Wanderer: A person who travels aimlessly
aim-less-ly
When I first got my instagram, I, being a millennial from the before times, when you would never use your REAL name on the internet, usually a clever handle and some obscure but specific numbers, called my instagram account Mxz1KawiDoo. It was a smooshed together combination of
MXZ- My snowmobile was a Skidoo MXZ-600sdi
Z1k/Z1000- My sportbike was a Kawasaki Z1000
Kawi- Kawasaki
Doo- Skidoo
I’m not fully confident you needed me to spell all of that out.
But then I realized I couldn’t afford snowmobiles AND motorcycles. So I sold the snowmobile and changed my instagram name, in I think 2016, to z1kwnderer, which it’s been ever since.
I can’t tell you for sure (I know I’m allowed to, Dr. I just don’t have a reason) why exactly I settled on wnderer. The z1k makes sense. In 2016 I had discovered traveling. I discovered getting on planes and booking hotels and loading up the truck and going places and seeing things! And in late 2016 I picked up my whole life and moved to Nevada! So “sportbike” + “traveling metaphor” makes pretty good sense.
Later on, after the purchase of my Triumph Tiger, and the shift from a sportbike to more ADV- type traveling, I considered changing my IG name again, but didn’t.
Many people have met me at motorcycle events, and didn’t realize we were insta-friends until I shared that I was THE ZeewonKaywandereerr. OMG! YOU’RE! Yes. Tis I, in the flesh. You may call me “Matt.”
But back to Wnderer. The weird part is that insta-names aren’t really bound by character length, not enough to justify dropping the “a,” anyway.
But alas, my question, March 2024 Me wants to point at 2016 Me and ask “Hey you. Why, of all the adjectives for “traveler,” WHY did you settle on Wanderer?”
aim-less-ly
Seems like lately, every time I write a blog post I’m talking about how crazy and turbulent my life has been. 2021- present has been really transitional.
I deactivated my instagram. I still have a facebook, but i uninstalled the app from my phone. Some of you have texted or messaged me on fb messenger. I really appreciate you, and it really makes me feel like I matter. Thank you so much.
But in all fairness… If you didn’t reach out, if you didn’t notice my absence, I don’t think less of you or fault you. For the past 2 or 3 years I’ve only posted when I ride, the last year only when I race, and I haven’t posted on my story in weeks, if not months. So my departure from social media was gradual and quiet.
Please text me though. I miss you.
My last entry here was about growth. And making positive changes in my life. Man, Rock bottom came up fast. And I can’t exactly say that I bounced off the bottom.
I spent a lot of years living a dream, and considering what I’d been through, I had every right to let loose, stand on it, and go 100mph in every direction for a while. Dream indeed, right down to the “IDK what’s going on but there’s some both good and bad things happening right now” part.
Shortly after that name change in 2016, I was wandering. I may have been going 100mph, but this “Chasing this dream full speed with no set destination in sight” was absolutely the definition of wandering.
I’m done wandering. Its expensive. I’ve struggled with being aimless my whole life. It feels like I haven’t really done anything significant, but a realistic assessment says I’ve done a TON! I raced a 600 mile race through nevada, I learned to race a dirtbike, I’ve ridden an adventure bike from Reno to Portland to SF to SD to AZ and back and forth to Los Vegas and bought and sold toys and been in a magazine and and and………
I’ve wandered.
…all over. That was nice. I sampled many, many things. I tried this, did that, went here, saw stuff.
And now I’m a 36 year Old Man with a negative net value and no appreciating assets.
I’m also single š
IDK why the fever broke on Saturday, March 16th, and I suddenly decided to cut ties from doom scrolling, reels, FYP’s, and DMs, but I decided that I needed to spend the next 240 days disappearing, and finding my new direction.
I’m still planning on, training for, and saving for Baja Rally in 2025. Part of finding a new direction, I believe, is to practice choosing a destination, and working towards it. Am I done racing after that? Am I going back to Adventure riding? am I going to give up riding and pick something else? Maybe. Leaving it all up to the experience. But today, I’m committed to
- Competing in the Baja Rally with my best foot forward. Show up with the skills, the fitness, and the resources to start and finish the hardest race I’ve ever done to date.
- Funding this race completely on my own, with minimal debt and maximum savings. Paying my own way in this race is just as important as finishing it, because I’m simultaneously fighting to be physically and financially prepared to complete this race.
The results of October 2025 will significantly influence my new direction. I believe in the possibility that I could be fully hooked on Rally Racing after this, and then devote my time and attention and resources to more races. It could also serve as a final taste of a life I started much too late. I coulda-shoulda-woulda been a racer my whole life, but I’ll settle for one helluva 5 years of sending it, while still peppering in a few MRANN races and VCGP’s in there *for Fun.*
But in between the gym sessions and the seat time and the debt paying, there is a lot of meditation going on trying to spend the next 232 days or so figuring out how to STOP WNDERING.
Yes. When I come back to instagram, I’ll have a new name. Because we tend to live up to the names we give ourselves. Maybe 2016 Me had something when it randomly spat out wnderer.
-Z1knotsinglemakes150kayrer
–Stand on It
Stand On It 