Author Topic: The Solitude and the Enormity  (Read 1417 times)

Offline Huzo

  • Gaggle Hero
  • *****
  • *
  • *
  • *
  • *
  • Posts: 13202
  • Location: Creswick Australia
The Solitude and the Enormity
« on: December 09, 2022, 08:54:31 AM »
We take shots of our bike when away for a number of reasons, maybe as a memory jog or to re kindle the desire at a future time, to do it again.
Some of them though, capture the feeling of enormity and exposure to the experiences that are brought to life over unrelenting and crushing distances.
Here are a couple that remind me of that feeling of trepidation, when all you can hear when you turn the engine off, is the whir of the wind coming down from the North and the smell of the wet ground.
Magic…!


« Last Edit: December 15, 2022, 04:20:17 PM by Huzo »

Online JJ

  • Gaggle Hero
  • *****
  • *
  • *
  • *
  • *
  • *
  • Posts: 19634
  • Life is meant to ENJOY...not "endure."
  • Location: Village of Oak Creek, Arizona
Re: The Solitude and Enormity
« Reply #1 on: December 09, 2022, 08:56:31 AM »
Great photos!! :thumb: :cool: :boozing: :smiley:
Life Member: MGNOC L-772, AMA, HOG
'98 V10 Centauro GT
Village of Oak Creek, AZ

Offline Huzo

  • Gaggle Hero
  • *****
  • *
  • *
  • *
  • *
  • Posts: 13202
  • Location: Creswick Australia
Re: The Solitude and Enormity
« Reply #2 on: December 09, 2022, 09:06:31 AM »
That Northern Lights one at #3 was a LONG WAY….!
I really felt alone there.

Offline Huzo

  • Gaggle Hero
  • *****
  • *
  • *
  • *
  • *
  • Posts: 13202
  • Location: Creswick Australia
Re: The Solitude and Enormity
« Reply #3 on: December 09, 2022, 09:10:53 AM »
Great photos!! :thumb: :cool: :boozing: :smiley:
Now why would you think that…? :popcorn:




Wildguzzi.com

Re: The Solitude and Enormity
« Reply #3 on: December 09, 2022, 09:10:53 AM »

Online SemperVee

  • My life will be told in MC people and experiences more than anything else.
  • Gaggle Mentor
  • ****
  • Posts: 842
  • USMC Retired
  • Location: Seattle - ish
Re: The Solitude and Enormity
« Reply #4 on: December 09, 2022, 11:06:12 AM »
 Great Pics Huzo,
 
     I know the feeling being out in the middle of nowhere it seems being so small and in awe.
« Last Edit: December 09, 2022, 11:15:16 AM by SemperVee »
2007 MG Norge - Hi Ho Silver! - La Dolce Vita
CalSci Tall Windshield
Heli-Bars
Matris Fork + SAG set
Eibach Rear spring
Salamander HB ends
K&N  filter
StainTune pipe
Metal gas fltr
Givi Rear rack
Givi V46 Box and Rack
Startus Interuptus
Napoleon Mirrors
Grip Puppies

Online twowheeladdict

  • Gaggle Hero
  • *****
  • Posts: 6149
Re: The Solitude and Enormity
« Reply #5 on: December 09, 2022, 11:22:39 AM »
Nice photos. 

I seem to never be able to stop and capture those moments of trepidation because I am to busy getting past that obstacle like when the GPS says the next road is only 1 mile away but the gravel road has turned into a rock garden and you are wondering if it will smooth out or turn into a boulder field.  Or when you find yourself in an open pit mine that the GPS said was a road, and when you finally navigate down into the next town, you turn around to see you have just descended on a "Road Closed" road. 
2022 Moto Guzzi V85TT Guardia D'onore
2018 V7 III Carbon Dark #0009 of 1921
2018 Road Glide Special
2021 Kawasaki KLX300SM
2017 Suzuki Van Van 200
2009 Harley Davidson Softail Custom

Offline Canuck750

  • Gaggle Hero
  • *****
  • *
  • *
  • *
  • *
  • *
  • Posts: 2138
  • Location: Edmonton, Canada
Re: The Solitude and Enormity
« Reply #6 on: December 09, 2022, 11:28:57 AM »
Great pictures! I don’t think I know anyone who has ridden to as many far and distant places, I tip my hat.
48 Guzzi Airone, 57 Guzzi Cardellino, 65 Benelli 200 sprite, 66 Aermacchi Sprint, 68 Gilera 106 SS, 72 Eldorado, 72 Benelli 180, 74 Guzzi 750S, 73 Laverda SF1, 74  Benelli 650S, 75 Ducati 860GT, 75 Moto Morini 3-1/2, 78 Moto Morinii 500

