SouthWest Tour
Road Trip:
SouthWest Edition
It took a couple of days before something clicked into place for David. Everything he passed, he saw with new eyes. Holy shit, he thought. This is really happening.
Two days prior, he and Andrew — the cofounders of CROIG — left Minnesota on two 1976 Honda CB550s, their overpacked bags strapped to the back of their bikes. Andrew’s girlfriend of ten years had just ended their relationship. David was an ex-intern, the company refusing him a full-time job.
Untethered, David and Andrew decided to ride into the unknown. The plan was to travel through the Southwest on their bikes, meet up with members of the CROIG community, some friends and family, and make some memories.
“I’ve learned that you can only plan so much. You can choose a destination, but how or when you get there? You have to stop stressing about what you can’t control, and stay open to what could happen.”
Andrew and David made lifelong friends on their trek; the memories of their journey motivate them to this day.
David describes himself as someone who used to always over-prepare, who researched the restaurant menu in-depth before arriving for a meal, who tried to plan and control his circumstances. It was somewhere in the southwest, between feeling like they’d overpacked but were still somehow unprepared, that David realized how stressful that behavior actually is.
“I’ve learned that you can only plan so much. You can choose a destination, but how or when you get there? There are so many variables at play. You have to stop stressing about what you can’t control, and stay open to what could happen.”
For all their pre-trip planning, David and Andrew didn’t take into account how early the sun set in autumn or how cold it would get at dusk. “We tried to use milk jugs to cover our hands so the wind wouldn’t hit them. Put one hand on the engine to warm it up, and ride one-handed. People thought we were crazy.”
There’s something special about how you experience nature, humanity, and the open road on a long distance bike trip. Beneath the rider’s feet, asphalt whips past at a dizzying speed: a constant reminder to stay focused.
This was the first long-distance ride for David. A true city boy, astride his bike in the middle of nowhere, he realized he had no choice but to be fully present, to the experience and the environment. It’s this feeling of presence, he says, that allowed him to finally connect with nature in a meaningful way.
A long day’s ride, David says, is like giving a public speech. The first five minutes or so are nerve-wracking. But then you find a groove and the body relaxes. Soon, it’s like talking to an old friend. The ride transforms into something comforting and life-affirming.
Cutting against the grain, doing something unusual (like riding across the American Southwest on beat-up motorbikes) forced David and Andrew to adapt and process everything differently: life, careers, aspirations. This was a landmark journey that changed them and shed light on their purpose.
“This trip solidified our purpose. We have no idea what we were doing or where the instagram account was heading. But after meeting so much of the community, I wanted to keep sharing stories of these people who inspire me.”