Motorcycle touring (like life) is circular. No matter where or how far your travels take you, it’s ultimately all a big loop back to home base. In my years of riding, I’ve returned to favorite places, re-ridden many beautiful highways and byways, and revisited some of the most spectacular mountain ranges of the lower 48 states. It is all an endless cycle of circles. This song is about moving along that meridian and returning finally to the beginning - or back to the future - depending on one’s perspective. Cycles of travel, of movement, of beginnings and endings, cycles of life. We are constantly propelled forward, as we wind around the meridians of our particular adventures. This just happens to be mine.

A quick story about the cover art: The photo, with the famous Grand Teton peaks in the background, was snapped on the fly, on a bike trip last summer. As cool as the picture might make that day of riding appear, it was actually the worst of the entire season. So many things were going wrong, that it has become forever known as “The Day of the Plagues”. We hit terrible and unexpected (as in, not listed on the state website) construction where the pavement virtually disappeared for miles– a notable hazard for bikers. Jackson Hole was a hot bed of activity, so there was lots of tourist traffic that slowed us to a crawl on an unbearably hot day. We stopped for lunch at a beautiful park in the mountains only to be attacked by gigantic mosquitoes, biting flies, and one unidentified species of something that resembled a flying tarantula - and quickly decided it was wiser to flee than to eat. There was an unfortunate miscommunication with the GPS (enough said about that one). In the afternoon we got blown into the next county and pelted by the hail of an “isolated thunderstorm” (they seemed to be isolated always, in our exact location on the road). And the day of plagues was capped off at a hotel that night whose internet service was mostly inoperable, making everything about planning around weather for the next morning quite challenging. The one high point really WAS this photo, which, in spite of the realities of that day, perfectly captures the feeling of “Meridian Cycle”.

Many thanks to drakonis (eduard) and kassia (shay) for some very helpful feedback during the journey of this song making, and general assistance in trying to better avoid the plague of the kitchen sink disease. Also, very special thanks to the awesome posse. Hope you enjoy my little musical doodle.