Incredible When the dream of lifetime, the year of planning, the awe of seeing the beauty of the country and making a 9,000 mile trip on a motorcycle to Alaska was changed part way through it when his traveling buddy’s motorcycle forced the change in plans, Highlands’ Rick McGovern simply turned to God for direction, confidence and a traveling companion.
It was in Alaska when Rick’s friend and fellow biker Marty Herman, who joined Rick in Wisconsin for their voyage north and mapped out the outgoing trip , had to end his trip .Marty’s bike hit a rut in the road that, because of the help of God, only caused him minor scrapes and bruises but ended the trip for his bike. Both men credited God once again with the three “angels” who assisted them after the accident, got Marty back on a plane, and shipped his bike back home.
That meant that Rick, the retired special education teacher for youngsters, faced the long motorcycle trip back to Highlands from Alaska alone. Or as Rick said, “ I continued my incredible journey home on my own. Just God and I.”
That part of the trip only instilled more faith in the quiet spoken adventurer, and a closer relationship with God, his traveling companion. He gives many instances of how that came to be, intermingling them with memories of the first part of the trip with Marty as his traveling companion along with God..
Little things, Rich explained. Like “ just keeping me safe, calming me. Many times I said certain bible verses out loud. I came close to running out of gas twice. I would pray to make it or give me a sign. Let me know I’m close, and He did. “
Asked for examples of God being his riding companion, Rick recalled the time he not only needed gas but was looking for a particular lodging. It was getting late, he knew fuel was running low, and he wasn’t sure if he would find a room or would have to ride through the night. “I asked God for a sign, and then it came up. There was no town, at least not on this road. But the lodge was on this road and as I came around the bend, there it was, my lodge and gas. I got one of the last rooms.”
Weather throughout the trip also meant a lot of prayers, Rick said. Starting from the first day. “The weather at times made it hard.,” Rick conceded. “We hit three hail storms on the way out and a few rain storms with some serious wind. Doing the miles at those times was hard. Those 900 mile days were almost 14 hour days.
“The night before I left I knew there would be rain,” Rick said, in launching into stories about how the weather impacted the trip. “I just prayed for no storms with lightning and strong wind. I was leaving at 12:30 AM. I woke up to loud thunder lightning, and the rain was coming down hard. I got down on my knees and asked God to calm the storm the way He did for the apostles. I told him I’m okay with rain, not the other stuff.”
So Rick was not surprised when he finished getting ready, said goodbye to his wife, Laura, went out his bike and the rain was gone. “Yes, later by the time I was on the parkway I had my share of rain. But that was okay with me. Just no thunder or lightning.”
But God was there through all the weather, Rick said. “Marty and I prayed every morning, we knew His plans were different from ours, just as we knew His plans are always better. He got us through some weather like two rain storms that lasted only minutes but seemed like forever, with the wind so strong I had to lean so hard into it just to keep the bike up right.
“Or when we hit hail.,” he continued. “He got us to a safe place, and these storms didn’t last long. “
Other times instead of bringing us through them, He moved them. “That was something to see ! In the Great Wide Open these storms moved for us. After that I was much more at peace the rest of the way home. Yes again I prayed for a sign and gas again. And yes He brought me through it again. “
God’s help was always evident in difficult times along the way, he added.
There was the trip through Glacier on his way back home alone. “When I left Glacier, alone, I was taking all back roads and two-lane highways. God gave me a beautiful day, not a cloud in the sky. Out here storms pop up and if one did, there was no safe place to pull over. “
Rick recalls well what was happening next. “In the last 100 miles the skies got dark, I had been on the road 12 hours. I was worried, I prayed bible verses and I knew God heard me.”
Finding it hard to believe himself as he detailed some of his adventures, Rick said “ I tell you I watched God move and keep that storm away from me. There were times it looked like I was heading right for it. Again, He found me a room for the night when there was no room to find.”
Overall. However, Rick said the weather throughout the trip was pretty good. “Other than the day he left Highlands, and had mostly rain until he got into Ohio, Rick said there were beautiful days when the sun was out, it was hot and there were huge blue skies. On the other hand, quick storms came up, fast and furious. Temperatures would drop and a strong cross wind would try to push his Harley across the road. There were a few times when he used flashers and slowed down.
Hail storms were different. “it first seemed like a normal quick storm, but the temp dropped so fast it became cold and the rain hurt before until I realized it was hail.” One hail storm forced the duo to pull over until it passed. Around Butte, Montana, temperatures were cool during the day, and downright cold mornings and evenings.
“I had brought my heated vest,” Rick said. “And I used it pretty much each day from that point on, until back in the plains of Montana.”
There were fun ideas and thoughts as he went west, too. “ Those open fields and plains in South Dakota, Wyoming and Montana were beautiful. Being on my Steel Horse I felt just like a cowboy, with the only thing missing were Native Americans hunting bison out on the plains.” He found the wind always picks up in the plains, something he particularly noticed when crossing the Missouri River in South Dakota. “It’s like somebody hit a switch. Sometimes a strong head wind, sometimes a strong cross wind. But all awesome and part of the experience”
The wildlife along the way was incredible. Including the two times Rick and Marty once again called on God for protection. At one point, the pair stopped to put on rain gear. “When we got back on our bikes and pulled out, about 20 feet in front of us a good size grizzly came out of the woods moving fast in our direction. We kept going and later we pulled over to take off the gear.” But that time, he laughed, ,”We took turns keeping watch.” Back on the road, about 50 ft in front of us a momma grizzly and two cubs came out of the woods, and she saw us on the bikes. But as we got closer the road stayed flat and the shoulder went up about 30 feet. We stopped and looked up at her. She didn’t care. She knew we were far enough away, but the cubs loved looking down at us. “ And yes, Rick filmed the encounter .
So now that the perfect trip is behind him, what is next in the travel life of Rick McGovern?
Well, later this summer, Rick is taking his HOG Chapter to Vermont and then Cooperstown and Ithaca, New York. And Rick and Laura are planning an Alaska trip next year … “but we are not making it a bike trip, nor renting a bike.”
And what lifelong lessons has he learned from this trip? “I ask God to let me finish my race and do everything He needs me to do while representing Him well.”
His advice to everyone else with a trip? “Keep God first place. Life is short, don’t take any day for granted. Live one day at a time and focus on the present. “
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