RIDE FOR CULTURE

Chief Joseph Highway

2010-06-29T10:15:00.000-07:00

Entering Wyoming

2010-06-29T10:12:00.000-07:00

On the road

2010-06-29T10:00:00.000-07:00

Some of the most amazing days have past by lately. So far the weather has held out and I have met up with great people. Yesterday I ran into Paul Graves who writes Bench Wrenching for BMW MOA magazine and his wife, who are retired and ride from April until October, on this trip they were headed to the pacific coast. We had a great conversation about bikes and what we have experienced along the way. It seems that there are more motorcycles out on the road than cars, great to see! Had a slight run in with a bison, the poor guy just wanted to get down to the water as it was around 90 degrees out and the cars were not allowing him to get there so of course he got pissed off and heads straight for my bike, shaking his head back and forth and blowing and snorting, I thought to myself...oh someone in their car will probably block me from him...yeah...not so, I think they were actually taking bets as to what would happen as they were all slack jawed staring at what was going on, the bison got within 5 feet of the bike as I was sitting there saying "Oh sweet Jesus..." over and over, and then he decided to veer off the the right and around the back end of me. Thank GOD! As I headed up the road I saw a huge crowd looking off into the ditch as well as five park rangers standing around, so I thought there must be a bear etc..but kept on going as I had a huge truck trying to plow me over, and later found out unfortunately that someone had hit a black bear and ran. Why would someone do that? I really don't think you can claim you never felt hitting the black bear. What..."Oh I thought I just hit a speed bump...really?" Welcome to the National Park...

Courage

2010-05-27T09:28:00.000-07:00

This is for all of you that has been there for me, who have given me the courage to go on with this project and for those of you who have checked in on this website and are wondering where I am and what has been going on. It's not easy to get a project off the ground when there are those that think you may fail or that don't think your serious about what your trying to accomplish. It hasn't been exactly easy but through it all and through some very harsh comments there are people like you who read this and are believing in this project. The places that I ride through are giving me insight to myself along with the people I am meeting. Take for instance Clyde Park Montana, not the most likely of places for people to go to, not too much happens in Clyde Park, but as I sat in the Clyde Park Tavern waiting to try their famous fried green beans which the waitress said were just wonderful, I listened to the banter going on between the locals and how they were excited about the fishing season, asking how the kids are, what is happening at the ranch etc... I felt rather content to just listen and not ask question. The people of this town are happy to talk about why they are in Clyde Park but without saying a word as to why I was there or what I was doing from just sitting in the tavern I received more information as to their lives than if I would of asked them.
The fried green beans turned out to be interesting, something if you go through Clyde Park you will have to try, the waitress was beaming ear to ear as she asked me if I liked them, and I did. As I left I looked across the street to see what must have been a man of at least 90 and his son mowing the lawn and as I caught his eye he gave a big smile and waved as I rode out and headed west. That wave and smile meant more than anything else that day, it is the smallest of gestures that in any language or anyplace that I ride to are what mean the most to me. It's simple and heartwarming.

Photos from the road:

Trying out the fried green beans at the Clyde Park Tavern, MT

The crow and I trying to figure out my GoPro.

Nice tourist photo at Continental Divide Pass, Wyoming

4 feet of snow at the Continental Divide Pass

Photos of Talulah

Outside the cabin at Chico Hot Springs, MT

It's Been awhile...

2010-02-03T10:52:00.000-08:00

This winter has been all about logistics and getting the word out there about the tour coming up. So the blog was on the back burner. As the days get longer and I look at the bike and the maps, my routes are getting planned and my dream is coming true. Thanks to the help of Eurotech Motorsports for all of the bike extras, Big Earth Tv for linking up my blog with their website and for the kind words, and to Aerostitch for the gear to keep me protected from the elements. As I begin this journey I will be posting video of my whereabouts as well as photographs. Please follow along with me into a place that you may never see or knew existed. Leave comments, suggestions or anything you think of. I am in the process of a documentary of this tour and would love to hear if this is something you would all be interested in.

