Life is about to get interesting

Crying at Work, high five!

I finally broke the news at work and gave four weeks notice.  It was very emotional for me.  I feel really lucky to have such a great job with such amazing people.  Its hard to leave a place that has given me so much opportunity, my first real job!  I REALLY hope I can land a job here again at some point in the future and that I don't forever regret leaving.  On the bright side, the amount of support I have received from my coworkers has been wonderful and very much appreciated, maybe I'm not making  a huge mistake after all!

I think half the reason I was so upset to break the news is that it made the trip so real. I have been having these moments were I have been hesitant to really prepare for the trip.  Clay had to give me a pep talk in Costco, I kept taking food out of the cart not fully ready to commit.  Quitting your job and leaving on a 900 mile bike ride followed by a 2,650 mile hike is pretty scary and all my emotions came flooding out of my eyeballs while giving my notice at work, perfect! 

I lifted a map of the PCT from the United States Forest Service PCT page and made some hideous and wildly inaccurate additions to simulate our bike route.

Route Talk

Pink is the PCT route. Blue is an estimate of our bike route.  The little yellow star is Lake Tahoe.  We will start in Tahoe around March 20th, bike out of the Sierra heading for the coast.  Once there, we will roughly follow Hwy 1 south along the coast to San Diego.

Clay is best man in a wedding in San Diego on April 17.  We will have a few days to prepare for our hike and recover from our wedding hangovers before starting the PCT on April 21st.

We hope to reach Canada by October. Depending on how we feel (if and) when we reach Canada and if we have any money or desire left, we will hop back on our bikes, which have magically transported to Vancouver. There are two bike routes through Washington, one on the coast which guarantees you will be soaked and miserable and one inland where it is likely to be soaked and miserable. Wishful thinking, I drew the inland line. I have no idea what will happen.  Only time will tell.

beth