We call ourselves Two If By Land*

Although, anyone who knows us as Nathan and Diana knows that to speak of us is to speak of three—him/her/Horace.

We love spirited things—old things, odd things, things made by hand, and things made to outlast the hands that will employ them. Horace, a 1983 BMW R80ST motorcycle, is the spirited “how” of our seeking. A short-lived street edition of the R80G/S, the classic Bavarian overland machine, the R80ST has been hailed as the best handling bike BMW has ever made. However, before Horace’s tires squelched down the U-Haul ramp onto the streets of San Francisco, it had spent the better part of the last decade as a barn ornament.

Keeping old things like Horace in service is important to us. It reminds us that objects, even those bought and sold in an economy increasingly disposed to disposables, do not simply reflect or express ourselves or our tastes, priorities, and values. Rather, we create ourselves when we choose the objects that shore up our postures in stillness and in motion, that clothe and shelter our bodies, and that draw the world into our perception. We create ourselves—at least, in part—from the most unlikely of materials. We create ourselves when we pause, say, when we are unable to not notice the arc of beauty between disused or found objects brought into novel relationships; between the fluorescence of a gecko’s skin we had previously encountered only in modern textiles or plastics or in the alchemical hue of Flamin’ Hot Cheetos.

We learn and relearn that how we respond to and steward the earth creates us too—when we witness its exploitation for the creation of our material objects; when we are breathless as it persists majestically, indomitably around and without parallel to our industries and objects. We learn and we relearn that the people living their own lives in places we’ve never heard of, as well as in the places we’ve always wondered about, extend a generosity and curiosity that far exceeds what we might intentionally or consciously seek. We can’t count how many times our cobbled together, 40-year-old bike has conveyed us to all these small, yet formative moments—to the automotive district where Horace silently wheeled to a stop when we had our sights set on The Most Beautiful Mountaintop in the World. For example.

Traveling reveals that we are creatable and helps us cultivate a respect for our own innate creativity. So let’s see what’s out there.

*About our name: Two If By Land is a phrase that sounds familiar to most Americans. It is a play on a famous line from Henry Wadsworth Longfellow’s classic American poem, Paul Revere’s Ride, which many children learn in school.

Cease to inquire what the future has in store, and take as a gift whatever the day brings forth.

Horace

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