Check out http://www.hookit.com/ and under members type in Hallie and my profile should show up. Another way to stay connected with me on this journey.

Best wishes to all who travel along,

Hallie

Meeting with Lions International-Bozeman

2009-10-17T09:44:00.000-07:00

As I walked into the meeting room, I was greeted by a group of around 18 men and women that all were happy to see me there with them. I was with my dear friend this day, Deanna the executive director of Antahkarana, and we both were given a seat at the head of the table and fed an amazing meal. To be honest I was a little taken back by the generosity of what was going on. I just didn't think this was possible for some reason. After we ate we were given the room to speak about our cause and to talk about what we are doing in Tibet. Everyone was interested and could not wait to ask questions. I met Mary Kay who could not give us enough praise for the work we do, and she was so happy to hear about the tour and that I was going to be traveling though-out the country giving speeches and asked if I would talk at other Lions meetings and then gave me a hug. I also met Keith who wanted to know what he could do for the ride as far as getting other riders together to join me on a leg of the tour. I was actually speechless, and so grateful to be in the company of these fine people. It made everything so worthwhile. I stopped to think why I was so amazed at the generosity and it boiled down to how people sometimes come across for the most part anymore. Unfortunately I think people have gotten away from that human and personal touch, they are more into email and facebook that just being around people can be uncomfortable at times. I think we all need to get out there more, and talk to people, get to know each other again, our neighbor or our co-worker. Just say hi and smile, that is all it sometimes takes to make another persons day.

Imagine a life

2009-10-06T14:50:00.001-07:00

Imagine a life where you cannot practice your religion freely, where your language is threatened, and you are pressured to give up your traditions for a "better way of life". I cannot imagine this scenario but everyday Tibetans live it. It is hard to think that this may happen here or ever could, it can. We can fight for our culture and stand up to defend what is right or we can bow down and let it happen and later wonder why we have no freedom left. Everyday that I am out on the road, or just out living life I remind myself to always stand up for what I believe it and give a voice to others that may not be able to speak for themselves. Tibet is not that far, what is happening is real, and sometimes unthinkable. We can't turn the other way and think that we have so many problems here that even trying to look at the Tibetans problem is too much. Because once we do this, we are giving up on every person's right to be free, no matter where you are from. Please go to http://www.tibet.org/ and http://www.tibet.net/ to find out more on Tibet, it's fight, and to gain knowledge of what they are fighting for and why it is so important to read and learn about. We need to all start taking a long hard look at what is happening in our own communities and start standing up for what we believe in.

Getting through it all

2009-10-03T15:30:00.000-07:00

So it has been asked at my last meeting, the questions I have been waiting to hear "your just doing this for fun aren't you? Are you just using the non-profit to justify it?" and my personal favorite.."wow, you do nothing and get free stuff...how does that happen?" So in response to that I said to them, no and yes, it is fun for me because I am doing something I feel passionate about, I am riding for something I believe in and that is not something I take lightly. I would never use a non-profit for benefit, where would the sense in that be? I am helping out a non-profit that I believe is wonderful. Do I like the free things? Yes, who wouldn't, but do I take that for granted? No, never would. I appreciate everything I have and do receive. I will always be forever grateful for my sponsors generosity and kindness. It is not easy in this day and age to just give, but they did and do. I respect that. Without them I could do this still but it would be harder yes, but still do-able, just not in any sort of time frame as in this next year. I am finding that some people ask me these questions with a grain of salt because they may want to do it, maybe have always wanted to have the same goal or ambition or maybe just out of spite, I have no idea, and I answer each question with respect and move on. Not everyone is going to like what I do, not everyone is going to understand, and that's okay.

