May 1st came and went. This is the legacy?

[E-Thirty]

A fitting end to this journey.

[dirty30]

VA. Its one of the last places in the country where the true good old boy system is still in place in most of the southern counties. You gotta remember most of the small towns (southeastern WV included) down there were isolated and still cling to the lawless mindset of the prohibition era. Slammin can back me up. I know what he's runnin' in that ole E28. Probably cookin' in the woods somewhere.

[tom d]

jake, congratulations on your journey. I just skimmed through it and I have a similar tale to tell.

in dec of 2007 I was diagnosed with a stage 4 cancer. early in 2009 I lost my job. in dec of 2010 my fiancé of 11 years called it quits and then on April 1st of 2011 my father died of cancer.

so after my father's funeral I flew back to California, put my stuff in storage, packed my motorcycle and took off for a ride, a ride that took me 10 months and 24,000 miles to complete.

like you I stopped and met/visited new and old friends along the way, but unlike you I took somebody with me, my father's ashes. he kept me safe and watched over me and I took him for one last lap around the country. along the way I left his remains at places of significance and grandeur, but most importantly I found his parents gravesites in Massachusetts and left ashes with them.

shortly after completing this trip in feb of 2013 I went to visit my doctors, all three of them. these visits coincided with the 5th year anniversary of me completing cancer treatment and all three of my doctors concurred that I was cured.not bad for a guy that 5 years earlier was given a 30% chance to survive 5 years.

and that's my story.

[ajhostetter]

[quote=tom d;3983494 ...my fiancé of 11 years called it quits... [/quote]

Not to be a dick, but seriously, how long did you think she'd stick around??

[tom d]

^ it's easier then writing my girlfriend of 11 years who I was engaged to for the last year........

but you're right, only a dick would point out that omission out instead of paying attention to the bigger picture.

[ajhostetter]

Just surprised she hung around that long. That's impressive. That said, sounds like it's been a hell of a couple 'a years.

[accident]

Damn, too bad I missed this, you could have crashed at my house in Phoenix!

[thatphysicsguy]

jake, congratulations on your journey. I just skimmed through it and I have a similar tale to tell.

in dec of 2007 I was diagnosed with a stage 4 cancer. early in 2009 I lost my job. in dec of 2010 my fiancé of 11 years called it quits and then on April 1st of 2011 my father died of cancer.

so after my father's funeral I flew back to California, put my stuff in storage, packed my motorcycle and took off for a ride, a ride that took me 10 months and 24,000 miles to complete.

like you I stopped and met/visited new and old friends along the way, but unlike you I took somebody with me, my father's ashes. he kept me safe and watched over me and I took him for one last lap around the country. along the way I left his remains at places of significance and grandeur, but most importantly I found his parents gravesites in Massachusetts and left ashes with them.

shortly after completing this trip in feb of 2013 I went to visit my doctors, all three of them. these visits coincided with the 5th year anniversary of me completing cancer treatment and all three of my doctors concurred that I was cured.not bad for a guy that 5 years earlier was given a 30% chance to survive 5 years.

and that's my story.

That's a pretty cool trip: Very inspiring and touching!

[ck_taft325is]

Lol shit late to the party.

[anabolice30]

Awesome trip man, I'm a little late to the party, but huge respect for having the stones to drop everything and just do it.

[TurboJake]

jake, congratulations on your journey. I just skimmed through it and I have a similar tale to tell.

in dec of 2007 I was diagnosed with a stage 4 cancer. early in 2009 I lost my job. in dec of 2010 my fiancé of 11 years called it quits and then on April 1st of 2011 my father died of cancer.

so after my father's funeral I flew back to California, put my stuff in storage, packed my motorcycle and took off for a ride, a ride that took me 10 months and 24,000 miles to complete.

like you I stopped and met/visited new and old friends along the way, but unlike you I took somebody with me, my father's ashes. he kept me safe and watched over me and I took him for one last lap around the country. along the way I left his remains at places of significance and grandeur, but most importantly I found his parents gravesites in Massachusetts and left ashes with them.

shortly after completing this trip in feb of 2013 I went to visit my doctors, all three of them. these visits coincided with the 5th year anniversary of me completing cancer treatment and all three of my doctors concurred that I was cured.not bad for a guy that 5 years earlier was given a 30% chance to survive 5 years.

and that's my story.

I love it. Congratulations on conquering the cancer, forging your own path, and taking your fathers ashes to spread across the nation. I have the feeling that when someone close to me passes, whomever that may be, I might end up doing the same exact thing.

On a motorcycle too. It was a debate on doing it this go around, but both finances and other things put the brakes on that. Next time, because there will be a next time.

To everyone else, thank you for the kind words!

