Well, obviously the plans to start making somewhat regular posts didn't work out, being as it's almost two months later. In fairness to myself, a lot has been going on these last couple months, all of which having nothing to do with bike touring. Working quite a few more hours at that job at the bike shop I'd already quit from (because truly good jobs aren't easy to leave), moving in with my friend Erin (yep, the one I stayed with both in Washington and California, because this is clearly a recurring theme) and helping her get the house settled, my grandmother dying, a friend and family member committing suicide...it's just been a lot going on. Some of it has been good, much of it hard, but all of it keeping me too busy for the blog.
But it's time now. I'm ready. I'm ready to sit on my butt and run like hell at the same time. Because that's exactly what biking is. As Matt, manager at the Bike Rack and one of the most travelled bike tourists I know, told me, when rough stuff happens, sometimes getting away is exactly what you need to recover. I need to get back on the road, back to myself. It's not that I'm desperate to go, not this time. It's going to be difficult to leave Lincoln, more so now than it was the first time. I don't feel the need to escape my life or prove anything. I've been happier lately than I've ever been. I'm leaving out of a desire to travel rather than desperation to get out.
My goodbyes are all said. My gear is all acquired and packed. And while I never did much of a trial run, I've tested all my equipment and finally got in some solid hammock practice. There's nothing left to do but leave. The date's been set for over a week...and now at last it's just a day away. I leave tomorrow. And having told everyone when I'm going and made a few plans with folks to come stay with them, there's no choice any more, no decision to make, only the leaving to be done. And that, well, that's about as liberating as you can get. I'm excited, I'm nervous, eager, scared, all of it at once. And that's just as it should be.
...I kind of wish my planned leave date didn't send me out into the rain every damn day for who knows how many days, but well, that's the way it goes. As I told my dad and several others, if this trip lasts the two months planned, there's no way I'm avoiding rain the whole time, now or later it makes little difference. I'm going to wet, I've just hopefully waited long enough that I won't get cold or snowed on, since I'm headed north. Funny, this time last year I was in LA, my tour for the year already done. I've been thinking about it the last several weeks, where I was this time last year, and how removed I feel from it now in my safe, comfy house. It's definitely time to hit the road.
I feel I should post pictures...but I don't have much. So here's a few from my visit with my sister and my nieces yesterday when we went to Sesame Street Live and the Wildlife Safari in Ashland. Also my badass bag of trail mix. Also my hammock. Also the famous Erin, in garb, because.
No comments:
Post a Comment