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Of Legends
Thought is the labor of intellect, reverie its pleasure.
Victor Hugo
Do you remember those days in school when you’d look out the window at the empty playground shimmering in the afternoon heat? And your mind would wander and find a red, leather saddle on a leathery, spiky Pterodactyl that is just itching to take off with you on her wings. Bleary, dreary afternoons. Fit for day-dreaming. The dull murmuring of all the kids in school reaches your ear, like the buzzing hum of many, many bees, blocking out your teacher’s voice. Your vision begins to fade, your eyes glaze over and you leave the classroom behind to go swimming in the blue afternoon sky on the back of a Jurassic bird.
Road trips on a motorcycle are very much like this – an afternoon reverie come to life. Your hair feels luxurious, caressed by the warm breeze; and the thrum of the engine puts you in a trance until you realize you have fallen right into the dream you’ve always dreamed – to be in school, but without your teachers and only with your friends, to be able to day dream all you want without having to worry about the teacher smacking you over the head, and to finally live the happy, happy dream of dreams turning into reality. Cozy, unhurried afternoons on the back of a metal Rhinoceros, charging down a dark highway melting in the heat, with your friends around you lost in the silence of their own reveries, and no one to tell you to stop. The best part of a road trip is that when the dream is over and you decide to return to reality it is just as good as the dream.
I have been struggling to begin this work because I thought I should mention why we undertook this journey - why it was so important for us to run around for fifteen days over a distance of eight thousand kilometers across the length of the subcontinent. But now I realize that no other reason is required. There are dreams we dream at night that hold value on a different plane. Perhaps we dream of a better career, more money, a particular woman. But day dreams are where we create legends and myths; where men become boys. Where Pterodactyls come to life and help you climb the saddle with a toothy smile. Dreams often come true, but legends come to life rarely.
We wanted to bring our legends to life.
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Travelers
Travel often; getting lost will help you find yourself.
The Holstee Manifesto
The Anatomy of Journey Page 2
