European Trip Notes
Allan and Eric Stern
Fall-Winter, 2000
Any moment of travel on a motorcycle is a
light and essential moment, an agile rebuke to a life
conducted in one place. The raw force of the engine is not
hidden beneath a hood, but alternately purrs and growls a
few inches from the knees, demanding the consciousness of
power. Seated behind glass, insulated by climate control
systems and music, the driver of a car knows nothing about
the directions of the wind, the lay of sunlight, the small
changes in temperature between a peak and a valley, the
textured noise of differing asphalts, or the sweet and sour
aromas of manured fields or passing pine forests. Engaged in
all the senses and elements, balanced in the present tense,
a rider on two wheels can taste moments of oneness with the
road.
-- Patrick Symmes, Chasing Che: A
Motorcycle Journey in Search of the Guevara
Legend