Road Trip: Rainy Days

It’s Friday once again, and we are at the end of another week. This week the theme was all about a road trip. While you were reading these posts, I was actually on a road trip myself, riding Route 66 from Joliet, Illinois to Clinton, Oklahoma. I have been looking at many places to incorporate into our RockStar Road Trip Workshop this coming September. And each and every time I ride on these trips, I get personal growth ideas for blogs and book topics. Today is no different.

Into everyone’s life a little rain must fall. As a biker, rain is the one thing that could really mess up your day of riding. It’s not as bad as snow but it definitely impacts your ride. When you’re at home and the weather is really bad you just don’t go out in it. You don’t have that choice on a road trip.

I talked this week about how life could be like a road trip. Just like in life, when you’re on a road trip and it rains you can’t just stay home. If it gets cold and you are already out, you must continue. You either drive through the cold and rain or you stop and sit it out until you can resume the trip.

I wrote about the detours and delays yesterday; they are a little different than the rain. Rain could be a delay, but what it really becomes is a complication in reaching a goal or desired location because not only does it slow you down, it can become uncomfortable. As I was riding yesterday through the rain, I was reminded of last summer when I rode in Yellowstone got to watch Old Faithful. I watched as a storm rolled in, and sat to see if it would pass but it didn’t. So after two hours of sitting, I decided to put on the rain gear and warm clothes and hit the road.

The rain eased up some, but after about 30 minutes a downpour started. At that point it was still 60 miles to get out of Yellowstone, and there was no place to just pull off and run for cover.  I could have stopped the bike and just sat in the rain somewhere, but I kept riding. It didn’t help that I was in a line of cars 20 deep and leading us was a motor home driving about 30 miles per hour. As a result, it took over two hours of driving to get out of the rain.

So yesterday in my travels I faced the same thing while driving on Route 66 in the rain. I also had many times that the turns for the highway, which is old and little used, are not marked. Then I would have to turn back and find where the road turned. It could make one very frustrated. But I was riding with three other bikers from the Michigan and Indiana area who were riding Route 66 all the way to California. Their attitude each day was “let’s just see how far we can go.” As all of these men were retired, they said it didn’t matter how long it took to get where they were going.

So when rain hits your life, the frustration of the world seems to be coming down, what do you do to get yourself though those tough times? Today I kept thinking I wanted to give up on this trip and head south and go home. After all, I’ve been away from my home and my family for over a month. Sleeping in the comfort of my bed sounds really good at this point. But I made a commitment to build this RockStar Road Trip, to be able to host a motorcycle road trip and personal growth workshop to help people find life purpose and set out a way to discover the dreams inside of them.

Today it was time to look towards the end goal, to keep my eyes peeled for those places that will make the upcoming workshop a huge success for those that attend. When delays occur, you must keep your focus going, to keep in mind that whatever this rain is in your life, it’s not going to last forever. Sooner or later the clouds are going to clear and you will be riding in warm sunshine again, a stronger person for enduring the rain. The great part about hitting the sunshine is, if the weather is warm, it dries off all your wet clothes while you ride. Even after delays, things seem to right themselves. Have a great weekend, take a road trip if you have a chance. If you ride a bike and the weather is good how about a 100-mile ride to get a good burger. I can’t think of a better way to eat out. I’ll see you next week.

I’m Tim Gillette, the Rocker Life Coach. It’s time for you to live the life you always wanted, love what you do and those who you share your life with. Let me help you with a plan to become the RockStar in your world.