Who would have thought that a journey launched by their Explorer leader, the late Joe Jorgensen, would still be under way? And that those kids he tended would come back as men, willingly getting out of their comforts and routines to and trail off through a wilderness of biblical proportions?

This year, the trip is later than usual and has been officially dubbed "A Ride to Remember" — to remember a place and the guy who cared enough to take them there. Truth be told, neither is ever very far from their thoughts. That grand, cracking apart rimrocked wind-scoured desert was the site of their transition from boys to manhood, and they want to see how they stack up.

Jorgensen had no trouble getting the boys involved in what he called "an opportunity" for Explorers to actually explore. The town's old-timers and a few moms didn't care for motorcycles. They were bundles of noise that offered a dozen ways for a young man to wreck his life. But Jorgensen believed in his heart that the bikes were no more dangerous than a spirited horse of a generation earlier. And he couldn't think of a better course on how to get through life's tough times ahead than taking to the world's centerpiece of rocks and hard places. And if they pick up some real life, not metaphorical, motorcycle maintenance, they might also end up with an art of living that will carry him through.

He had other motives, too. The desert can show a person what he is made of in a big hurry. And that shared risk and endurance will give a kid confidence that he can find his way through whatever barriers he comes across later in life.

This trip is also a success because those about to head out had actually done something their fathers' generation promised each other and had wept about at funerals for not doing — getting together before it's too late. Their sons had the same reasons their fathers used to postpone their reunions. But any second thoughts were displaced by the company of the precious few in this old world who know everyone's worst but see the best and are part of a bunch of guys who will always be connected in ways that transcend time and distance.