Pony Montana

2009-09-30T11:31:00.000-07:00

Meeting People

2009-09-30T10:23:00.000-07:00

As I went through Harrison Montana I couldn't help but take a trip up the road to Pony, Montana. It sits at the end of the road, surrounded by vast ranch land and mountains. The town has a bar, a post office,and that is about it. Small but quaint. A place where you can walk down the only street there is and feel welcome. The old buildings are still hanging on, windows stand open, doors cracked as if waiting for something to return. Pony still stands, the people remain for one good reason, it's home. I asked that of one of the locals,"why stay here?" and his answer was that simple "It's were I am from, it's home and I know everyone." I gathered that information, proceeded in taking pictures and headed out the road I came from and went into Harrison, and stopped at the antique store were there I met Deb Owens-Samson. She has lived in Montana her whole life, the first woman operator up at the mine in Whitehall, and had that same answer of why she has stayed. Simplicity and comfort usually rule over anything else in life. That feeling of coming home and knowing everyone will know you and accept you. That feeling of being. That tradition of knowing that you can always count on your neighbor. Tradition is what motivates us, what keeps us grounded in life, and what defines who we are. If we lose that we stand to lose ourselves.

How Frustrating

2009-09-25T09:55:00.000-07:00

So my internet is down. I can't really get on when I want too. So I am sitting here in a lobby using their internet so I can post something. How frustrating to not be in contact. I am hopefully going to be able to get the internet back by this weekend. So my apologies if there have been no posts that last two days. The weather has been great, record highs 90 actually. But I am hearing snow by next wednesday. That is not what I want to hear but then again I have been blessed with great weather so I better not complain. Until next time, safe journey's to everyone and please keep coming back for more!

Best wishes,
Hallie

In response to a comment

2009-09-23T10:27:00.000-07:00

Thank you cannot fully tell how I feel about the comment left, about all the comments left here. This last one has hit home for so many reason's and in it I feel enlightened and encouraged. Every time I step out the door I start a journey that takes me to parts of my heart I thought left behind. I struggle with always wanting to stay just a little bit longer and talk to people just a little bit more to find out more, to teach more and yet I move on. I look into my rear view mirror to see the town fading into the horizon and I think to myself, will that person be there next year? will that town survive? When I am home from a trip, I want to head back out, always thinking I may miss something, or something is missing. When I'm on the road I feel like I should be home taking care of things, so I go back and forth on the subject. Sometimes I don't even think about it, if I did I would probably go mad.

What was said in the comment about it being so vital is so true, everything and everyone I see is a vital part in this mission. I must be respectful and always remember that I am just a visitor here. This is there home, their lives. I am heading out again, and as I sit here writing this I am gathering my information, my cards, and my life in general and being thankful that I have people like you out there that leave the amazing comments that you do.

Anwering the questions

2009-09-22T09:39:00.000-07:00

I was asked yesterday, "what do you want to see happen through touring?" It doesn't take me long to reply. I would like to raise enough money to send a Tibetan child to school for a year, I would like to be able to make a difference in how our own culture and traditions are viewed, and foremost to be able to teach others about the Tibetan culture, help keep their traditions alive and from being forgotten. At every stop I make along this tour I hope that people will see my passion and donate to preserve the Tibetan culture. Even if it's one dollar, I think to myself "just one dollar given by hundreds can help keep a child in school to learn, to value their culture, and to dream." I'm not the type to go around asking for donations, I just can't do that. Instead I let people decide for themselves and let them feel free to donate what they feel happy with even if it's just their presence at a speech, it all helps to get my statement out there. I'm riding for a cause, I'm hoping for a future where lives are not forgotten, and I'm speaking to let my passion soar. Please feel free to check out the cause at http://www.saveaculture.org/ and learn more about why I am riding. I will also every day be posting an entry online through this website on the Tibetan culture as well as parts of our own culture and how they coincide, so if I'm not in your town you can still feel a part of my tour. This tour will take a long time to accomplish, I don't plan on flying through states and towns without stopping, I am more into stopping as much as time allows and talking to everyone possible, so if it seems like I am staying in one state for a long period of time, that is what I am doing I don't believe in leaving a place without at least exploring it, finding out it's culture and listening to people, and teaching others. So bare with me if you get frustrated and start thinking "what the heck? she is still there???" because you never know what I may turn up next.

