SUMMER 2007

Blog across America

You might call them backpack journalists. For much of the year, Jay Bender and Dick Moore teach and practice their craft from the basement of the Coliseum for the School of Journalism and Mass Communications.

But for several weeks this summer, they traveled the country with maps, digital cameras and laptops tucked into the cargo holds of their favorite forms of transportation – a plane in Moore's case and a motorcycle for Bender.

And we were invited along for the rides.

If my racing instincts hadn't outrun my judgment and ability I'd probably still be a flat track racer, but a late race crash a couple of years ago ended that foolishness.

My most understanding wife, Anne Cushman, upon learning of the details of the crash while visiting me in the hospital said, "What were you thinking? It was only a heat race."My response, and the reason I was in a hospital bed, "I had to pass, he was ahead of me."

I could give up racing, but I couldn't give up motorcycles. I turned to epic rides. Two years ago it was the Iron Butt Association's "Ultimate Cross Country" ride from Key West to Prudhoe Bay. This year it will be the Southern California Motorcycle Association's Four Corners Tour: Key West, FL., San Ysidro, CA, Blaine, WA and Madawaska, ME.

Along the way I'll visit family and friends and try to pick out some unusual sights and encounters to share with you. I hope you'll come along for the ride.

I remember as a boy riding my Huffy bicycle to the little airport in Hamilton, Ohio simply to sit in the grass and watch the planes take off and land. I could sit and sit for hours on end totally lost in my fantasy world of aviation. There was something magical about flying. And in my ten year old mind the men who could do it were the luckiest people on earth. Some day, I dreamed, I'd be up there, too.

The thrill of that "some day" for me came about 15 years ago when I soloed en route to my private pilot license. Hundreds of flight hours and advanced piloting ratings later, I'm about to take off on a solo transcontinental cross country flying adventure that has been my dream for more than a decade.

Am I excited?

I can't begin to describe how rich the anticipation has been every day leading up to departure. It'll be an adventure for sure, and one that I'm eager to share each step of the way.