The E30 is still going strong. Before christmas my shocks decided to freeze. Which, if it has never happened to you, makes your entire car bounce like a MOFO. With all the snowy bumps up here, that resulted in a front end that would become airborne far more often than is good for your heart. Now fixed (Had a spare set of billie sports laying around), I can send out the Hartge shocks to get rebuilt AGAIN. Oh well.

To those who say I've inspired them: Once you do it guys, you'll have a new view on pretty much everything. It's quite the experience, and one I wish I had done probably a decade ago. I'm only 28, and will have many more opportunities to do so on the future. Just, go out of the norm, stay away from hotels. Push the envelope, and trust yourself and your capabilities.

That said, we've already had 179" of snow this season, an amount that wasn't crossed until march last year. We're well on the way to break the record of 355".
Also, Ice on the car pulls of sharpie ink FYI. School is going strong, recently changed majors. It was apparent to me that finishing my electrical engineering degree won't end with me being somewhere I could fully enjoy, so I'm going Mechanical. I've always been a builder, and I feel this will get me to the place I ultimately want to be. Designing and manufacturing aftermarket parts for the automotive industry.

Stay tuned with that, GunMetalGray has heard a little something something that's in the pipeline for m20 owners. Something I've been working on for quite some time. ;)

People are visiting me up here more and more often. The loneliness that I had last year is no longer a part of the equation. Making friends, hitting the slopes, etc etc. Surprising how many people want to play in the snow now. And lord knows there's a lot of it up here.

OH! Also, not a single word from Virginia. So I'm chalking that up as a success. For now.


PENIS!

[thatphysicsguy]

I love it. Congratulations on conquering the cancer, forging your own path, and taking your fathers ashes to spread across the nation. I have the feeling that when someone close to me passes, whomever that may be, I might end up doing the same exact thing.

On a motorcycle too. It was a debate on doing it this go around, but both finances and other things put the brakes on that. Next time, because there will be a next time.

To everyone else, thank you for the kind words!

The E30 is still going strong. Before christmas my shocks decided to freeze. Which, if it has never happened to you, makes your entire car bounce like a MOFO. With all the snowy bumps up here, that resulted in a front end that would become airborne far more often than is good for your heart. Now fixed (Had a spare set of billie sports laying around), I can send out the Hartge shocks to get rebuilt AGAIN. Oh well.

To those who say I've inspired them: Once you do it guys, you'll have a new view on pretty much everything. It's quite the experience, and one I wish I had done probably a decade ago. I'm only 28, and will have many more opportunities to do so on the future. Just, go out of the norm, stay away from hotels. Push the envelope, and trust yourself and your capabilities.

That said, we've already had 179" of snow this season, an amount that wasn't crossed until march last year. We're well on the way to break the record of 355".
Also, Ice on the car pulls of sharpie ink FYI. School is going strong, recently changed majors. It was apparent to me that finishing my electrical engineering degree won't end with me being somewhere I could fully enjoy, so I'm going Mechanical. I've always been a builder, and I feel this will get me to the place I ultimately want to be. Designing and manufacturing aftermarket parts for the automotive industry.

Stay tuned with that, GunMetalGray has heard a little something something that's in the pipeline for m20 owners. Something I've been working on for quite some time. ;)

People are visiting me up here more and more often. The loneliness that I had last year is no longer a part of the equation. Making friends, hitting the slopes, etc etc. Surprising how many people want to play in the snow now. And lord knows there's a lot of it up here.

OH! Also, not a single word from Virginia. So I'm chalking that up as a success. For now.


PENIS!

Good shit, dude! Travelling is definitely an awesome experience when you get away form the "tourist" areas and meet the cool people you find around. I spent a couple months in Australia and New Zealand because I happened to get my hands on a free ticket. I planned on staying only a week but ended up changing my plans and stayed a whole two months. Wish I could go back and see more and visit the cool people I met.
I'll be driving the E30 from albany, NY to Southern California once school is over and plan on making a mini trip out of it too.

What would you recommend as far as finding good campsites or other lodging options besides motels?

[slammin.e28]

VA. Its one of the last places in the country where the true good old boy system is still in place in most of the southern counties. You gotta remember most of the small towns (southeastern WV included) down there were isolated and still cling to the lawless mindset of the prohibition era. Slammin can back me up. I know what he's runnin' in that ole E28. Probably cookin' in the woods somewhere.

You get down in Franklin County and you do not go for a walk in the woods. It's just the rule.

I go down there quite often too. ;);)

[tom d]

What would you recommend as far as finding good campsites or other lodging options besides motels?

stay away from motels, that's no way to see the country. during the 10 months that I was on the road I spent maybe 3 nights in a motel and maybe a total of 2 months with different friends. the rest of the nights were spent on the side of the road, in the back corner of some farmer's field, power lines or government land.

when I first got started I would worry about where I was going to sleep that night, but after many weeks I realized that I would always spend the night somewhere and that's when I stopped worrying about it.

[BMWgirl11]

I hope things are brighter these days.