One more gallery from the road...Glacier area Montana

2009-09-21T15:56:00.001-07:00

An older gallery posted on BMWxplor that I wanted to share here

2009-09-21T12:41:00.001-07:00

Beartooth, Yellowstone, and Cooke City Montana

Teaching is hard

2009-09-21T12:00:00.000-07:00

I never would of thought teaching others about culture could be hard. Wrong. I met two people today and talked with them about Antahkarana International and Tibetan culture and what I have been doing. They had no idea how our culture is so much like the Tibetan culture, or how in some ways we are losing our own culture and traditions. One of them said to me, " I guess I never thought about it, I just see the farm land disappear and don't give it a second thought until now. I realize we really are losing some of our most important cultures." While the other one pondered for a minute on the subject and said "To me Tibet is over there, I'm here. What do they have to teach me? So I don't think about it." This is what I tried to tell them, that if you look back in time, you can see how Tibetan culture has been lost, how the younger generation thinks that modern technology is the better choice than learning traditional crafts or working the land. That this happens everyday here in America, that we all and I am to blame as well, get lost in technology. We tend to want to send email rather than talk face to face, because it is easier or more convenient, and yes it is if you are needing something quick or sending something cross country, but what I see at times is when people are in the same room and still refuse to look at the other person and instead ask them to just email or text them. This to me is why people lose that human touch so to speak. Tibetans still believe in community, helping a person in need, and keeping your culture alive. I still have hope and believe that we do too, and that is what I was teaching them, to not turn a blind eye on their own history and traditions, to keep them alive because you never ever know when you may need them. We talked for over an hour about it, about life today, about what they see, and as I left, they both said "Thank you, thank you for doing this, for just talking, and yeah it's different having someone walk in here and just listen, and not have an agenda necessarily but just want to talk with an open heart." It was great to hear and I walked out of there with a sense of calm and well-being.

RIght in front of my eyes

2009-09-21T11:40:00.000-07:00

This post is a follow up from the Virginia City post as well as the Lessons learned on the road post. I am at this moment updating the post's, downloading photographs from this weekend and reflecting back on where I was and doing this past weekend. I grew up in Whitehall Montana, a small mining town in western Montana. Not many people live there maybe at most around 1200, give or take. People usually don't stop in Whitehall but pass on by. Growing up there I never even realized the rich culture and traditions that are still there today. I had to actually find out by radio about a geological rarity called the Ringing Rocks, and so that is where I went. In search of these rocks that actually ring like church bells when hit with a hammer. The road wound up and up into the back country, not a bad road at all, just steep. Around a bend in the road I found the ringing rocks, a huge pile of rock that to me looked out of place, and I sat there and thought to myself " How could I of grown up not even 20 miles from here and never of known? How could I have been so blind?" As I walked around, this is when I hit upon the area's culture, a huge hole in the ground up the hill with an old ladder disintegrating going down into it. An old mine shaft that someone had dug out over 100 years ago. There was an old drill bit stuck into the ground, and no other remnants left to speak of but that one ladder going down into the darkness. I sat there and tried to place myself back then, and think of climbing down that ladder into the vast darkness trying to find something to claim a stake on. The ladder told me more than I could of thought, it told of a time of prospectors never ending search for something, the hard lives they lived and it told me of how they never gave up, but kept on digging and digging, never knowing how things would end, whether they would come out alive, or whether that was the area to be.
I can't believe how much culture can be in one area, how many different traditions there are. I now know that this journey will be and is one of the most rewarding things I have done not only for myself but for others. To be able to teach others about the small things in life, that rich mining culture that once sustained whole communities and lives, or that tradition of handing down a farm to the younger generation.

