I'm also terrified. There's less than 12 hours until my flight to Colorado at 6:45 AM tomorrow morning. I had a dream a couple of days ago that I arrived in Denver, only to find that the air there was too thin for me to breathe. A spiritual friend of mine explained the intricacies of that dream to me. Basically, I need to relax. Easier said than done.
Regardless of my anxiety, I'm uncontrollably excited. The Road is calling my name and I can't wait to get out there. I thought I'd take the rest of this post to outline my plan for tomorrow and the ensuing couple of days.
I know this isn't the greatest map, but just bear with me. My flight to Denver arrives around 10 AM tomorrow. I'm planning on finding a quiet area in the airport (I've heard rumor of an area dedicated to bikes) and assembling my bike there. Assembly and some final checks to make sure I have what I need and everything is working fine should take around an hour. Unfortunately, DIA is on the absolute eastern edge of the city so I'm going to have to ride through all of Denver to get out of there. If you check out the map, I'm going to head to an area between Idaho Springs and Nederland and pitch my tent there for the night. The next morning, the gates of Rocky Mountain National Park are my destination. I've never been to the park before so please comment if you have and know about any specifically awesome places that I should see.
I'm consistently heading northwest from there. I'll add pictures of more maps as I reach cities further along the way.
In some final interesting news, I did all of my laundry today in a gallon-size Ziploc bag. All it took was some hot water, a few drops of Campsuds all-purpose soap, and some time for the wet clothes to dry. This is great because I can confidently say I won't smell like a bum for the entire trip. Or at least my clothes won't. I probably still will.
I'll do one final update from the airport before I leave. Check back tomorrow night for my first post from the road.
I don't know if this will make you feel any better but....I can't say I think of many people as one of my heroes, but you are definitely one of them. To be going out and doing this by yourself, I am just so impressed and inspired by this great undertaking. Good luck, be safe, and know that I am with you in thought, at least.
ReplyDeleteThank you, Oreos. Sorry we didn't get a chance to see each other in the few days I was in town. You'll be in my heart <3.
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