HC SVNT DRACONES is Latin for “Here Be Dragons”. The last surviving map to bear this phrase is the Lenox Globe. Think of a map of the world. You can see all the continents… the various countries’ boundaries pieced together like a puzzle. Each of the 50 states of America is perfectly dissected and veins of roads connect our country from sea to shining sea.

Now think of what a map might look like in the early 1400s. Maybe entire continents are missing… parts of countries are non-existent… the Unites States of America may just be one mass of land… undiscovered… unknown… uncharted. And then… a dragon… a black, loathing dragon sprawling across the lines of latitude and longitude. This was an unknown place. Here be dragons…

It was a practice in medieval times that dragons or sea creatures were drawn on maps for those worlds not discovered yet. The medieval mapmakers had limited knowledge of distant lands and uncharted seas so dragons were depicted on the far edges of their maps. These were unknown lands… there were territories to be discovered… these were places of adventure!

I have dragons on my map… rides that I have yet to experience… lands that I have yet to explore! Like riding the Pacific Coast Highway and feeling the warm California sun on my face… staying overnight at the Wigwam Motel on Route 66… seeing the maples changing to their fall color in Door County… even braving the Canadian roads en route to Alaska… these are my dragons. Looming and exciting until I slay them!

What great country rides are your dragons covering? What history do you hope to uncover? What territory is uncharted that you yearn to discover? Maybe it’s not even specific rides on your motorcycle… maybe it’s a fulfilling a passion or purpose you have for your life… maybe you’re striving for success in your chosen career… maybe you have an exciting new relationship on the horizon… maybe there is a dream or accomplishment just beyond your reach…

Whatever these dragons are, approach them as an adventure… a wonderment of discovery. For adventure requires something of us. Adventure requires us to commit to ourselves and be true to the journey of discovery. That is, discovery of ourselves, discovery of the unknown, even as simple as the discovery of one of the best rides that’s not on the map. Here be dragons…