We packed early the next morning to shove through miles. Tom bid farewell to us and our motorcycles, and we were gone bouncing and swerving along the ashram’s driveway. I detuned my brain for the days ahead, paying little attention to my surroundings. Instead, I curled up inside my own thoughts, wandering aimlessly. The tactic was one of survival: give attention to traffic and set actions on autopilot so the long miles and hours would not make me go road bonkers. The plains opened up wide to us, and it was a very long day into the heart of the Midwest.
