Goodbye northern Michigan, hello familiarity.

After much anticipation, our adventure is finally here!  The next month will be chocked full of goodbyes and hellos, revisiting old territory & making some new.  The first part of our adventure has been saying farewell to Northern Michigan; goodbye to some of the most beautiful lakes we've ever swam in & some of the most beautiful land we've ever lived on, goodbye to the most wonderful second family I've ever had - my SEEDS family, & a big goodbye to many of our belongings - it has been extremely liberating to let go of so much that we own...but still...we feel like we have too way much stuff...

Since we first heard about the shoe tree in Kalkaska, we knew we must one day add to it...& what better time to do so than as our farewell to Kalkaska?  I'd been saving the shoes I finished the Appalachian Trail with & Keith decided last minute to throw up his Converse All-Stars that he wore brand new in our wedding...5 years ago.  A good ceremonial goodbye, we thought.

 

Hello to Bay City for a week.  Cass City for a day or two in between there.  Good memories as well as not-so-good memories always seem to flood back whenever we come back here.  Visiting family, celebrating life on the same day we found out about the death of a loved one.  A reminder that we need to celebrate our lives & able-bodies & spend our time doing exactly what makes us happy...which is what we plan to do!

We ran in Bay City's St.Patrick's Day 5K this morning & it was a blast.  Running amongst 5,000+ people is a rush & it encouraged us to push ourselves hard & allowed us to train & get accustomed to our barefoot shoes we hope to use on the PCT.  Now we just need to start testing them out whilst carrying 35-50 pounds on our back...