How many times have we heard the term “Adventure”? If you are anything like me, you can’t finish your day without reading or hearing something about it. People all over the world share their stories with us, filling our mind’s eye with words and images from far off lands, telling us of places we may only dream of encountering. But what is “Adventure”? What does it mean? And how do we know if we are having one? Is there a way to create a journey that will satisfy some empirical definition of it? Or is “adventure” internal to us, individually? There is one thing for certain. What “adventure” may be for some may not be for others. But what is common among adventure seekers is the desire to live deliberately; to go outside our comfort zone and be certain our lives were lived “on purpose”. It is that spirit which leads us to experience someone or something new, or achieve something we never thought we could achieve.
And I suppose that is the definition. It doesn’t matter if you are crossing a county, a state, a country, a continent, or the world. An adventure is that which takes you beyond your perceived abilities and gives you intellectual and emotional growth. And what better device is there than the motorcycle to help you do it? Countless motorcyclists have “found themselves” through the motorcycle, by immersing themselves in the lands they travel. Sure it is a form of recreation. But it is also that place we go where it is just ourselves, inside our helmets, a place where no one else can be. The motorcycle is one of the only places that one can be alone, yet be surrounded by people at the same time. Where else do you get so much time to just be with yourself?
So, what is “Adventure”? Well, an adventure is that thing which leads you to a new place, not just literally, but figuratively as well. That thing that gives us everything we may want (and all that we may not want). In our journeys, where we are and what we are doing transcends any hardship that is in front of us. “Adventure” is personal and subjective, which is how it should remain. OUTLAND MOTO is an outlet for those to tell their stories of “Adventure”, to communicate the human experience of “being” on the motorcycle. After all, it is those immersive experiences that educate and enlighten our understanding of the world, and ourselves. I hope that you enjoy the stories that we give you in this magazine. And I encourage you to create your own adventure whenever possible. As Carl Sagan once said, “Our planet is a lonely speck in the great enveloping cosmic dark.” Let us explore and cherish this “pale blue dot” of ours!
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