The Take-Off: Westward Bound

"It is well at every given moment to seek the limits in our lives

And once those limits are understood

To understand that limitations no longer exist."

A poem by Nancy Sheibner, read by Hillary Rodham Clinton at her Wellesley College commencement, May 31, 1969

This time tomorrow I will be taking on the west coast, probably drinking a beer with my best friend and talking about how wild it is that I'm finally here, on the precipice of an adventure I have been planning for months.

I mailed my first box to myself today. It's going to a town called Warner Springs, which is located at the approximate 100 mile marker on the Pacific Crest Trail. It has my next set of maps, a few fuel canisters, some dehydrated dinners, MAC AND CHEESE, and a few other goodies to congratulate myself on (hopefully!) walking the first hundred miles of my trek uninhibited. And ideally in one piece :)

I'm not nervous about the hike anymore. I'm not afraid to live out of a backpack, to sleep on the ground, to walk for miles and miles day in and day out. I'm not afraid of the cold and the heat, the wind and the rain, the snow and the hot desert sun. I'm not afraid to be alone, and I'm not afraid that I might fail.

What's throwing me right now is that I won't see anyone or anything from my life here in civilization for half a year. HALF a YEAR. That's not like "a few weeks" or "a few months". That's a long time! I'm not going to drive my car for HALF a YEAR. I'm not going to wear non-hiking clothes for HALF a YEAR. I won't ride my bike, go for a run, use my computer, read my favorite book, watch my favorite movie, use my own hairbrush, grab a coffee or a beer with one of my friends, or have dinner with my family. For HALF a YEAR. Think about it. It's weird.

But I ask myself, "What's more important? Staying in my happy little comfort zone or giving life a chance to mix things up for me?"

Answer: Mix it up. Puree that sh*t.

Thanks to everyone who came to my Happy Trails get-together (and thanks to those of you who couldn't make it too!) Thank you for your good wishes, happy thoughts, prayers, and never-ending support. It's hard to be strong in the world when it's just you holding yourself up, but it's so much easier when you have a well-woven net beneath you of friends, family, and loved ones who always have your back.

That's all for right now. Off to Seattle in the morning!

"'Go back?' he thought. 'No good at all. Go sideways? Impossible! Go forward? Only thing to do!'"

~ J.R.R.Tolkien, The Hobbit