It’s funny how a single motorcycle trip can change your life.

When I was in high school I was certain I wanted to study engineering.  And I was smart enough in math and science to do it.  Engineering seemed like the right thing to do, and it’s certainly not something that a parent would try to dissuade a young adult from doing.

One of my favorite relaxation techniques was (and still is) to throw a dart at a wall map of Ontario, and ride my motorcycle out to wherever the dart landed.  It was a great way to see parts of the province that wouldn’t normally be a destination, and it taught me that the journey can be just as much fun as the destination.

And on one spring evening in 1992, the dart landed just outside of Woodview, Ontario, on a little green square called Petroglyph Provincial Park.

The ride out there was magical; through some of those wonderful twisty Northern Ontario logging roads that ache for a motorcycle.  I remember I had U2’s Achtung Baby playing on my discman, and it seemed entirely appropriate.

But nothing could prepare me for the power of the petroglyphs.  For two hours I slowly circled the rock, carefully watching as the steward made an offering of tobacco and sweetgrass.

Within a few months I decide to major in anthropology and Canadian Native Studies at Trent University.  How that turned out is another story for another day, but I’m thankful that some First Nations rock carvings moved me that deeply.

Ironically, I never made it back to Petroglyph Provincial Park.  Sounds like a fantastic trip to blog about sometime …