The variety of living here in the United States

Some folks wonder what it would be like to live afar from our country. I'm pretty boring. As I travel around the United States on a motorcycle I do wonder what it would be like to live in places such as Brooklyn, and Manhattan. As to a 24-hour town not really. Need to head west maybe 2.5k miles for a real 24 hour experience. I always had to be sure I arrived at the Stage Deli, now defunct, before 2 am I think it was if I wanted to delve into one of their incredible corn beef on rye monster sandwiches. That and a Bud would set you back approximately $25 if memory serves me correctly. Cheap? No way, but heaven in your mouth it was. I wonder how nice it would be to live in Connecticut and Vermont. And, in the area of the Blue Ridge Mountains and Mississippi too. Don't know much about the midwest but Oklahoma, Nebraska and the Dakotas' look interesting in their own right along with Wyoming too.

Texas has a really cool name and I would love to check out New Mexico for awhile along with parts of Arizona such as Tucson, Bullhead City and Page along with a few Indian reservations. Nevada has had my interest for years because it truly has a 24-hour town known as Las Vegas despite the fact I don't gamble. It also has incredible off-road racing. The kind of stuff where you're off into the desert for 40 and 50 mile loops. The ultimate in cool in my book! I love Boulder City and even got married there and gambling is against the law there. Buy the right piece of real estate in Boulder City and you don't need a trailer to ride your dirt bike; you just head out the back yard for what seems like forever. Of course, I don't know what the BLM has to say about that. But my fantasy doesn't care. There's a pizza store on Main Street that sells pizza by the slice. A Jersey boy can't ask for much more. Then you have the town of Nelson, NV, maybe 30 minutes south of Boulder City. Nelson is an old silver mining town basically near the end of a 2-lane dead end road. Get thru Nelson as you head east and you come to a glorious site where the road dead ends and before you lies the Colorado River in its magnificent blue dividing the desert up between Nevada and Arizona. God took His magnificence here and really delivered the goods to us, His children.

I don't think I'd have enough time in my limited remaining life to fully explore Nevada, Arizona, New Mexico and Utah. California too. The other problem is I'm not the retiring type as I love what I do for work. So all of this shall forever remain a fantasy except when I ride through the Southwest on vacation and savor every moment. Just maybe that's the way it's meant to be in life. And, wonder What would it be like to live "here"? God has so blessed the United States in spades and we truly reap the benefits of being in this wonderful land.

Good topic, Billy! I was born and raised in La Jolla, just north of San Diego. It was nice when I was growing up, but I shudder at what it's become and won't be visiting again. In the service I was homeported in San Diego and Camp Lejeune NC, but spent more time overseas than in the states. It was good for me to see how others lived. Some were living in what we call poverty but didn't seem to notice, there was no poverty of spirit. Others, mostly African and Arab nations, had abandoned hope generations ago and replaced it with religious dogma and abject misery.

Since leaving the service I've settled in Vermont, but the wanderlust is still alive in me. Motorcycling (either solo on my R12GS or with my dog in my R12GSA/Sidecar rig) has allowed me to explore this great nation of ours, and meet people of all walks of life. I figured I could do it now, or spend the rest of my life regretting not getting out while I was still physically able to explore. Barley and I are taking a scenic route to the Salem Rally; it looks like close to 6k miles from Vermont to Oregon. We're both looking forward to meeting some wonderful people at the rally as well as on the journey there and back.

glenfiddich said:

Good topic, Billy! I was born and raised in La Jolla, just north of San Diego. It was nice when I was growing up, but I shudder at what it's become and won't be visiting again. In the service I was homeported in San Diego and Camp Lejeune NC, but spent more time overseas than in the states. It was good for me to see how others lived. Some were living in what we call poverty but didn't seem to notice, there was no poverty of spirit. Others, mostly African and Arab nations, had abandoned hope generations ago and replaced it with religious dogma and abject misery.

Since leaving the service I've settled in Vermont, but the wanderlust is still alive in me. Motorcycling (either solo on my R12GS or with my dog in my R12GSA/Sidecar rig) has allowed me to explore this great nation of ours, and meet people of all walks of life. I figured I could do it now, or spend the rest of my life regretting not getting out while I was still physically able to explore. Barley and I are taking a scenic route to the Salem Rally; it looks like close to 6k miles from Vermont to Oregon. We're both looking forward to meeting some wonderful people at the rally as well as on the journey there and back.

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I would love to be able to obtain a motorcycle position in all these areas as the spirit leads just to experience a "here" period of time in all those areas. What an education on America that would be!

Well, one can definitely argue that the USA pretty much has it all. Recently, I had friends over from England.
We rode over 1400 miles from PA into WV, NC, TN, and VA. The thing they came away with?
All those miles and we barely scratched the surface. There is SO much more to our great country.
I think they were kinda blown away. They had been to the U.S. before this trip, but their revelation came as we pored over my Atlas, reviewing our ride... And they saw how much of the country remains to the west.

I've lived here all my life and there's plenty I haven't seen. All along our northern border (Michigan>west), the Pacific NW.... So many great roads, so little time.
Honestly, I move to another part of the country almost every day in my mind!

The burning question, for me, tho, remains:
How can I make my living riding motorcycles?

I am an Army Brat (son of an Army Officer) and spent 27 years in the Army myself. I think I have lived in 28-30 different places in the states, Canada, Europe and Asia. I have been able to be happy every place I've lived except for the two times I was assigned to major urban areas; those places I really disliked. I've never lived any place longer than 3 years except for Alaska (16 years), which is where I retired from the Army. I've enjoyed the variety of living in places such as deserts, Bavaria, the California coast, Canada, 11 states and Japan. You bring your happiness and contentment with you in most cases.