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Hello,

I hope this message finds you well and I hope you’ve done something over the past few weeks to get you closer to investing in real estate…I’d like to hear what you’re doing so feel free to drop me an email.

I have so much to tell you…this is going to be a long post, but I think if you take your time and read the entire story you will definitely learn a few things. I know I have and that’s why I’m sharing this story with you….

I’m sitting in a Starbucks today eating a three layer delicious chocolate cake…it’s awesome. I’m here and not at the beach because for the first time in 8 months it’s raining lightly. It’s nice because its cooler today however I can feel the humidity coming in.

Earlier this month I rode a Harley Davidson Road King from Phoenix to Cabo San Lucas all by myself so let me tell you about overcoming challenges, fear and the tricks your mind will play with  you…

 I arrive to Phoenix on I think July 22nd on Thursday night  and I see the bike for the first time. This bike is huge… it  weighs 765 lbs. and because I want to go for a run I just  leave it and go get changed.

 In the morning I go to the bike and try to start it but I don’t  know how…because I’m a man I don’t call anyone for help  and after pressing a combination of buttons I finally get the  engine to turn but I don’t start it just yet.

 Now I really realize just how big this bike is…as I go sit on  it and I try to lift it I have to get the best footing I can considering I’m on my tip toes and hive the bike to an upright possession.

Ok, now I have to back the bike up and out of the garage. Lucky for me the garage has a bit of a slop so I can manage to get it out on my own. I start it up and the engine is louder than expected and the bike is vibrating between my legs. I think to myself with a smile on my face the power feels awesome…

I carefully start rolling forward and I’m off…the power on this bike is insane. It’s basically a huge engine on two wheels all held together by a few pipes welded together. As i come to my first red light I go to stop and almost fall over because I’m not use of the weight of the bike.

After running around picking up a few things for my road trip I come back home and manage to park the bike without any problems. I go straight to my computer to goggle my route. I research how far a full tank of gas will go, and plan where I’m going stop to get gas. I also plan how fast I’m going to ride considering how long it’s going to take to get gas and food so I can trying to figure out at what time I will get to the US / Mexico border and where to sleep the first night.

Because in Phoenix it’s 43 degrees Celsius and Cabo its 38 degrees Celsius I pack light. Actually I didn’t pack anything except a tooth brush and toothpaste…Figured I would make the trip in two days. I charge my three cell phones, iPod and anything else with a battery and grab twelve 500ml water bottles. My thought is to stay hydrated by dinking one bottle per hour.

I’m excited about riding the bike, the road trip, my adventures over the next two days and my mind is racing about everything…the bike, the trip, my plan and how prepared I am for this trip so I can’t fall asleep.

It was 1am the last time I looked at the clock before waking up at 5am. Shower, get dressed, double check my backpack, and loading everything on the bike…as I’m about to leave I think to myself…I have room in the side satchels so I should take my leather motorbike jacket because I don’t want to carry it on an airplane in the future and head out.

Its 6am and I’m on the highway and so far everything is going as planed and I’m on schedule for about two hours before I start falling behind…In Yuma, AZ I have to stop at a Harley Davidson Dealer to buy a lock for the bike that I conveniently remembered while on the highway that i forgot to pick up the day before.

Everyone is telling me the highway is very dangerous…lots of banditos looking for dumb Americans to rob. Because I’m riding a Harley when I stop to sleep over night someone will definitely steal the bike…I don’t believe them but better safe than sorry. I’m also soaking wet from perspiring…its 45 degrees Celsius and at 120 KM per hour it’s just hot air hitting your body like a hot blow dryer.

Then I run into a crew fixing a perfectly good highway so by the time I get to the US / Mexico border I’m three hours behind schedule. And it’s cold for some strange reason. I figure it’s just me because all my clothes are wet and the air by the coast is usually cooler so i think to myself once I dry everything will be fine.

It takes me about an hour to get through the Mexican Customs and I’m off again…I figure the further south I go and as my clothe dry the cold will turn to heat again…not so…I ended up having to pull over on the side of the highway to put on the jacket I wasn’t planning on bringing…first lucky move – unfortunately from here is just gets worse…

I’m hauling it…going as fast as I can so I can make up for lost time. Figures I would be at the hotel by 6pm making my riding day just 12 hours long but know it’s going to be 16…no big deal because, would still make it to the hotel before the sun goes down. One thing is for sure I don’t want to be riding at night in the dark.

