What’s Your Story? The Sacred Art of Listening to Strangers on the Road

For those of us who feel comfortable just striking up a conversation with a stranger, well, I guess we're just lucky.

Or we're just a little bit crazy.

Whatever.

Maybe it's a combination of the two.

I don't know.

I feel like I've always been that way.

I just love to talk to strangers, to hear what they may have to say.

And this trip was certainly no exception, this trip to Ohio.

As we stopped for a gas stop one afternoon, I spotted a rider and walked over and said hello like a... always would.

He said that he had just been visiting the town of Sturgis in South Dakota, but not during the rally time as he didn't care for crowds.

He said that he was most interested in seeing the town of Sturgis before it transformed into a mass of bikers, as it does every year.

To be there when the museums were not crowded, that's where he wanted to be, to be in that small town of about 7,000 full-time residents, I think.

tucked away in the northern edge of the Black Hills well before the event.

Yep, I told him I agree.

I'm usually averse to crowds, and I too had ridden to Sturgis in past years, but not during the rally time.

Rather, I went to spend time in the Black Hills, certainly to visit the town, but also to appreciate the Native American history that's out there, the many stories that they have to share, stories that require us to stop, relax, take a deep breath, I guess, and just listen.

really listen, and sometimes maybe even be transformed.

On another occasion, out on the road this past week, Karen and I were having breakfast at a cafe one morning, and there was a fellow around my age sitting alone nearby.

He had on an Indian motorcycle shirt and hat, so this most definitely was a motorcycle rider.

As he got up to leave before we did, that's what I said.

I said, excuse me, you're a motorcycle rider, right? And he said, yes, I am.

And we got to talking a little bit about bikes and the conversation went on, you know, it was just so spontaneous and just so good.

We talked for a few minutes about bikes, but then we talked about other things for a couple of minutes too.

He shared with me a little bit about his career and that it had been quite stressful because of the nature of it.

He told me that time on his bike, well, that was something that he really needed.