WHATEVER I WANT
With only 12 days until I dip my rear tire in the Pacific Ocean to begin my tour across the country, I realized that I may as well just eat whatever I want at this point. Also, there is some Tillamook Mudslide ice-cream in the freezer.GRADUATING
It's the graduation season and I can't help but feel that I am swept up in the emotion of graduating too. Closing up loose ends at work is nearly as draining as taking finals. I'm trying to get rid of the growing mountain of stuff that is following me around. And I'm about to leave work to go do whatever I want with an air of a new beginning.
3 MONTHS IS KINDA A LONG TIME
The longest outdoor trips I've been on were 8 days. The only experiences that come close to 3 months 'away' are my semester at The Mountain School in Vermont and a summer working on Mt.Rainier for Washington Trails Association. In both those cases, three months was long enough for a new way of life to become familiar and 'normal'. Hopping into my dirt-caked Carharts and lacing up my boots became normal on Rainier. Bottle feeding sheep and cutting the day's salad greens became normal in Vermont. Re-applying sunscreen, riding my bike for hours, and looking for a good place to sleep is going to become normal. The sensation of "vacation," of something temporary and unusual, that will fade away. Riding my bike all day and seeing something new-- it's going to be normal. Or so I think.
DECISIONS, DECISIONS!
And no, I don't mean gear decisions! I mean every day on the tour will be filled with a string of endless decisions! What should we eat? Where? And when? Should we keep riding? Should we stop? Where's a good place to sleep? Should we ask them? How long should we spend here? Can we wait out this rainstorm? Should we carry extra water? It will be interesting to see myself and my touring buddy work these decisions out. To sum us up to an extreme, I'm impulsive and she's indecisive. Not always, but you could simplify us that way.