Sometimes, no matter how much we want something it just does not happen…I’m desperately trying to make up for lost time but the only problem is I’m not making up any time, I’m actually falling further behind and it keeps getting colder…oh, ya…did I mention I don’t like to ware riding gloves…oh, ya…did I mention the three cell phones I have with me do not work…

I have the GPS set up on my iPhone so I would know where I was at all time but since entering Mexico it stopped working so I have no idea where I am. At about 6:30 pm I pass what I think looks like a nice hotel and I was so tempted to stop but I figure I would make it to my original hotel despite everything. I’m an eternal optimist…

Now fast forward a few of hours…the sun is now gone and it’s pitch black, it’s been three hours since I passed the last hotel and since then it’s just been all desert. No signs of life as far as the eye can see. I have no idea where I am, where the next town is or if it has a hotel.

Oh, ya…i was wrong about it getting hotter the further south i go. I’m freezing. I’m trying to warm my hands by putting them on the engine or the exhaust pipes. Normally this would burn my hand but it’s so cold the engine is just warm not hot. Oh…ya, I also have not seen or passed another car in about two hours. I’m starting to panic!…

My mind has tuned on me. I’m going crazy…you really need to get an idea of where I’m at. It’s an isolated highway, it’s so dark I can’t see anything beyond the glare of my light and surprisingly enough it’s a hilly windy road. I’m riding and violently shivering to the point where my muscles are cramping up. It’s like I’m having convulsions on the bike…I’m freezing cold and I can’t feel my hands. I’m lost and my mind is telling me I’m going to die…

I’m desperately looking for a place to stop but the highway is an old two lane road with no shoulder to stop. On the other side of the white line is dirt, big rock and sand…not a good place to try to ride a dirt bike let alone an 800 lb. Harley Davidson. I keep going until I come to a tiny narrow bridge and stop. I keep the bike running and turn the flashers on.

My mind is freaking out…I’m walking up and down the highway trying to gain control of my senses so I can make rational decisions. I manage to calm myself down…I literally look south down the highway and all I see is black nothing…the unknown. Then I turn around and look north and I clearly see the hotel in my mind three hours away…I know with this cold…in the dark I won’t make it.

I even think of keeping the bike running, huddling under the bike and crying myself to sleep for being such an idiot until the sun comes back up or someone stops to help me. I knew that was nuts but what else was I going to do?

Huddling under the bike seemed like the best plan until images started flashing in my mind of a pack of wild animals attacking me or a poisonous snake biting me or a huge harry black spider, or a scorpion biting…all having the end result…with me being found dead huddling under a running bike. All of a sudden three cars drive by…in a flash decision…I hop on the bike and I gunned it to catch up to the cars. My mind was racing…several options are coming to me…and suddenly none of them included dying.

I thought I can pass the three cars and race ahead…if something happens to me I can flag them down and they will stop to help me. I can pass one or two cars…get in the middle and if I can’t go on I can stop on the highway forcing them to stop so they can help me…or I can stay behind them because between the heat of the three cars and the heat from the bike it was actually warm enough that I might be able to last two or three hours to the next town where ever that may be. One thing was clear…I was not going to make it to the hotel I wanted to stay at….I’m now 4 hours behind schedule.

Life is strange…sometimes the plans we make and the decision we have a lot of time to think about end up being the wrong ones and sometimes the decisions we make in a split second work out for us.

I caught up to the cars and because I was determined to make it to the hotel I was planning on staying at I decided to stay behind the three cars…my mind had settled down and it wasn’t as cold any more…I was still cold but it was manageable.

After a few kilometres we came up to a military check point. I was stopped as were all the other cars and when I had a chance, I asked where the next town was. They told me it was about 3 KM away and they had three hotels.

When I got to the hotel I checked in unpacked everything and locked the bike with the lock I bought in Yuma, AZ…As it turns out I did need it after all. I was told at the US / Mexico border you cannot buy temporary insurance for motorbikes in Mexico so I was without insurance.

