Lessons Learned
Well, I have been back over a week now from my Scooter Cannonball Run adventure and the five day New York City adventure. Lots of lessons have been learned. Some I already knew from previous experiences and some were brand new life lessons. Here are a few things I learned....
1) There will be personality conflicts no matter what. Someone is always going to be the "asshole" on the trip. You have a choice. Either to let that person ruin your fun or not. I chose to not let this person ruin my fun, and in doing so, had the time of my life.
2) People really are good. I encountered all kinds of people on my trip thru what I call "Middle America". These are the people who are America, in my opinion. When I stopped at gas stations or auto parts stores, people were genuinely interested in hearing about my trip across the U.S. They wished me well, wished me luck, and in some cases, said they would pray for me. It was genuine and it was from the heart. With few exceptions, I never encountered any negativity, and when I did, it was so shocking, I didn't know what to do! Heck, I had such an adrenaline rush for the trip, I am surprised I could think straight!
3) Never underestimate the power of other scooterists to help you out, give you good advice and just plain ol' be there for you. I was reminded time and time again of how cool of a community scooterists are. Yes, we all come from different walks of life, but our crazy obsession with scooters is what brings us together. The Cannonballers all looked out for one another, even going so far as waiting until the last 'baller rolled into Scooters Originali. It felt great to be a part of something like this. I will be forever grateful to Rocket, Bagel and Mike H for all the solid advise they gave me about my scooter and to Bobo, Noe and Scott Baxter for riding with me on various occasions. I will also be forever grateful to Sara, Chris, Rob, Rocket, Michael, John, and Bobo for allowing me floor space and/or a bed to sleep in every night.
4) Attitude really is everything. If you choose to have fun, you will. No matter how bad things can get (and believe me, they can get bad!) you always have a choice on how you are going to react. Sometimes choosing the high road is the most difficult, but often the most rewarding choice.
5) You can prepare and prepare and still have everything go wrong. Or you can do your best and have everything go right. No one knows how it's all going to end. You do the best you can with what you have and hope (and pray) for the best.
6) Having friends and family all over the country praying for you and thinking about you is awesome. Getting your scooter blessed is even awesomer!! Some people kind of chuckled when they heard I had my scooter blessed, but you know what, I felt protected and safe on the trip. A group of friends also prayed with me and prayed over me the night before I left. This left an impression on me, and the sense I had on the the trip was that I was protected by something larger than me, also known as GOD. It was an amazing feeling.
I am still reflecting on this experience and if I come up with anything else, I will post it here. I hope to post some bits and pieces on my New York portion of the trip. We'll see how the week goes!
1) There will be personality conflicts no matter what. Someone is always going to be the "asshole" on the trip. You have a choice. Either to let that person ruin your fun or not. I chose to not let this person ruin my fun, and in doing so, had the time of my life.
2) People really are good. I encountered all kinds of people on my trip thru what I call "Middle America". These are the people who are America, in my opinion. When I stopped at gas stations or auto parts stores, people were genuinely interested in hearing about my trip across the U.S. They wished me well, wished me luck, and in some cases, said they would pray for me. It was genuine and it was from the heart. With few exceptions, I never encountered any negativity, and when I did, it was so shocking, I didn't know what to do! Heck, I had such an adrenaline rush for the trip, I am surprised I could think straight!
3) Never underestimate the power of other scooterists to help you out, give you good advice and just plain ol' be there for you. I was reminded time and time again of how cool of a community scooterists are. Yes, we all come from different walks of life, but our crazy obsession with scooters is what brings us together. The Cannonballers all looked out for one another, even going so far as waiting until the last 'baller rolled into Scooters Originali. It felt great to be a part of something like this. I will be forever grateful to Rocket, Bagel and Mike H for all the solid advise they gave me about my scooter and to Bobo, Noe and Scott Baxter for riding with me on various occasions. I will also be forever grateful to Sara, Chris, Rob, Rocket, Michael, John, and Bobo for allowing me floor space and/or a bed to sleep in every night.
4) Attitude really is everything. If you choose to have fun, you will. No matter how bad things can get (and believe me, they can get bad!) you always have a choice on how you are going to react. Sometimes choosing the high road is the most difficult, but often the most rewarding choice.
5) You can prepare and prepare and still have everything go wrong. Or you can do your best and have everything go right. No one knows how it's all going to end. You do the best you can with what you have and hope (and pray) for the best.
6) Having friends and family all over the country praying for you and thinking about you is awesome. Getting your scooter blessed is even awesomer!! Some people kind of chuckled when they heard I had my scooter blessed, but you know what, I felt protected and safe on the trip. A group of friends also prayed with me and prayed over me the night before I left. This left an impression on me, and the sense I had on the the trip was that I was protected by something larger than me, also known as GOD. It was an amazing feeling.
I am still reflecting on this experience and if I come up with anything else, I will post it here. I hope to post some bits and pieces on my New York portion of the trip. We'll see how the week goes!