In their 80s pop hit “Once in a lifetime”, The Talking Heads compelled us to ask ourselves, “Well, how did I get here?” While I often enjoyed the song as a kid it was not until now I realized I can’t provide a sufficient explanation to the question. One minute I was jumping out of helicopters in the marines and next thing I know I’m here asking this paradigm challenging question.

And since I can’t remove the water from the bottom of the ocean I’m temporarily hopping off the career treadmill and on to my motorbike bound for Latin America. I have no idea where this trip will lead, both in the literal and metaphysical sense. I may get tired in a month and call it quits or my wife may need to send out a recon team to bring me home, who knows. This trip isn’t about bragging rights or another notch in my belt, it’s about knowing how I got here.

The general idea is to spend the next year or so on the bike riding throughout Mexico and Central/South Americas making my way to Tierra del Fuego. My itinerary will be very free form and I will ride when I feel like riding and hang out when I don’t feel like riding. It hasn’t escaped my attention that I’ll be making my way through Central America at the height of summer so we’ll see how that shakes out.

I do have a few specific goals on this trip, most notable among them, gaining some fluency in the Spanish language. Baja is one of my favorite places to ride in the world and it’s always bothered me I can’t converse with the locals when I visit. I’ll be enrolling in various language schools and possibly immersion as I make my way south. I expect to take a lot of pics and will try to ratchet up my writing skills as well. I’m taking a recently acquired Go Pro HD video camera so I’ll have another arrow in my quiver of storytelling. I’m new to the video format and hope to tap into its potential. A trip of this magnitude comes with some risk so it goes without saying I’d like to return in one piece.

I fully understand that this is a once in a lifetime opportunity and I’m thankful for my friends and family who in spite of my quitting a well paying job in the worst economy of our lifetimes have been very supportive and encouraging. And a special thanks goes out to my lovely wife whose understanding and support make this trip possible.

Those of you who know me know how much I love music so I’ll leave you with this as I get my ducks in a row.