Offline Tom

  • Gaggle Hero
  • *****
  • *
  • *
  • Posts: 28584
Re: The Solitude and Enormity
« Reply #7 on: December 09, 2022, 12:10:27 PM »
Good pix!  I once had a friend ask after looking at my Alps vacation pix, "Why are you taking pictures of signs?"  I explained and I had a good chuckle afterwards.  Never really thought about.   :grin: :grin:
From the Deep Deep South out in left field.  There are no stupid questions.  There are however stupid people asking questions.  🤣, this includes me.  😉

Online PJPR01

  • Gaggle Hero
  • *****
  • *
  • *
  • *
  • *
  • *
  • Posts: 3935
  • Norge, Scura, Griso
  • Location: Houston, Texas
Re: The Solitude and Enormity
« Reply #8 on: December 09, 2022, 12:33:13 PM »
Yes and yes...you have to be there to understand it...the feeling of standing by your steel horse, out in the middle of nowhere...I think all here enjoy that experience immensely.
Paul R
2021 Honda Goldwing Bagger Manual Cement Gray
2015 Red/Black Griso
2008 Silver Norge
2002 V11 Scura

Offline Huzo

  • Gaggle Hero
  • *****
  • *
  • *
  • *
  • *
  • Posts: 13202
  • Location: Creswick Australia
Re: The Solitude and Enormity
« Reply #9 on: December 10, 2022, 05:20:52 PM »
About a year before I retired from full time work in 2013, I saw this book in a store.


The image you see on the cover, is of the aptly named “Bridge to Nowhere” which is on the Atlantic Road halfway up the West Coast of Norway.
I thought it rather striking and resolved to go there on my Norge.
So it came to be that in freezing conditions and a 30 knot wind, I found myself at the approach to the same bridge and took this shot.



That is not necessarily remarkable, but there is a more intrinsic meaning to it (for me).
The difference between the two is that although geographically identical and shot from exactly the same spot, the first one is a representation of desire and the second is the realisation of that desire.

What is not apparent is the effort, excitement and (sometimes) trepidation between the two. It was once put to me that the two shots were…”exactly the same…”
Only if you never make the attempt… :clock:

Offline Huzo

  • Gaggle Hero
  • *****
  • *
  • *
  • *
  • *
  • Posts: 13202
  • Location: Creswick Australia
Re: The Solitude and Enormity
« Reply #10 on: December 10, 2022, 05:26:23 PM »
Also on the comment earlier of “why do you always take photo’s of your bike near signs…?”
Because it crystallises the event in your memory map.
I cannot say that I’ve ever heard it put better than this… https://youtu.be/tJkW0Clsvrk

Do yourself a favour.
Pour a glass of your favourite drink…
Imagine freezing cold, fierce winds, the gnawing nervousness of vulnerability and while you sit in the dark, listen to what Don Henley and Glen Frey are saying in these lines.

“….You can spend all your time making money
You can spend all your love making time…”

“And when you’re looking for your freedom
Nobody seems to care…”
They are words deeply soaked in meaning and memory with a nostalgic and melancholy lilt, but when they say..

“Put me on a Highway
 Show me a sign
 And take it to the limit one more time…”

It draws an emotional response that feels warm and right.
« Last Edit: December 10, 2022, 05:47:21 PM by Huzo »

Online Ncdan

  • Global Moderator
  • Gaggle Hero
  • *
  • *****
  • *
  • *
  • *
  • *
  • *
  • Posts: 5878
Re: The Solitude and Enormity
« Reply #11 on: December 10, 2022, 06:39:39 PM »
Great pictures Pete, all of them but my favorite is the one casting your shadow off the cliff side, priceless!
You should make a large framed hanging wall picture of that one 👍

Offline Huzo

  • Gaggle Hero
  • *****
  • *
  • *
  • *
  • *
  • Posts: 13202
  • Location: Creswick Australia
Re: The Solitude and Enormity
« Reply #12 on: December 10, 2022, 06:52:35 PM »
Great pictures Pete, all of them but my favorite is the one casting your shadow off the cliff side, priceless!
You should make a large framed hanging wall picture of that one 👍
Yeah Dan.
That was taken at Nanutarra

 on a CT110 at a breathtaking 45 mph…!
A fair distance from home.

