Setting Roxanne firmly down on her side stand, I leaned back into my saddle and relaxed. It would still take a few more minutes before everyone else had exited the gates of Villa Margarita so I had the time. Instinctively, I felt my gaze wander towards the distant mountains, their peaks covered in billowing sheets of early morning fog. I couldn't help but feel the same kind of awe and respect that early man held for these magnificent specimens of nature. Is it a wonder, then, that so many of our legends have been born in the mists of mountains? One can understand why early peoples often referred to these areas as the home of the gods.

Contemplation. It's what is usually aroused in a person when he is presented by ample evidence of God's creative spirit. I find it almost hilarious to consider, realizing of course that getting a glimpse of God was not on my priority list when I made this trip. The EuroScoot Banaue Ride was all about fun, spelled B-A-S-A-G! It was all about riding the bikes long and hard, along roads we had never yet traveled. It was all about gawking at sites we had not yet seen, taking tons of photos as ample evidence of our adventures. It was all about the rowdy, bawdy, really wild drinking that would follow, suffused with a thick aroma of burning plant-life, harvested from the bountiful plantations of King Tutamkhamen, and ultimately clouded from sane memory by the dawning of the new day. Don't get me wrong because I'm not complaining. The last three days were really great. It was everything I expected. In fact, it was more. It was a journey of discovery.

I have always enjoyed riding with EuroScoot, comforted by the knowledge that you ride with twenty-four scooterists with road skills and responsibilities that you can trust with your life. I enjoy participating in all the gawking and posing. Photo documentation is a serious business in this group. We want any one who looks at our pictures to know that we are having one hell of a good time! Don't believe me? Ask John Buhok then look at the printed evidence. You'll get it. And I really enjoy the late evening sessions of the Tutam Temple, a gathering of minds and an exchange of wits, moderated by none other than the great swami himself, bastos of the bastos and woe to him who the swami takes a liking to that evening. These sessions have taken me deep into the learning experience, allowing me insights into such complex phenomenon as the anger of the unloved, the reasons behind cellphone phone list removals, and the truth, and nothing but the truth. I love being a member of EuroScoot, and proud to be one at that. I thank God for granting me the privilege of knowing a bunch of really swell guys. Its not that we are all the same. In fact, what we really have in common is the love for the machine and the common longing for the long and open road. An outsider looking at us would readily see that, beyond the bikes, we are all very different, coming from different backgrounds, having different interests, understanding the wonder of life in his own unique but special way. Yet, despite these, we get along. We have learned to trust each other and to rely on each other when the road gets long and the going gets tough. I know for a fact that, should there be trouble up ahead, that there always will be someone from EuroScoot who will be there to bail me out. Spock once said, "Infinite diversity in infinite combinations." Descartes proposed that the sum may in fact be greater than the whole. Each member, alone, could never have come up with such a gimmick. Together, we planed this ride, we executed it well, we got home safe, and along the way, we acted like unleashed teenagers enjoying their favorite toys to the max. Hell of a bonus! All is indeed right in the world. And the best damn reason to go gallivanting along the great roads of this country. I wouldn't dream of doing it with anybody else.

All these things were given to me these last three days, by the grace of God, blessed be his name. But as I said before, there was more. There was that first sight I had of the mountains of the Ifugao Province from the first view deck as one zoomed up through the lower twisties. Bathed in the light of the afternoon sun, they glowed a bright silver, the effect heightened by the thin canopy of clouds serving as their personal headgear. The memory of that site alone makes me take a deep breath. And I've kicked myself a thousand times over for the idiocy of forgetting my camera. Such sites should be preserved by means more substantial than memory, for memory alone will ultimately fail us all. A wasted opportunity, true, but one learns and one grows from learning. And besides, EuroScoot was there to bail me out, again, as expected. Lucky bastard.

Then there was the next morning and more ass-kicking. I remember my first view of the terraces from our lodge window on that clear, sunny morning. They seemed to run for miles and miles. I could see outlines of them on the sides of even further peaks in all directions that I looked. They were magnificent. A true testimony to man's creative genius and a fitting argument for his continued possession of this planet. Too bad that we have abused such a privilege. Yet the evidence is there, right before me. We can accomplish great things. All that we need to do is try. And believe. That day for me was a day of absolute wonder. I marveled at the sights that greeted me, the sheer beauty of the surroundings, the magnificence of the Creator's masterpiece. God's country, that's where I was. All around me I could feel His Hand and somehow, I find it fitting that he chose a bunch of rowdy and bawdy scooterists as the instrument in showing me just a small glimpse of what His nature truly is and what life and the world should really be like. Really ironic, maybe even funny, but who am I to question His Will. On this trip, I particularly thanked Him the most for that particular blessing.

I continued to stare at the distant mountains, watching the clouds boiling from her peaks. In a while, the red Hex pulled out in front of me and the signal was given. Enough contemplation. Time to go. The road home beckons. Taking a deep breath, I take one last look at the mountains and whisper a silent thank you. Then, a twist of the throttle and Roxanne pulls smoothly away. I leave the distant mountains behind me, forever to be remembered in pictures and endless banter over old but satisfying adventures.

But as is usually for a EuroScoot ride, the road home is an adventure in discovery itself and we would be treated to one more memorable stop. At the foothills of the Cordilleras, just prior to crossing the boundary between Nueva Vizcaya and Ecija, we would discover Joyce's Restaurant where we would experience a hearty breakfast to help tide us down for the miles up ahead and we would meet such friendly waitresses who offered to ride along with us (and thank God we were all fully loaded!), and who would introduce us to Benjie Paras, Rez Cortes, Jess Lapid, and the brother of Vic Sotto. Thanks to them, I got to meet Eddie Peregrina, truly a blast from the past! To this day, I can still hear the faint strains of "My Pledge of Love Will not be Broken" as it was softly sung to me by my brother the moment we realized that Eddie was there. As we continued down the road, we would learn that keeping a steady pace would get us home quicker and in one group and were amply rewarded by only short stretches of traffic and a daylight entry into Manila. In the end, we would discover that riding together got it all done, that the reward for sticking to the group was a treasury of stories and anecdotes that should last us a lifetime of reminiscing. In a nutshell, that was the lesson of this ride: stick together; trust each other and God will provide the rest. My friends, I think we can ALL agree that He did provide - and in a big way, at that!

Someone once said, " Happiness is the delicate balance between what one is and what one has." That night, I went to sleep a very happy man. And, it's been a few days since that trip and I am still smiling. Thank you, God, for blessed scooterists!