck with the idea of getting a motorbike and traveling with great friends of mine in order to see more of my world and meeting more of her inhabitants.  I started talking about these travels and one of the first things we discussed was just how we could be a benefit to the people we met along the way.  We all recognized just how lucky we have been in our lives and figured anything we could do for those less fortunate would not only be important but practically our duty.

We put our plan into action and started the ball rolling.  I knew one of the first things I would need to do is get a bike so I could learn how to ride before setting out for our many destinations.  The first step was accomplished last week and we are headed quickly towards each of the other goals.

There are a few things that give me an incredible amount of pride in this venture and the first is simply following a big dream.  For years I have thought about the “what ifs” and “maybes”.  Today, I am driving towards a goal with very real, deliberate steps and it makes me utterly satisfied.  In the new year I will be bringing you more stories of progression towards our ideals of meeting people who are less fortunate than ourselves while we travel and assisting them in any and every way we can.

If you can take one thing from my story this Christmas, it should be that passionate thoughts and bold actions will lead you to places where you can achieve what seemed impossible just weeks, months and years before.  You just have to believe.