Permutations

This was probably bound to happen sooner or later, so there's not much point being mad about it. Rather, let's figure out what is happening and what to do next.

The issue at hand is a growing sense of unease, a slight and barely noticeable condition that has crept up recently and makes us feel a bit... bored. This is a bad omen, as the initial (rushed) conclusion is that we've seen all there is to see around these parts and that it's all over, this place is done.

This is true, at least in part and I had experienced something similar after years riding across Tuscany, to the point where boredom became nausea. Yes it's all so picturesque and people come from all over the world to see the cypress-lined driveways and fields of golden wheat, the villas, bloody Florence and the coastline towns and beaches. But... it's also very dull after a while. Umbria and Marche are a bit better, but nothing compares to Abruzzo, our mountain haven. Yet we must confront the fact that we've been exploring these lands for the past eleven years now and with very few exceptions (the Majella park and Campotosto), there's no longer that feeling of awe and spectacle there was before.

Instinctively, I've always tried to stave off this moment, trying various permutations of a limited set of elements to yield different results. I join a long tradition of alchemists, philosophers and mathematicians, all of whom have done much the same thing in their own fields.
All the routes I've scouted and revisited, shared with friends and remixed have often unlocked new experiences, but the roads are only so many, so there's only so much change I can apply to the structure of reality.

Witold's view is much more pragmatic and more blunt than mine: "it's done, we've seen it all, let's go off-roading through the world". I prefer to think of it as a blade that gets ever sharper; much in the same way as I've constantly reduced my luggage, I must now do away with those itineraries that no longer offer anything noteworthy and focus on those that do. Surely it must be obvious that this approach invites discussions on identity (this is the Majella, this is Campotosto - both experiences remain basically unchanged regardless of how I rearrange itineraries), change, and the nature of reality: every permutation is simply a different arrangement of available elements with the purpose of maintaining the awe I talked about; either it all stays the same despite changes in how I arrange routes and gear, or something unexpected could always happen. As this isn't science, but divination, the outcome is far from guaranteed.

A somewhat more sinister interpretation has to do with determinism; consider all the permutations available to us: are we just following a predetermined order or is there room for genuine choice and variability? I wouldn't worry about this too much though...

Going much farther afield is and always has been appealing, the only limiting factors having always just been money and responsibilities. It also means, realistically, that if I do this it will be on the R100GS if there's even a hint of unpaved roads (otherwise the Sportster and the Commandos are perfectly capable machines).