Our Very Roundabout Journey West

Our very roundabout journey west will begin Sunday, July 20th.  A week later than planned.

Keith's dad had to have emergency bypass surgery a few days before we were scheduled to leave originally.  It was out of the blue, a shock, quite a scare for all of us.  Keith & I were glad we were still here & that we were able to be with him & Keith's family during the process.  Our schedule was flexible enough to stick around an extra week so we could help out where we were could.  And we're glad to report that Bruce is doing well & seems to get stronger every day.  His strength is and always will be an inspiration to us.

And once again we are reminded that we are grateful for our health & able-bodies.  Why wait to do the things you crave to do?  When will there be a better time than right now?  Yes we will miss our families, but we soak up those moments, too.  We try to soak them all up.

We had decided shortly after our PCT journey came to a close 160 miles short last fall that we would be coming back as soon as we were able & ready & this time, we'd do our best to make sure there was little to no chance of snow.  So we decided to shoot for August.  I'm not totally sure how we decided that our journey west would begin by going east, but that's how our brains work.  We throw ideas out there, play with them a little bit & find a plan that makes us both happy.

So first, we head to Vermont.  The Long Trail - 273 miles will take us from the southern border of Vermont to almost the northern border, not quite meeting Canada.  Almost 100 miles of The Long Trail are also the Appalachian Trail, so we'll be revisiting old, familiar territory.  We had put The Long Trail on our list of things to do shortly after finishing the AT & this summer opened itself up to it, so we said why not?  We loved Vermont the last time we passed through & we look forward to delving a little deeper into the state & we've heard the northern half of this trail will kick our butt even more than the southern half did the last time we passed through.  Our experience with Vermont was that it was green & wet, the mountains were beautiful, the trees & land felt somewhat similar to what we were used to in Michigan, the towns were quirky & quaint & friendly & in a small town called Pittsfield, we were even able to work in exchange for a place to sleep by putting in a few hours on an organic farm, and then we worked at the general store in exchange for a few meals.  What treatment!  We hope to reconnect with a few trail friends from the AT as well while we are in Vermont!

After we complete our adventure along The Long Trail in Vermont, we will then head west & make our way toward Washington state.  Our next goal is to jump back on the PCT at Steven's Pass, where we had to get off trail last September.  We hope to swing through a few places on the drive, purchase a National Park's Pass & leave ourselves open to any experiences that pop up along the way.  But we are hopeful to finish the PCT no later than the first or second week of September because just after that is when the weather went awry last season.

We are greatly looking forward to seeing the final miles of the PCT & to hiking those few final miles into Canada.  We hope to experience Vancouver & then make our way back to where our car.  Then, we make our way to Portland.  Visit the many friends we now have who live there, spend a few days scoping out the city as a potential place to live.  Then, we were invited to join one of our old AT friends on a short backpacking trip in Washington.  Then, we head to Colorado to perhaps visit some family & then to visit Manitou Springs, our other potential place to live.  Then, some stops to visit family in Iowa, Illinois & Michigan before we head up to the upper lower peninsula to spend a final peaceful few days revisiting some of our favorite places & friends made while working with SEEDS.  The grand finale of this adventure will be Keith's youngest sister, Bria's wedding at Sleeping Bear Dunes the first weekend of October.  A beautiful place to spend with beautiful people before we kiss the midwest goodbye, squeeze our families one last time, pack up our car full of all of our belongings & head to one of two places to live:  either Portland, OR or Manitou Springs, CO.

And so it begins...