Sooo…here we go again. Back on the road, powering north this time and riding without Holly. As originally planned, her motorcycle journey ended in Ojochal, Costa Rica and she has now safely flown home to the misery of winter with her little sister Jossy and Mary. And I miss her. I miss her funny comments from the back of the bike, her interesting perspective on things drifting past us along the route. The dynamic of the journey has changed but not the purpose. I’m still focused completely on reaching our fundraising goal of $25,000 raised for the Children’s Miracle Network and the Hospital for Sick Children in Toronto.
Leaving Ojochal is always tough for me. It’s my happy place. Tropical beaches, perfect climate, monkeys and birds…what’s not to love, right? As we arrived in Ojochal, so did we leave it: with Holly on the back of the bike. She begged me the day before, on her 13th birthday, to take her up to San Jose, Costa Rica while Mary and Jossy drove with us. So we shared our final ride of the trip, leaving our front door in the rear view mirrors, turning onto our freshly graded dirt road and gliding quietly past the tiny grocery store, Fabrizio’s Pizza Parlour, the closed butcher shop, back to the Costanera Highway that would lead us to our friend’s home in San Jose.
And just like that, she was climbing off the bike a final time. Now a teenager, with a head filled with memories of winter weather, cold rain, strong winds, frustrating border crossings, searing heat and strange food, my hope is that her takeaway from this journey will be the constant kindness of strangers along our path.
I hope there are visions swimming in her head of the beautiful countryside of North and Central America that drifted past her for six long weeks as our two wheels rolled over highways, country roads, gravel roads, through tiny creeks, and around and sometimes into massive potholes. I hope she will always remember the faces of the waving people selling their wares as we slowed to a stop at hundreds of Mexican speed bumps. Her dream of riding from Canadian driveway to Costa Rican driveway gifted me the reminder I needed for my great love of motorcycle travel. And we have joy-filled hearts from the support of the Children’s Miracle Network and the many, many people who helped us get here. Thank you to everyone…and thank you Holly for giving me the greatest gift I’ve ever received as a father.
