#Myth

IMHO for those of you new to the internet, means In My Humble Opinion. Which means, this is just what I, John Burns, think after toiling in the motorcycle fields lo these many years, and hearing the same hoary old truths bandied about as gospel for most of them. Feel free to disagree, modify and critique as needed to suit your own belief system and stimulate rational discussion.

The myth of the American open road permeates our culture as thoroughly as gun worship and our cowboy history of conquest by might equals right. The idea posits that every American man* can remake himself by packing up his troubles and setting out on the road towards a distant horizon to discover what awaits for him in the remainder of that infinitesimal slice of eternity making up each of our lives. Lest you think I’m disputing this, I’m as susceptible to the myth as anyone. After all, as I’ve written before, I came to motorcycling through a months-long cross country trip to escape an unpleasant situation.