So what happens when a Pirate meets a Harley? Love? Wild joy? Dreams of freedom? Yep.

This was a trip to a serious academic meeting at Marquette University in Milwaukee. The topics were serious, the attendees did not quite understand "business casual" and the conversations were full of multi-syllabic words. I took notes and tried to look like a Dean in my turquoise scarves and boots.

And then we took a break and had a private tour of the Harley-Davidson motorcycle museum where I found my favorite colors and inspiration for another life adventure. The story of Harley is amazing. Success followed by failure followed by success over and over again, with the company re-inventing itself  with every cycle. 

The last exhibit is a motorcycle recovered in Canada after the tsunami in Japan. Harley found the owner and offered to replace it, but the owner said no, I will be like a blade of grass standing in a mowed field. Put it in the museum to people remember that together we can be strong and recover. Wow. Somehow I did not expect such inspiration from motorcycles

And at the very end of the museum were the motorcycle we could try out. Right color, right size, and not a bad price. I texted my husband who told me to pull out my credit card and ride it home...to Colorado. In the rain. Alone. 

Tempting...a wild road trip through the wilds of the US on a bike looking like a female Steve McQueen escaping from the repressive academic regime, or at least from the trauma drama of being a Jewish dean in a Jesuit institution in the middle of radical transition. From trying to be a good daughter and "honoring my parents" by making sure my passive-aggressive mother is warm and safe and dry. From helping random family members who seem to thrive on dramatic overtures worthy of a Don Giovanni finale. Or perhaps just the regularity and predictability of stability. Or just maybe because I still have adventures inside of me calling out for expression. Maybe. Probably. 

I know that the sense of wonder that comes from wildness and wilderness and feeling G-d's touch is still out there and in my. And I know that I am in hot pursuit.