The beginning, or something like that
Our story begins in Seattle, in the Northern Hemisphere's spring, when I stepped out of SeaTac Airport to an improbably bright and blue Pacific Northwest morning. My airplane-blunted senses were struck by two things: the sight of enormous SUVs and the sharp drift of evergreen in the air. Home - once again, amidst the firs and hemlocks and yes, oversized utility vehicles.
That was early May, nearly four months ago, and over 5,000 miles. We have been "taking it slow", as they say here in the States (not grammatically correct as Tim might remind me, but colloquially great). It has taken us nearly four months of plotting and planning, scheming and a fair amount of dilly-dallying. Thus we have established the pace of our year-long adventure. I've often thought of butchering a well-loved Theodore Roethke poem, "The Waking", creating my own version called, "The Travelling". It might say: "we go by feeling - where is there to go?...we move to stay and take our moving slow."
I digress - and I sense I will be doing a lot of that. This year is perhaps one grand digression - though in my more confident moments I've been known to call it a "sabbatical", which sounds a tinge too official and well-compensated.
Much of what we've done these past months has been fairly agenda-less, visiting friends and family. It's a treat for us - to simply spend time without the nagging fear that time's almost up. Setting our own pace has made this visit feel almost like 'real life'.
Which brings me to a somewhat obvious realisation that may have been said before, but which needs to be felt to be understood: strip everything away and all we have is time. The deadlines are necessary but often arbitrary constructs that drive us so completely we often forget how to operate without them. What happens when we remember that our exercise regime or irritating job isn't something we have to do? New-found freedom, perhaps - to quit, or to make the conscious choice to stay.
So here's to more musings from the road. There will be many more stories of real people and accounts of real places, I hope (which won't require my paltry philosophising but will, hopefully, speak for themselves). There will be photos of course. And a few sketches.
Follow our blog for news ("Hi Mom - still alive!"), for inspiration and for fun. Tim and I hope to chronicle the rest of this year-long journey through Mexico, Central and South America with honesty and an open-minded approach. As we go we'll be carrying all of you in our foolishly conquering hearts.
Affectionately yours,
hailey & tim
