Nothing gets the imaginative juices flowing quite like picking up a map. You end up hooked if that map shows enough of the geographical minutia to make the roads seem challenging. You are doomed if there are points of interest to stir the dream centers of your brain.
All of those supposedly very urgent projects at work and around the house suddenly do not appear quite as important. The people around you start to notice that you seem a little withdrawn. You give off the impression of being alone in your own world. Is that a smile or a smirk on your face as the idea of an idea of a plan takes form in the grey matter above?
Now you are now spending time on internet search engines, You Tube and in book stores and the library looking up any and all information about the places you might visit. What might you encounter? What will you need?
There are the finances to juggle of course. But if you put off that project at home or pull for that early vacation, you just might be able to swing it. That new 'thing' you had been wishing for now seems trivial compared to the dream you are creating. I am going to do it. I will make this trip happen.
Heaven forbid you end up looking for a second hand copy of that foreign language course or checking for beginner foreign language classes at the local community college. There is no getting out of it now.
All of your energy seems geared towards your trip.

So at this time of the year, when the ol' girl is in the garage on blocks waiting out winter, with little to do for me to do but check on the battery tender, I am off to pull out an encyclopedia. Who knows where it might take me?

Merry Christmas

Avoid a "gazetteer" map book at all costs!

I like

Very good birddogvet there is not much I can add to that really, other than I do buy the language course.

Wow it's not just me after all....................I'm not a wierdo all alone.....

Bugger the bathroom painting that can wait, where's my Turkey book, I need to dog-ear some more pages.

__________________
Regards Tim

Learning my craft for the big stuff, it won't be long now and it's not that far anyway

google maps has a lot to answer for!!
Especially the satellite piccies!!

100%!!! ANY map - the perfect antidote to Christmas TV!

In reply to Moggy's Google Earth.....
So I've got a map of Peru out with a good idea of the route that I want to take. Part of that route indicates 'secondary roads.' Google Earth to the rescue. Now it shows plenty of switchbacks with forks that dead end deep into the mountains. I can deal with that. GPS and compass to the rescue?
What those inspiring maps do not show is the degree of inclination/declination and what secondary road quality can mean. Oh yeah! There is still plenty of adventure out there, guys.

After my Peruvian adventure, my wife asked, 'What next?'
What does one do after accomplishing the ULTIMATE trip?
I had happened to see the movie, "The Way." In it, Martin Sheen, the actor walks across northern Spain on the pilgrimage of the Camino de Santiago. That would be quite a change from twisting the handgrip. Did some reading, pulled out some maps, and the next thing I know I'm getting into training and looking for a cheap flight to Spain. My two week trip was nothing like I'm used to on a bike, but I did manage to ride b@#$% on the back of a scooter in Valencia.
Who knows where inspiration comes from or will end up taking us?
Maps incite the best in all of us.

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