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The Butterfl y Man A Book Review by John Rice #24267


"JUST WHEN THE CATERPILLAR thought the world was over, it became a butterfly." Brian House was a family man, a


small-town lawyer, a respected medi- ator and a minister. His world was solving other people's problems, smoothing the way for- ward. He had been a motorcycle rider in his youth, but that part of life had taken a back seat to career and family. Then, with a phone call from his doctor, all that changed. The Butterfly Man is an


unsparing, candid account of a cancer diag- nosis, the treatment and the aftermath, one not many would have the self-confidence to present to the world, but it most certainly is not a "cancer book." It is a journey tale, one by motorcycle and one inside Brian's head as he re-orders his priorities. Brian thought he'd left


motorcycling behind in the past, but like all of us with the two-wheeled gene, he found that there can be only dormancy, not cessation. He needed some time to think, some space to breathe, and a perspective only a motor- cycle trip across this huge country can provide. While he recov- ered from the surgery, the odyssey began to take shape. His account of the "war room"


where he planned (by his own admis- sion, somewhat obsessively) the grand


34 BMW OWNERS NEWS August 2016


tour he would take (if only the U.S. Air Force would stop rescheduling his son's training) should be familiar to many of us. He bought the wrong bike for his needs, a cruiser, but he had the intelligence and


set off west. Along the way he met the lady in a restaurant who discussed the fortitude of "T-Plus Love” and later, the guy who said he'd remember how to fly a plane once he got it back in the air. He had a beer or two in Silver City, New Mexico, with legendary Nick Sanders and a group of British ex- cops who were riding across America


collecting speeding tickets.


House is an Old West buff and has done his


research


well. He weaves in stories of the


historical characters battles and associated with


each of the places he visits. We learn about such figures as Elfego Baca, who held off 80 attackers without receiv- ing a scratch, and the myth vs. fact of Billy the Kid and the man who may have been the key figure in that legend. I like reading travel stories and have read many of those from world travelers. House shows


that a one worthy can stay


inside the continental U.S. and inside one's head and have


nonetheless.


So it is not a cancer book or a mid-life crisis book, but one about somebody doing it right. Doing the right thing about the


treatment,


the diagnosis, about and


temporary this life is.


maturity to admit it to himself and change his ways. His second choice was an excel- lent one, but not "the one" as he describes in terms any motorcyclist can understand. He finally settled upon a BMW R 1200 GS, an Aerostitch Darien "banana jacket" and


em ra y this life is. It is about having the right attitude


toward life, best considered from the sad- dle of a moving motorcycle. The Butterfly Man is available at better


bookstores, from the publisher RRP Inter- national LLC, and on Amazon.


about what to do next when you suddenly


realize how journey USA


then


member tested


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