Why I am riding

2009-09-18T12:09:00.000-07:00

I am riding for a variety of reason I suppose. The main reason is to tour this great country and meet the many different people along the way, and find out about their lives, traditions and cultures. To talk about the Tibetan culture, which I feel deeply for. I can't really explain why I do, it could be karma, a past life, who knows? I know that I have a deep respect for a culture that has fought for years for what they believe in. That no matter how bad things are to have a smile for everyone around you. That we can learn from their culture, that we still have great traditions and culture here and that we need to protect them, learn from them and give back to them through teaching our children and keeping alive the cultures. I am riding my motorcycle to learn, to bring back with me other's lives, so others can see through their eyes how they may live and what they do in their everyday life. A big task but doable. To talk with others about Tibetan culture and why we must help to save it, how we can all play a part in doing something great. I am going to be stopping at towns and hold informative meetings about what I am doing, show a movie produced for the Antahkarana International called Hope in the Wind, show photographs of were I have been, and most of all to be there in that moment listening to others.

Thanking my Supporters

2009-09-18T11:20:00.000-07:00

I need to take this moment to thank my sponsors, Jon of Helly Hansen Montana, who was kind to donate some base layers so I don't freeze on those chilly mornings and evenings. Chris from eurotechmotorsports who has been a Godsend for this project and has helped to pave the way for my future trips with Hepco-Becker gear. My family, who when I told them I wanted to do this, looked at me and said "We support you." Nate from the Bike Shack of Bozeman Montana, who is an awesome mechanic. The BMWxplor and BMWMOA website users who have left me with encouraging words and comments, and to all the viewers out there that have taken the time to read my journal entries and view my photographs.

Thank you for all your support and kind words.

Lessons from the road

2009-09-18T11:07:00.001-07:00

I have been learning a lesson a day while on the road with my motorcycle. For instance when I think I am in first gear and I'm not and the bike stalls out with a huge buffalo in front of me. Not good at all. All I can envision in my mind is the bison turing around and seeing the nice bright yellow and charging. I regain my composure as sweat is beading up inside my helmet, start the bike and slowly pull away with no harm done. Or when being a little bit aggresive goes a long way on a motorcycle, like when I have a person in a subaru driving within inches from my rear end and I can actually see the whites of their eyes, so I go slower...and slower until they get the hint and back off. Every time I swing my leg over my bike I am entering the learning world. I get frustrated at myself when it seems like I am not connecting well with talulah and we are struggling, or when I feel like I am not going to connect with people when I get to a town. This last trip to Virginia City was like that, as amazing as it was with my parents involved it was also frustrating. It seemed everyone was in their own world, and didn't want to be bothered with anything. So as I sat there thinking " What am I doing? I am not going to make any different here", when a boy of ten years old or so smiles at me and tried making me laugh by peeking his head out of the doorway, and as I photographed him looking down the road, I realized that connecting with one person is all that matters, that they will take what I have told them and learn from it and value it. That is why I am here, to show to people that we need to learn from what we see around us, the traditions and the cultures that our ancestors have given us. To show others this vast country side, it's sweeping landscapes to a boy sitting on a bench waiting for something to happen.

Virginia City Montana

2009-09-17T16:05:00.000-07:00

Welcome

2009-09-17T15:10:00.000-07:00

Hello all!

If you have been following my posts on bmwxplor.com I just want to say thank you and that this web page is for all of you to find me better. Thank you for all of the support and great comments. Please keep them coming. If you have not seen my last post's and photographs please go to:
www.bmwxplor.com click on Forums, scroll down to US Touring, click on Tibetan Tour Update and there I will be! I am Bike365. Look at my galleries and past journal entries there. In the future I will be using this sight for all other entries. Once again thank you all safe journeys!