A wall of clouds overtook the view in front of me as I made my way down my typical street on a typical Wednesday ride to work. Is it going to rain? Living on the Gulf Coast, that is always a possibility.
I placed Rocinante in her stable at my office, dismounted, unbungeed my bag from the sissy bar, and walked to the door of my building. Just as I inserted the key, a soft peal of thunder rolled behind me.
Perfect timing.
That's the kind of timing you hope for when you embark on a long quest. But most of the time, something else happens.
So as I sit here in the peace of an early morning as the day is not quite ready to begin, and as Sunday is sitting in front of me waiting patiently like a dog in the corner listening for the word "w-a-l-k," I remember from both good and bad experiences that it is sometimes best to go on a quest with as few expectations as possible.
Remember when you were a child? That feeling of what your new school was going to look like. What your new teacher was going to look like. Would she be kind? And then it turned out to be something else. Maybe it was good. Maybe it wasn't. But no doubt, it was different.
And as I move forward to mile zero, a sort of journey within this journey, my plan is to get on the road and just go. I have stops planned along the way to be sure. But the main thing is to just go. See what's out there. And something is.
This trip is what inspired this little writing/riding project in the first place. And while it is only a portion of the project, it is a big portion, a main portion even.
So either come along vicariously, or come find me on the road.
But for today, just before "The Quest," I know that the one thing almost as good as the ride is the excitement that builds right before it's time to go.
Mile Zero: Almost Time
(You can follow me on Instagram @gypsymctruck for photographs along the quest beginning July 27. You can also subscribe here at the blog for automatic updates. Thanks for coming along.)
No comments:
Post a Comment