I say life is strange because what would have happened to me if I had decided to head back three hours to where I knew for sure there was a hotel. The safe bet…

What would you have done?

How do you react under distress or fear?

We all say how cool we would react under a life or death situation…but we will never really know until we’re there ourselves.

I didn’t know how I would react until I found myself on this highway. I can honestly tell you that I was reacting the way I was because of the conversation I was having with myself in my mind and I can tell it was all about how afraid of the unknown I was at that moment, how I was going to fail, how I was not going to make it, how I was going to die, how I was going to crash and never be found, how I was going to freeze to death.

My mind was freaking out, I was freaking out and the nearest hotel was just a few kilometres way….I’m sitting here kind of laughing because everything was caused by me and what I was focusing on at that exact moment in time…I was freaking out because my plan was not working out as I had planned and I was in the middle of no where all alone…Thinking back…I really wasn’t in any danger. Everything was created in my mind by me.

Ok, I figure out where I am and I find out that the hotel where I wanted to stay was only 1 1/2 hours away so if I stuck with the three cars I would have made it after all. The next morning I head out at 6am…and I’m flying because I’m still trying to make up for lost time but this is not possible and I end up losing more time because there is major highway repair and large sections of the highway is a dirt road. I’m riding at about 20KM per hour. There is a long section that is all sand and then I end up falling.

The hot exhaust pipe is resting on top of my leg burning it. I’m screwed…Its Sunday so there is no one around to help me lift the bike off my leg….now remember this bike weighs 800 lbs. and my leg is pinned under the bike. I wasn’t going fast so it’s not like I crashed but I am pinned under and my leg is burning against the hot exhaust. The pain was unbearable!…

…it’s almost been a month since this happened and my leg is not fully healed. It took me about 5 tries before I was able to lift the bike high enough so I could take my leg out. Not sure how it happened but my pants got pulled up so the hot pipe was resting on my skin which made the burns worse.

When I finally got my leg out I had to sit by the bike for a few minutes to recover and regain my composure…I’m thinking how the hell am I going to lift this 800lb bike up to an upright position by myself. I used all my might and after a couple of tries was able to get the bike up right. I hopped on, started it and slammed it into first gear trying to get it going slowly but it wouldn’t move…instead it started sinking in the sand.

By now I’m feeling exhausted and desperate. I really don’t remember how I got it out…All I remember is lifting from the handlebars, pushing forward and giving it a lot of gas. Once I got the bike moving I headed up to a section of highway that was being worked on so cars could not drive on it to rest.

I checked the bike to make sure it was not damaged and that is was still safe to ride when I noticed a piece of my skin stuck to the exhaust pipe. After seeing that, I didn’t bother looking at my leg…I hopped on and I took off. As I’m riding I notice my handle bars moved so I stopped to make sure everything was still ok when I discover they are loose from all the road vibration. They are loose but i can still ride the bike to the next nearest repair shop which I have no idea where that is.

Making it to the next town, I find a repair shop that’s open on Sunday…the poor guy does his best to tighten everything he can because he doesn’t have the tools to work on the motorbike or because he can’t afford to buy good tools.

As he’s working on the bike we’re talking about life in general and then we start talking about my trip. From his perspective I did a very poor job planning for my trip because I didn’t have any tools with me, my cell phones didn’t work, I don’t have a First Aid Kit and I don’t have a change of clothes and most importantly because I was making the trip by myself…and that would not be the only person to tell me that over the next few days.

Thinking back…I was as prepared as I knew how to prepare. I prepared the best I could with the knowledge I had…I’m sure for my next trip I will be better prepared because of this trip. My knowledge has grown from this trip. I’m sure on my next trip I will learn something new that will help me prepare better for the following trip.

When he was done I asked him how much. He told me not to worry about it and told me he was glad to help me…I guess that’s why he can’t afford good tools…here is a mechanic working on a Sunday fixing my bike for free…I was thinking to myself here is a person that needs to learn the value of time…never the less…I told him I was very grateful for all his help. I gave him I think $500 pesos’ which is about $43.00 and I was again off and running feeling better because I had a mechanic check out my bike.

I’m about to learn in a few days about the sense of security and how fragile it can be…I also will learn this sense of security is manifested by our thoughts and is not real.

