On the heels of a catastrophic eye injury, multiple surgeries, and years of recovery, on a dark night on the Blue Ridge Parkway, finally back in the saddle of his motorcycle, the author’s return to riding grinds to a crashing halt. In an instant, there’s a deer in his windscreen. Everything goes black then he wakes up on the pavement. Wrist surgery is followed by more recovery…then another setback. On the eve of his return to riding, the sight in the good remaining eye darkens at the edges—a detached retina. The next day he is in surgery again…and recovery…again. In his mid-sixties, the time left to ride to all the places he’d dreamed about now seemed limited, but he vows to himself he’s not done yet.

By October of 2021, doctors say he can ride again. Between then and the following October, 24,000 miles roll under the wheels of the new Tiger he’d bought to replace his wrecked Bonneville as he explores the United States. These are the stories of that year in motion.