Not easy holding the i pad one handed to get the shot..(very illegal too ).. :copcar:
« Last Edit: December 10, 2022, 06:57:40 PM by Huzo »

Offline Scout63

  • Gaggle Hero
  • *****
  • *
  • *
  • *
  • *
  • *
  • Posts: 2682
  • Location: Orleans, MA USA
Re: The Solitude and Enormity
« Reply #13 on: December 10, 2022, 08:59:55 PM »
Really wonderful photos Peter. Even more so the vicarious connection to the enormity of your travels.  In my 20s I jumped on a BMW and rode across the US with a tent and a few hundred dollars.  Now I ride to the hardware store on weekends and rely on an Aussie I’ve never met to do the hard touring for me. 
Ben Zehnder - Orleans, MA USA

Offline Huzo

  • Gaggle Hero
  • *****
  • *
  • *
  • *
  • *
  • Posts: 13202
  • Location: Creswick Australia
Re: The Solitude and Enormity
« Reply #14 on: December 10, 2022, 11:21:04 PM »
Really wonderful photos Peter. Even more so the vicarious connection to the enormity of your travels.  In my 20s I jumped on a BMW and rode across the US with a tent and a few hundred dollars.  Now I ride to the hardware store on weekends and rely on an Aussie I’ve never met to do the hard touring for me.
I can see the direction that my touring life on two wheels will take Scout.
I’ll not get another bike unless one of them meets with misadventure. I would probably get a V100 in that case, but things like a Himalayan are starting to draw my eye. But, if all goes as I hope, I’ll take the Norge to 300,000 and start using the V85 more.
On your topic of hard touring, I take cabin and pub type accomodation more than I used to. Sure, if the weather is nice and the sites are grassy, I’ll do the tent thing, but choose to skirt around that type of adversity if I can.

I have a multi chapter story outlining some of the history of my early Europe trips that I did for a British publication, that I have posted here before. If it’s of any interest, I can put them up again, but it’s sort of coffee table stuff.

Online JJ

  • Gaggle Hero
  • *****
  • *
  • *
  • *
  • *
  • *
  • Posts: 19634
  • Life is meant to ENJOY...not "endure."
  • Location: Village of Oak Creek, Arizona
Re: The Solitude and Enormity
« Reply #15 on: December 11, 2022, 07:24:18 AM »
Now why would you think that…? :popcorn:





The Plains of St. Augustine....and the VLA (Very Large Array), just outside Datil, New Mexico...Beautiful landscape! :cool:
Life Member: MGNOC L-772, AMA, HOG
'98 V10 Centauro GT
Village of Oak Creek, AZ

Offline Huzo

  • Gaggle Hero
  • *****
  • *
  • *
  • *
  • *
  • Posts: 13202
  • Location: Creswick Australia
Re: The Solitude and Enormity
« Reply #16 on: December 11, 2022, 08:51:59 AM »
The Plains of St. Augustine....and the VLA (Very Large Array), just outside Datil, New Mexico...Beautiful landscape! :cool:
Fantastic..!

Online JJ

  • Gaggle Hero
  • *****
  • *
  • *
  • *
  • *
  • *
  • Posts: 19634
  • Life is meant to ENJOY...not "endure."
  • Location: Village of Oak Creek, Arizona
Re: The Solitude and Enormity
« Reply #17 on: December 11, 2022, 09:07:18 AM »
Fantastic..!

...and just one of the reasons New Mexico is called....."The Land Of Enchantment..."




find duplicate lines in text file online
« Last Edit: December 11, 2022, 03:33:47 PM by JJ »
Life Member: MGNOC L-772, AMA, HOG
'98 V10 Centauro GT
Village of Oak Creek, AZ

Offline Huzo

  • Gaggle Hero
  • *****
  • *
  • *
  • *
  • *
  • Posts: 13202
  • Location: Creswick Australia
Re: The Solitude and Enormity
« Reply #18 on: December 11, 2022, 05:42:53 PM »
Sorry if I posted this somewhere else, but it’s a bit of a self indulgent adjunct to my Norge having it’s 200 th at Mandello.
If you’ve read it before, I can tell you nothing new has been added.


As mentioned, I think I posted this somewhere else but it kind of fits the preceding narrative.
I hope they are in correct order.

This is the guy I referred to in part five who offered me the room with the poster on the wall.
I re visited him on the 2022 trip.

« Last Edit: December 11, 2022, 05:49:07 PM by Huzo »

Offline Bigtime

  • Hatchling
  • **
  • Posts: 152
Re: The Solitude and Enormity
« Reply #19 on: December 12, 2022, 06:39:06 AM »
Huzo, thank you for sharing!

Offline SmithSwede

  • Gaggle Hero
  • *****
  • *
  • Posts: 2113
  • I don't want a pickle
  • Location: Dallas, Texas
Re: The Solitude and Enormity
« Reply #20 on: December 13, 2022, 08:58:23 PM »
Huzo. Brilliant post.  These are exactly the moments I will sometimes photograph.  And otherwise, always remember. 
Accentuate the positive;
Eliminate the negative;
Latch on to the affirmative;
Don't mess with Mister In-Between.