Ok…by know I’m about 6 hours behind schedule and I’ve accepted the realization that I will be on the road for one more night…the city I wanted to stay at is about 700 KM away and I feel confident I will make it before night fall regardless of all the delays I’ve had until now…I’m an eternal optimist.

Regardless of how optimistic I am I continue to fall further behind schedule. More road work but the most nerve wrecking is the lightning, thunder and rain storm I have to cross. I’m racing down the highway and it’s amazing…to the left of the highway I can see a torrential down pour coming my way and to the right for as far as I can see there is a strip of sunlight over the highway and aside from a few rain drops I missed the storm.

Just as night fall starts to settle in, I come to a town and after speaking to a truck driver that assures me there is no highway work ahead at the very last minute I see a hotel and I decide to stop there for the night. Believe it or not…as I drove through most of the town I kept debating with myself…should I keep going or should I stop. This hotel was literally the last building in town. It’s about 9pm and I’m about 6 hours from home in Cabo San Luca.

The next morning I get up, check the bike to make sure nothing is loose and everything is fine…I hit the highway and set the course control to 120KM. About an hour into my ride I come to a town where when I slow down I can hear something but I’m not sure what it is…I stop and check things over and it’s the exhaust pipe…from all the road vibration it’s come lose. I see a repair shop and stop. The repair man does his best to tighten everything. Again I ask how much and he tells me not to worry…he was happy to help me out. I give him some money to show my gratitude and appreciation and I’m off once again.

As I’m driving down the highway I can’t help but think what would have happened if I didn’t stop the night before at that hotel at the last minute…where would I be?…would the exhaust have come lose? What would have happened? Would I have made it to the next city where I wanted to stay…would I have crashed and would I be here today writing this?

Sometimes I think I’m in some kind of control but I’m realizing I’m not…I now remember…at one point I was talking to the bike asking to hold it self together for a few more hours until I made it home safe and sound…come to think about it I was asking the universe to keep the rain away and to keep me dry the day before…just as this day I was asking for me to get home safe…

At 1pm Monday July 25th I pulled into my Driveway in Cabo San Lucas…I was happy to be home safe and to have lived through this experience.

Sharing this story with you makes me realize what an incredible trip this was….Because of the nature of this story, I’m sharing with you all the things that went wrong and how I had to be flexible to overcome them or how I had to adapt to overcome my fears…how I had to be persistent and no matter what challenge I came up against, had to keep moving forward.

The next day I take the bike to the Harley dealer here in Cabo. I tell them what happened and that I want them to go through the entire bike to check everything from top to bottom and front to back. They have the bike for two days. They call me to pick the bike up…I go to the dealer to pick up the bike and they charge me $38.00. I think WOW…thats cheap…gotta love Mexico!

I go for an hour ride thinking everything is safe and when I get home I realize a foot peg fell of…I’m puzzled so I start checking other things and find the handlebars are still loose along with a few other minor things. I’m like what the hell…I go back to the dealer and tell them about what happened.

They told me they were sorry and they would talk to the repairman. Turns out the guy started working on the bike but got pulled off to work on another bike and then had two days off. They saw the bike there and they figured it was finished. They didn’t check anything. So I basically got my bike back in the same condition it when in.

Here I am riding this bike thinking everything about is once again safe because I had a certified Harley Davidson Dealer service the bike but in reality nothing was done to it. Talk about a false sense of security.

Think about all the false sense of security you have in your life…all the false sense of security we all live with every day. What are you afraid of?

We cross the street at busy intersection when we see a little white man because we have a false sense of security in thinking that because we see this little white man the car speeding down the street will stop…but what if he doesn’t stop??? We get into our cars and drive to work because we think when we press the brakes the car will stop…but what if it doesn’t???

We are afraid to invest in real estate because we think we are going to lose money, we think we are going to make the wrong decision, we might make a bad investment, we don’t have time…

I’m sharing my story with you with the hopes you will learn however prepared you think you are you will never be prepared enough…no matter how much you know you will never know enough…SO JUST START TODAY…

If I waited for everything to be perfect or studied until I learned everything I would still be in Phoenix.

Remember this…Security is an illusion, fear is manageable and no matter what is going to happen good or bad it’s out of our control…

I hope you enjoyed my story…