Launch Date Planned

Today I got word that I will be able to leave town on Thursday June 17 to embark on the journey! Yippee! I am so excited that I can hardly contain it…or maybe I'm afraid...I'm not sure. My mom used to tell me that fear and excitement often feel the same in the stomach, so it is best to assume it is excitement. I'll go with that, in spite of the overwhelming number of worst case scenario scenes that keep flashing through my busy head. I will be polite and not share them with you unless they happen. (Everyone cross your fingers.)

All preparations that can be made at this point have been; camping supplies collected, a final tuneup on the bike, a trip to the store for small size odds and ends, and finding the first meeting (I'll keep you in suspense as to where, but it rhymes with the incorrect plural of several dead swine…). Over the next two days I will work on packing the bike, getting all the home things squared away (bills, etc.), and the biggest challenge of all, attempting to get my mind ready to leave. I have a certain amount of anxiety about leaving Mandy and all of my friends. 60 days is a long time to be gone from home, and I am getting a little afraid of what I will miss. I already know that I am going to miss Mandy tremendously. She continues to assure me that this is the right thing to be doing and that she and I will both be just fine, but that doesn't change the fact that I will not get to see her every night, something that I have become quite accustomed to and happy about. I also understand intellectually that my fear of loneliness on this adventure is a little unfounded since I will be going to a meeting every day, but I still wonder how frightening it will be to be alone in my mind for all those miles in-between meetings. More will be revealed, I suppose, and my job now is to prepare the 'cabin' for departure.

So there you have it, come the 17th I will be headed out onto the road to see what will happen, work on honing my look-for-strange-things skills, and get to the next meeting.