EpicUncertainty

The Space Between

Its been a crazy last few weeks.

I feel as though I have said that statement a good number of times in the last few months but its true. I guess I could start saying its been a crazy last couple of months!

After returning from my motorcycle trip I ended up buying another bike (a vintage yamaha) and driving it up to Oklahoma to visit friend for the week. the trip ended up being 2 weeks and my motorcycle broke down before i even fully got there and was still not working when i had to leave it and head to Boston for thanksgiving!

Thankfully I have amazing friends and they helped me get my beloved old bike back to Texas and hopefully will be back up and running very soon. Its crazy all the steps I have gone thru to try and make everything work these last few weeks and how little what I have done has effected it.

Makes me sound like an incompetent loser but in all actuality I kind of am.

Now I am not saying I don’t believe in myself or have confidence. I do! I mean I tried and did all that I could to make it all work out, but in the end most of my plans fell thru and things i could never work out started happening. I received money from friends and people who wanted to be a blessing in my life. I hot unexpected returns on things I bought but didn’t think I could get my money back. Friends came thru for me and gave me rides and helped move my bike around town and even back to Tx!!!

All things that I could not orchestrate on my own! Its funny to me how amazed I am every time when God comes thru for me and makes a way in the chaos. I should think by now it would be expected. I should know that God is going to come thru.

He always has for me and although sometimes I wish He would do things sooner so I wouldn’t have to suffer as much Im still thankful that He takes time for me and fills in the gap in His perfect timing.

I never seem to care for the trials and hardships but I always seem to enjoy the character and strength it brings once I have passed thru.

Matt Arbo

A few snippets from the road.

Man oh man has a lot happened since the last post. I Covered over 4500 miles since and have crossed over into Canada and back! I broke down in Utah and got stuck Missoula, MT for 4 days waiting for a part. I went to glacier national park in Montana, definitely one of the top 5 places to see in America!

I took a bath in a glacial river waterfall. I got to see grizzlies, moose, elk and much much more! I got to sleep in a tepee on a Blackfeet Reservation.

I have had the pleasure to meet and spend time with all sorts of amazing people from old friends to total strangers who are now friends. People from all sorts of different walks of life. Anything from city planners and computer programmers to train hoppers and backpacking Israelis.

These last few weeks have been insane a lot of good times seeing some of the most beautiful places of America and meeting all sorts of People. But there has been some rough times to. Run out of food, slept in freezing temperatures, got stuck jn the deep sands of the Moab, rode thru freezing rain, got lost in the salt flats of Utah. All sorts of situations that looking back make the story a lot better but during the time just made me overwhelmed.

I think one of the things that has resurfaced and stuck out to me on this trip is that struggles make us grow. They are never fun and they often seem like they will never end in the moment. But God is always there. Always coming thru and that impossible situation where you don’t know what to do seems to finally passes by and you’re back on your feet enjoying the good times again!

Struggle is necessary in our life’s! They make the good times good and they make us stronger an wiser for the next time. We are humbled by struggle cause we realize that we aren’t that big shot do it all we might have thought we were. It’s gives us compassion toward our fellow man when we know the feeling of hardship.

So embrace your situation whatever it may be and remember the good times and the bad. For the good times give us hope in our struggle and the bad times give us strength and compassion.

I guess that’s it for now just thought I’d share a few of my thoughts. Thanks for reading! I know the grammar is pretty poor but I hope you enjoyed the read and are encouraged.

Explorer Matt Arbo

The Great Sand Storm

Now over the years I have done quite a lot of camping and I have tried to learn from my experiences about the best spots to set up camp.

I have set up in a lot of amazing spots. Spots that you would see in a magazine just perfect to the eye. But I have found out that just because it looks like a cool location doesn’t mean it’s a good location!

Camping on top of a bluff overlooking the ocean seems really cool until you wake up for the 10th time having to set back up because your tent has collapsed! The wind of the water can be pretty strong. So as I started hiking up into the Great Sand Dune’s to camp for the night I thought I would be ok.

I’m sure you have already started to guess that my night in the dunes didn’t exactly pan out to well. After about an hour hike into the seemingly endless sand valley. I found a nice little spot tucked in-between two large dunes. It had the smallest amount of wind off anywhere I had been yet so I decided to set up camp.

After watching a beautiful sunset over the dunes and enjoying a delicious pasta dinner I decided to do a bit of reading then crashing out. Not long after I fell asleep the wind began to pick up sending sand in thru the mesh windows of the tent. After being woken up from sand pelting my face I decided to put the rainfly up thinking it might stop the sand.

It did stop the sand but it made the tent even more of a sail and not long after I was woken up by my whole tent shifting! With me inside! I was sliding across the dunes.

I quickly tried to grab my gear and take down the tent which was quite a mission in the whipping sand wind storm! I proceeded to gather my gear and try to find a new location seeing that my current spot had become compromised. As I walked back the way I came I tried to use my light to help find my way but the sand was blowing so much that I couldn’t see more than 10ft in front of me! It was a sand blizzard.

