Leaving?

Dear Blog,

It looks like I'm finally leaving. Is leaving the right term? Leaving seems to imply moving away from something negative like a bad relationship or a stifling hometown. Or leaving something behind. That's definitely not what I'm doing. I haven't counted, but I'm pretty sure I have been living with my cousins on Mercer Island for over a month. It has been an awesome month. Even though all the days have blurred together, I am here on the eve of departing with four close family members I probably never would have ever really known. I have made several new friends with some great folks. I have a new bicycle, and a growing knowledge base of 2-stroke engines and Starbucks lingo. I have evidence on my body of passing time (located on my chin and head), of bicycle repair (mostly on my hands), and of amazing meals and desserts (located mostly in the hips and buttocks). I have the confidence to find a store in Seattle without Google maps, and the ability to make a delicious salsa without epicurious.com. There is a lot that I will take with me from the time spent on Mercer Island and I am at a loss as to how I can show my appreciation to my cousins for taking me in as a third child home from college.
For those reasons, I am hesitant to say that I'm leaving.
But there's more. I'm also not leaving because it implies an end-- a clean break. But tomorrow morning I will walk out the door, mount my bicycle, ride for 20 minutes, and still be on the island. I will cross the I-90 bridge (which will seem much longer than it is) and will be able to look back on the island and actually see the house. It's on the hill on the southern side, right in front of the line of trees that border the QFC and the little shopping center a block from the house. I will then bicycle through Seattle, and until the afternoon will only be a bus ride or a phone call from domestic comfort. A ferry will take me to Bainbridge and I could still be considered to be in Seattle. And all through these landmarks will be minutes broken down by seconds during which I will be encountering various incidents and accidents, all the while thinking, reacting, and munching on food still cold from the refrigerator. It will be a gradual change into adventure mode, and that's just what I'm doing: changing. I'm going to be changing location, lifestyle, mode of transportation, spending habits, many things. And gradually, but before I know it, I will be on a vagrant bicyclist, looking (and being) homeless, dirty, spontaneous, and more public than most. Or at least that's how I'm choosing to romanticize it at the moment. But anyway, I'm not leaving, I'm embarking. That sounds much more exciting and enticing to the Gods of Adventure.

The other morning I thought that I was leaving and I had the jitters the entire day. In all honesty I am very nervous about this trip. I have never really done a bike trip, nor have I traveled alone for more than 48 hours, not to mention traveling alone on a bike trip for an undetermined amount of time. So many things are up in the air. For example, even though I have spent nearly every waking hour on preparing my steed for travel, I have no idea if it will behave or hold up to transit.







I can't even lift the darn thing off the ground!

Then there's my body. That hasn't been the most reliable part of my summer so far. I have no plans for where I will be sleeping from here on out, and for some reason finding a sleeping spot is much easier with another person to weigh in on decisions. Heck, most things seems much easier with a companion. Especially late at night when the bugaboos come and anxiety starts filling in the space where your lungs go.
Gosh, I hope my mama keeps her phone on the next couple of nights!! :o

But even though I'm nervous, I am definitely ready to leave. The summer has passed and folks around me are going back to school. It's time for me to take advantage of my free time and to go get em tiger and all that.
This is all, of course, hinging on whether or not I am able to actually and finally depart. My rig is the most ridiculous bike I have ever seen, but I think it's ready. Wish me luck, and please hope with me that the next blog comes from a new location typed by a young man full and intact. Oh, and while you're hoping, pray for me to find a thesis topic, will ya?
Thanks

Au Revoir!

P.S. Does anyone have a net for all these butterflies in my belly?