“The first minute of action is worth more than a year of planning” – James Clear
The last month before departure were some of the busiest weeks of our lives. We were juggling winding down our jobs in highly busy times for both of our companies, travel for my best friend’s destination wedding, packing and moving all of our belongings into storage and turning the house over to tenants, major time-consuming and frustrating hiccups trying to dial in Floof’s suspension, finalizing all of the items we would be bringing and packing, and generally doing 100 other tedious chores to exit our current lives as smoothly as possible so we could be truly worry-free on the road.
Adding extra challenge to all of this, Donny suffered through two separate debilitating illnesses that took him out of the game — food poisoning one week followed by a very nasty cold that turned into aggressive-bronchitis another week. While timing wasn’t ideal, maybe he was just getting these things out of the way — better now than on the road? But I know it’s only a matter of time before this kind of setback happens again.
A week out from departure we were homeless and I was jobless. When I was asked how I was feeling just days before departure, what I kept repeating is that it doesn’t feel real. Each day that ticked closer didn’t seem to ignite the kind of jittery emotions I expected to feel when I was inches away from starting the adventure of my lifetime.
We focused on spending time with close friends and family in the last week in between final preparation chores. It would be the last time I’d be able to cook for my parents or share dinner with our friends for a while. I focused on being present and appreciating the relationships that we have.
The morning of departure immediate family gathered at my parents house at breakfast time. We clicked our luggage closed on the bikes, put on our fresh new riding gear that would never look this clean again, said our misty goodbyes at the bottom of the driveway, and rode away.
The beginning…