After finding another location I decided to just wrap up in my tent fly and try that out but after about 15 minutes of the thing slapping me in the face and having to hold it down with my hands I gave up. I picked up my gear and started walking toward the mountains where the payed camping was.

This was an interesting endeavor because I could hardly see where I was going and could just make out the lights from the camp fires. About an hour later I stumbled into the camp ground and with all the sights full my only option was to ask to camp on someone’s site or try to camp in the woods and hope to not be caught by patrol!

After asking 3 different family’s I found a nice couple that allowed me to camp on there spot. I grabbed my tent fly payed it down behind some bushes and passed out! A few different times I woke up and saw lights searching in my direction. I felt like a fugitive on the run from the Nazi’s! Staying as still as possible I would see the lights finally pass on by and I would dose back to sleep.

When I woke up in the morning the couple invited me to join them for breakfast and man oh man was it good! Bacon and pancakes, watermelon, cantaloupe, even some tea and biscuits! After saying goodbye and thank you for the millionth time I headed back into the dunes to spend the day exploring before heading to Durango, Colorado.

That was a night I don’t think I will soon forget and although it wasn’t the best night of sleep it was an experience I wouldn’t have traded for anything. That being said a home and bed are 2 beautiful things!

Explorer Matt Arbo
From Four Corners Colorado

First Night

The first thing I have noticed so far is how quiet it is. In a modern world so full of noise the silence is quite strange at first. I haven’t spoken a word aloud and other than the chirping bugs and the wind in the grass there is nothing! It’s crazy!!

Of course when I start my bike in the morning there will be plenty of noise but for now it’s silent. To think I went from Fort worth, Tx to the middle of no where New Mexico in one day and everything has changed.

My house has become a tent. My television my tent window, my kitchen a stove that fits into a small pot,and my bathroom the wide open spaces! There is One thing that hasn’t changed though my transportation. Still good young Crazy Wolf.

As I get ready for an early nights sleep a storm begins to rumble in the distance and the nights show of lighting begins. It’s so beautiful to watch I hope it stays off in the distance though storms are much more beautiful from afar.

Explorer Matt Arbo
From the New Mexican Wilderness

TODAY IS THE DAY

The Adventure begins! 

Usually when I go one a big trip I dont really know how it will fully go. I mean I have a rough idea but it’s mostly just figuring it out along the way. Leaving it open to change and to whatever comes. There are ideas of what could be done but half the time something else happens once Im on my way.

Not much is different about this trip in that sense at least. I have a rough idea of where I will go and what route I think I will take but its all subject to change. I think thats one of the things I like so much about these adventures! Nothing is for sure. Everything is up in the air. I can’t plan to much ahead and that keeps me in the present! Enjoying what is right before me, always excited to find out what will come next but never sure of what it will be.

Tomorrow I head out on my Great North-West Motorcycle Trip! A trip full of adventure and an uncertainty! I have taken most of the preparations for any breakdowns and or rough times out on the road, but now it is time for the Adventure.

That last few day l have felt that I might not be fully ready or prepared for this journey. But while getting ready tonight I realized that it’s only fear. Fear that would try to hold me back from Adventure. Fear of not being prepared to handle every situation. I have started to learn about Motorbikes but I am still quite limited in my knowledge. But that is all part of the journey! I mean I don’t want to be stranded out in the middle of no where by myself. Thats not my plan! My plan is to have no plan. To not be prepared for everything but to be ready and willing to experience whatever comes!

This Journey is not just some crazy thing to do! Although thats definitely part of it. This Trip is about exploration of myself, my home (America), and my family (all who call America home).  

And this blog is of anyone who wants to follow!

Explorer Matthew Arbo

The next Adventure

Well life has been busy since getting back from New Zealand! I have been traveling a lot around the states and Caribbean visiting family and friends and going wherever the wind blows! I don’t think I’ve been in any one place for over two weeks since my return!

I definitely find myself missing New Zealand! Being out in the backcountry with only the items on my back, my mate Seth and the open country to explore. Although I can’t complain life here in America is pretty freaking sweet! Hang out time with friends and family! Air conditioning, the movies and not to forget all the delicious food!! But it’s almost time to head out again even though it will be a shorter trip (around a month) I am excited to be getting out there again and explore some of the America that I haven’t seen yet!

This trip will just be me and my motorcycle. And although its not the longest trip I have done it will be the longest solo trip. So I am a little nervous but I will have Crazy wolf with me my trusty metal steed!

Well that’s it for now I will keep you all update date when I can and when we get closer to the trip! Have an amazing day everyone.

Thanks for reading!

Stay Epic

Explorer Matt Arbo

The plan is to ride from Texas to Canada! Taking a mostly backountry route thru New Mexico, Colorado, Utah, Idaho, Montana, Alberta, British Columbia, Washington, Oregon, California, Nevada, and back down thru Utah and maybe over to Colorado and back! It’s a big ride around 6,000 miles full of adventure and uncertainty!