Transition time

It is that time of the year when I move from the somewhat stable - perhaps even predictable - some would say a rather conservative being to my other persona - "hitchhiker".  I don't mean to suggest that I am not stable when I travel - if anything I need to be more structured and careful in my thinking - but rather that I have absolutely no way of predicting how or when I will get there. It takes a certain amount of discipline to be able to let go (yes I am aware of the paradoxical nature of that statement). Making the move from one lifestyle to the other is always a somewhat difficult transition and this year it feels as if it has been harder than usual. Although I suspect that I say that every year.

School responsibilities have hung on longer than normal.and I don't feel as organized as I could/should about my trip. For example - I still have not decided what day to leave nor have I checked out my gear. Maybe next week I will get those things done.

Perhaps it is the weather - it is so hard to think about summer when it feels as if one can count on the fingers of one hand how many really nice days we have had in the past month or so.

BUT I am excited - for the last 6-8 weeks I have been dreaming of the rides I have got in the past and the rides that I will get this year. Rich fantasies of making it from Winnipeg to Duncan even faster than I did last year - although unless I get picked up by a couple mad people who drive 20 hours a day - I don't see how that is possible. I lay in bed and remember what the Rockies look like as one makes that long sweeping turn on the Trans-Canada some where between Calgary and Canmore....and there they are. Lord, they are majestic!!! But the soft fields of Manitoba and Saskatchewan and the gently rolling roads of the foot hills are equally as wonderful.

And then there are the people - what new stories will I be told? What lessons will I be given? Oh I am so ready to be on my way.