“Finally, now I can go ride my bike” – the unaltered phrase Armaan emitted after losing patience yesterday afternoon during the halt he needed to take from bicycle riding when the limo driver picked up Gopi. Hearing that, I’m sure Gopi was heartbroken by our son seeming apathetic from the fact that he won’t see his mommy for next 5 weeks!
A part of us really want him to miss us and be a little clingy like most other kids his age, but the better part of us knows that he’s just feigning to be untouched and also we much rather have him be this independent, happy and well-balanced.
Personally, I would have been on cloud nine had he articulated that finally the curfew has been lifted and we are free to enjoy daddy-and-son boys-only evening-outs and weekends for the next couple weeks 🙂 🙂 But deep down I know that’s not how he felt and he’s going to aghast me as well with similar indifferent expression when I leave on June 23rd.
Speaking of the travel dates, this now marks the beginning of our insane itinerary! It’s gonna be quite crazy, fun, and hectic with total 9 flights Gopi will be taking and 7 flights I’ll be taking on top of countless car and of course the sweet motorcycle rides!!
Here’s the plan:
For more details on the route, check out the Ride Of My Life website.
Not only is the itinerary crazy, but it is also quite frisson. Since the first blog post announcing this adventure, we’ve received a lot of encouragement – thank you all for your kind words, best wishes and comments in the blog-post and Gopi’s Facebook post. Conversely, we’ve also received some fair warnings from friends and neighbors all the way from someone talking about a family member not surviving AMS (acute mountain sickness) due to very low oxygen at those high altitudes to some of their friends falling off the cliff!!! Not only that, but Gopi found this Facebook post about a guy who has done this trip 6 times, but had a tough time with snow walls, hail and freezing temperatures this year 🙁 On the positive side though, there were also a lot of references to exhilarating experiences of someone knowing someone who’s done this trip – be it on a motorcycle or a hired car 🙂
We just need to learn from Armaan to be so well-balanced, or get a carburetor or A/F O2 sensor fit in our brain that perfectly harmonizes our feelings just like it balances the exact amount of air and fuel in motorcycles! Lol …come on, I had to use that motorcycle analogy here.
Stay tuned and enter your email address in the “Get Notified” section to follow the #rideofourlife to the #topoftheworld journey in July 2017. As always, your wishes and comments are much appreciated (we’ll take the warnings too…)
For those interested in the mapped route, following is the 3-D terrain view that pumps up my adrenaline every time I see it (courtesy Google Maps):
All the best. Excited to get your experiences on the trip.
Niket and Gopi
You both love adventure. So enjoy fully and take care of yourself.
Dada, Armaan and dadi will have best time ever . He is going to be most spoiled kid during this time We wish you very memorable and safe bike ride tour .
Thanks, great article.