Enjoy the Ride-Daily Prompt |

You’re going on a cross-country trip. Airplane, train, bus, car, or bike?

One time or another I have traveled by Airplane, train, bus, car or bike. But my favorite is…

My Least Favorite

My least favorite used to be my favorite. It was exciting to go somewhere far away and exotic.

Since September 11, 2001, traveling by airplane has forever been changed.

The heightened security is a necessary inconvenience. The extremely long lines, the rude passengers and TSA. Most of which are numb to the crowds.

Love them or hate them, they have a job to do that just doesn’t make flying fun anymore.

Chugga Chugga

Traveling by train was fun, BUT! Not the train trip I took. My four-year-old son, my elderly dad, and I hopped on a train in Sacramento for a “fun” trip to Seattle.

The train traveled through mountainous terrain on narrow tracks. The scenery was spectacular, with redwood trees and rivers.

It was fun for the first four hours. With every cargo train heading in the opposite direction, we had to stop to allow them to pass. Our thirteen hour trip took twenty-six hours.

That being said, I still dream of crossing the country in a private suite with room service. To watch the countryside go by the window would be a dream.

Ruby Jewel the Bus

For two years and forty thousand miles, my husband and I traveled in our bus, exploring the United States.

It was amazing. The places we visited and the people we met were unforgettable. People who have become our best friends, who traveled with us for eight months.

We explored nearly every state. In the two years of full-time travel, we zigzagged across the United States four times.

Jeep-in-it and a 95 Pounder

Living a nomadic lifestyle has its downsides and traveling with a 95 pound dog means Jeep road trips. Back in our in our hometown, we had family and friends who could have taken care of our fur baby. Living a nomadic lifestyle, we don’t have family or friends in the immediate area so our pup comes along with us wherever we go.

A couple of years ago we were in Arizona for the winter in our bus. My niece who lived in New Hampshire, was getting married. I couldn’t find an airline that would allow him to ride in the cabin. So we loaded the Jeep, and we drove.

It was one of our best trips. Instead of driving straight to New Hampshire for the wedding, we took the scenic route. From Mesa, Arizona, we drove south through Texas to Galveston. Then across the bottom of the United States to Jacksonville, Florida. at the Atlantic we hung a left, then up the Eastern Seaboard.

Enjoy the Ride

My favorite mode of travel was riding my motorcycle. There is nothing on this earth like riding a motorcycle. All of your senses come alive when you ride.

You see things you wouldn’t otherwise notice. The lizard with its tail in the air as it runs across the two-lane highway in the arid desert. The hawk at the top of an electrical pole. Or the deer on the side of the road, your hand and right foot hover over the brakes. You shift down a gear, watching for movement, anticipating that he runs across your path of travel.

Your sense of smell is at a heightened level. You can smell the earth of a freshly plowed field. Or the fragrant scent of orange blossoms riding through the orchards. And the fetid stench of a skunk.

You can hear the roar of the engine blowing out the carbon. Teasing the rev limiter, the RPMs near red line. The throaty sound of your Vance and Hines exhaust system.

Feel the highway beneath you, as you lean in to the curve of the road. Irregular patterns of the hot pavement travels up the forks to the grips of the handlebars. The wind pushing against your body, whipping your hair.

Inside your helmet you can taste the salt on your lips. Singing at the top of your lungs and no one there to cringe.

Enjoy the Ride

Bell

Michelle Wishart

Subscribe to receive my weekly blog, where I write about full-time travel and living on our boat. Weekly updates on my 90-day Carnivore Challenge. Along with fictional stories and Non-fictional historical stories, like “The Search for Linnea Lomax” and “The Road to Sturgis” The Guinness World Record Porker Run, told in the first person from my perspective.

About The Author

Michelle Wishart, Author-BellsRides

My name is Michelle Wishart, but most of you know me as Bell, a motorcycle enthusiast with Bells Rides. Between careers, I was a Private Investigator for three years. I specialized in locating people who didn’t want to be found or those who were taken against their will. I tapped into my experience with real life investigations and recovering human trafficking victims for my fictional stories in The Russian Hit, Human Cargo, and Human Theft.
After retiring from my formal career as a heavy equipment contractor and later a long haul commercial driver, my husband and I traveled full-time in our RV for two years. Exploring the United States, traveling to motorcycle rallies and riding destination.
In 2022, I became a member of the Guinness World Record Book along with over a hundred and forty fellow riders in the World Record Poker Run. Benefitting Rider Down, a non-profit organization for riders involved in a life altering motorcycle accident.
In that same year, 2022, I formed my publishing company, “Bell’s Publishing Co, LLC”, to publish my work. And I finished writing my first novel in a series of novels, The Roxxy Foxx Series.
Our new adventure is traveling and living on our Sea Ray 500 Sedan Bridge. I’m juggling my time between working on a twenty-year-old boat and working on the second novel in the Roxxy Foxx Series, Monstro, Human Cargo and Human Theft, while traveling on the ICW (Intracoastal Waterway) up and down the eastern seaboard.
Join me in my newsletter, where I share excerpts of the books I’m working on, travel and healthy living.

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