Have you been waiting on something to change for a LONG time but it never seems to?

You feel stuck in a job with the worst boss EVER and you keep waiting on things to change?

Maybe your marriage is jacked and you KNOW something needs to change but it never does?

Funny how life is sometimes.

We want things to change. We need things to change. We pray something WILL change…  but it doesn’t.

Or at least it feels that way.

(insert moto adventure story)

I had been wanting to explore Big Bend National Park in Texas for years. It was always one of those “someday” places I wanted to get to. The challenge with Big Bend is thas it’s not on the way to ANYWHERE!!!!  Unless you’re going to Mexico I guess…

I’ve seen the pictures, looked at the maps, and always had it “circled” but things just never worked out.

But that just changed.

Suddenly.

It was July in Texas… and HOT. I mean HOT.

But hey, it’s Texas, and that wasn’t going to stop me from checking Big Bend off my list.

(And let me say this with the best Texas accent I can muster up)

“Texas is a BIG State y’all.” I mean REALLY big.

Here’s some visual perspective for ya.

And this…

And this too

Oh, and let’s just throw in about 8 European countries to make the point…

Yea, Texas is big but I was up for the 621 mile ride JUST to get there.

So with the anticipation of an 8 year old on Christmas Day I packed up Exodus… (with a serious case of tank bag overload it would seem) 

…and headed west.

Ahhhhhhhh… West Texas.

Once you get west of San Antonio, Texas is seriously lovely with a lot of history… like this old Church I found. The Saint Louis Catholic Church in Castroville. Circa 1874

A little farther west i came across this wonderful High Bridge across the Pecos River…

And riding farther west I went past so many beautiful ranches…

Yes, this is West Texas.

But back to our story…

Remember the anticipation I mentioned? I had an idea of what Big Bend might be like…

In my mind I could see the views, the roads, the smells, the vastness of this great National Park.

After all I’ve seen Yosemite, Zion, Yellowstone, The Redwoods, Arches, Badlands, Sequoia, Grand Tetons, Crater Lake, Bryce Canyon, Lassen, Great Smokey Mountains, Kings Canyon, Death Valley, Haleakala, Mt Rainier, Joshua Tree, Grand Canyon, and others. All these beautiful places and now I was about to add BIG BEND to the list of places I have explored…

And “suddenly” there it was…

I was SO ELATED when I saw this sign…  I snapped this picture and hurriedly made my way into the park.

And that’s when it happened.

I’m ashamed to admit this but I was kind of let down…  as I kept riding into the park I guess was expecting something more than what I was actually seeing. In fact, it looked EXACTLY like what I had just spent the last 2-3 hours riding through. (except I didn’t have to pay $20.00 bucks for that)

Where’s all the good stuff? Why am I not seeing what I thought I was going to see? Where are the bears? The mountains? The vistas? The river? My mind was spinning and I was honestly feeling let down.

I even pulled over and one point and just sat there and literally thought, this is it? I just rode 600+ miles and this is Big Bend National Park?

Forgive me for the first world problem whining but (again I’m ashamed to admit it) I really was let down…

but I kept going…

and “suddenly”

things changed…

As I rounded one particular corner THIS is the sight that greeted me…

Whoa…

It was like a warm hug from your grandmother.

I stopped and soaked it in.

Then I kept riding and saw this…

And this…

And this…

And then this…

Mountain Lions and Bears?   YES!

Now THIS is the stuff that I had imagined in my mind that Big Bend would look like…

NOW I’m in my happy place!

And then it HIT me like a ton of bricks.

What if I had stopped before I got here?

What if I had let my “disappointment” get the best of me and turned around?

What if? What if? What if?

(now, let’s insert the dreamy transitional harp music here)

Where are you at in life right now?

Do you feel like your “stuck” and it’s never going to get better?

Feel like giving up?

Feeling like what’s the point of going on?

I get it…

But can I encourage you to keep going?

My little trip to Big Bend might seem like a silly analogy compared to the real crap you’re going through right now but I promise you if you keep going things WILL change

Things WILL get better…

it might be the next corner…

it might be the corner after that…

it might even be a corner a year from now…

but if you keep going, keep the right perspective, and not give up hope… then I PROMISE you that things will change…

and they will change…

Suddenly.

CAP