Offline Huzo

  • Gaggle Hero
  • *****
  • *
  • *
  • *
  • *
  • Posts: 13202
  • Location: Creswick Australia
Re: The Solitude and Enormity
« Reply #21 on: December 13, 2022, 09:57:18 PM »
Thanks to the guys who responded.
I always hope that there’ll be someone who says…
“That’s what I wanted to say…”

Offline bikeridertim

  • Gosling
  • ***
  • *
  • *
  • *
  • Posts: 221
  • Just ride it!
  • Location: Concord NC
Re: The Solitude and Enormity
« Reply #22 on: December 14, 2022, 11:35:56 AM »
Thank you for sharing!  :grin:  Hopefully some day I can come close to traveling like that, even in the the Good old USA!  :thumb:
2017 MOTO GUZZI MGX-21
1999 MOTO GUZZI EV11
1973 MOTO GUZZI ELDORODO
MGNOC L-201
AMA LIFE MEMBER 543509
IRON BUTT 12038


We struggle our whole lives so that we don’t have to struggle.  Huzo

Offline Huzo

  • Gaggle Hero
  • *****
  • *
  • *
  • *
  • *
  • Posts: 13202
  • Location: Creswick Australia
Re: The Solitude and Enormity
« Reply #23 on: December 14, 2022, 01:31:52 PM »
Thank you for sharing!  :grin:  Hopefully some day I can come close to traveling like that, even in the the Good old USA!  :thumb:
Well I’ve not turned a wheel there….Yet.

Online PJPR01

  • Gaggle Hero
  • *****
  • *
  • *
  • *
  • *
  • *
  • Posts: 3935
  • Norge, Scura, Griso
  • Location: Houston, Texas
Re: The Solitude and The Enormity
« Reply #24 on: December 14, 2022, 03:32:26 PM »
Here's a few Solitude and Enormity shots for you Huzo!  From one Norge to another!!



« Last Edit: December 14, 2022, 03:34:53 PM by PJPR01 »
Paul R
2021 Honda Goldwing Bagger Manual Cement Gray
2015 Red/Black Griso
2008 Silver Norge
2002 V11 Scura

Offline Huzo

  • Gaggle Hero
  • *****
  • *
  • *
  • *
  • *
  • Posts: 13202
  • Location: Creswick Australia
Re: The Solitude and The Enormity
« Reply #25 on: December 14, 2022, 11:55:45 PM »
Yep.
That’s what we’re talking about… :wink:

Offline guzziart

  • Gaggle Mentor
  • ****
  • *
  • *
  • *
  • *
  • *
  • Posts: 838
  • Location: Northeast Ohio
Re: The Solitude and Enormity
« Reply #26 on: December 15, 2022, 07:49:30 AM »
I take cabin and pub type accomodation more than I used to. Sure, if the weather is nice and the sites are grassy, I’ll do the tent thing, but choose to skirt around that type of adversity if I can.

Same here.  I got spoiled a few years ago, the group I rode with weren't campers.  While I enjoy the low cost associated with tenting, if given a choice there's nothing wrong with a nice mattress either.

Great pics, thanks for sharing!

Art
'71 CB350, '72 Eldo, '72 CL350, '81 CB125s, '87 LMIVSE, '91 CT70, '03 V11 Lemans, '08 Wing  ('12 Wee Strom - R.I.P.)

Offline Jorg66

  • Gosling
  • ***
  • *
  • *
  • *
  • *
  • *
  • Posts: 225
  • Location: Shoal Lake, Manitoba
Re: The Solitude and The Enormity
« Reply #27 on: December 15, 2022, 09:13:14 AM »
And that's one reason we [ My Wife and I /two up ] ride alone .This why no arguing about accommodation. Always have the Tent on Board.
Now 2019 California ,,2018 [ New] V7 III Carbon Dark
Ex  1979 Kreidler Florett, 1980 Z 550 , 1969Nuovo Falcone/ Polizzia,2006 VTX 1300 C ,1982 Honda CB 125 S

Offline LowRyter

  • Gaggle Hero
  • *****
  • *
  • *
  • Posts: 16685
  • Location: Edmond OK
Re: The Solitude and The Enormity
« Reply #28 on: December 15, 2022, 10:11:08 AM »
A "Paradox"

John L 
When life gets you down remember it's one down and the rest are up.  (1-N-23456)

Offline Griso8V

  • Hatchling
  • **
  • *
  • *
  • *
  • *
  • *
  • Posts: 163
Re: The Solitude and the Enormity
« Reply #29 on: December 16, 2022, 05:13:42 PM »
Great photos and thank you for the post!  This really makes me want to take a long tour on my MC. 
Excellent.
Tony C

***Wildguzzi Official Logo High Quality 5 Color Window Decals Back In Stock***
Shipping in USA Only. Awesome quality. Back by popular demand. All proceeds go back into the forum.
http://www.wildguzzi.com/Products/products.htm
Advertise Here
 

20 Ounce Stainless Steel Double Insulated Tumbler
Buy a quality tumbler and support the forum at the same time!
Better than a YETI! BPA and Lead free.
Advertise Here