So many cats in one room

Me & my older brother, Jeff back in Midland, MI saying goodbye (for now)

For those who haven't yet heard the news, after much confusion about a final diagnosis for my brother, Jeff, the good news is he does NOT have lung cancer!  He was instead diagnosed with Sarcoidosis.  He is still awaiting information on treatment but we are all grateful that his diagnosis was better than we originally anticipated.  Keith & I have felt much relief with this news as we leave to head out on our most recent adventure...

We've been in Ohio for about a week now, spending lots of time with Keith's parents & Bria, Justin & Elleot.  Here's some pictures from our Ohio adventures thus far...

Keith's dad's head looks like it belongs on that body :)...visiting Indian Lake State Park, Ohio

Atop the highest point in Ohio - 1,549 ft!

Bria, Justin & Elleot picking out books at the library

Keith drying out banana chips & pineapple (& oranges, which were weird) for our PCT boxes

Got to see Keith's Grandma Virginia, Uncle Norman & Uncle Mark as they stopped by to drop off Keith's dad on their way back home from Uncle Karl's memorial down in Florida.  Glad we got to see them, if even for a little bit.  Elleot is growing so big & seems to change every day. We are so bummed we are going to miss his Dinosaur birthday in June.  :(

Tested out our packs with our barefoot shoes & I think I discovered I'm sticking with my old pack.  I am stubbornly in love with my Deuter.  We are greatly looking forward to April 22nd, the day we take our first steps on the trail...

We're here until Friday morning (Keith's mom's birthday!) & then heading down to Mattoon, Illinois.

Greetings from Detroit!

Me & Betty, Keith & Boston, our nephew Preston, my mom & Sander (This is not Detroit)

Said farewell to my mom, Betty & Sander (cats), our brothers & their families & made it safely to Bowling Green, OH with our Subaru filled to the brim with the remainder of our stuff.  There wasn't even an inch to spare...thanks to Keith's amazing packing skills.  The only thing that is lost out of all of our getting rid of or moving & storing our stuff at different people's houses is our book of CD's...not too shabby, we think.  Wonder where that is?

Brought Boston (our other cat) to Keith's parent's house & he seems to like the adventure of a new house & potential new friends (5 cats & a dog).  Drove up to Detroit today to visit to my sister, Colleen, in her new house & do some exploring of new places along with exploring of old places we have visited before.  We ate delicious vegetarian food, stared in awe at what was once Michigan Central Station, ran around the bases at old Tiger's Stadium, finally got to see Belle Isle (something we can take off our list!) & played Blokus (& thought fondly of my SEEDS peeps).

Beautiful even in abandonment, Michigan Central Station

Colleen getting us in to Old Tiger's Stadium

Old Tiger's ball field, still somewhat intact

A view of Detroit & Windsor, Canada from Belle Isle

Although any big city is overwhelming, much love goes to Detroit & to my sister for seeing the good & the potential & for her desire to be a part of a movement toward spreading the love in a place where that is far too often lacking.

"Too many of us are not living our dreams because we are living our fears." -Les Brown

Tomorrow we'll head to REI to pick up some final supplies for the PCT & then back to Bowling Green for a bit.

Spring Equinox 2013.

Happy first day of spring from Bay City, Michigan!  The sun was shining brightly through the windows this morning & it started out feeling spring-like but then became overcast & now it's snowing out.  Nonetheless, it's been a beautiful day.  Many birds are out & about, scoping out places to build their nests.

Keith practicing his new harmonica (thanks again Jana & Brad :))

This Saturday, we'll be saying goodbye to this part of Michigan.  Next we're heading down to Bowling Green, Ohio, then Detroit, then back to Bowling Green, then Mattoon, Illinois, then North Liberty, Iowa, then _____(we'll fill in those blanks as they come)_____, then Santa Barbara, California, & then Campo, California which is approx. 2 miles from the start of the trail.  Sounds a little crazy as I'm writing it all down...but it'll enable us to visit many family members who we want to see before saying goodbye for 6+ months.

We're aiming for a PCT start date of April 22nd.  It's Earth Day, it's a Monday & 22 used to be one of my favorite numbers.  :)  That date just feels good to us.

Going to soak up the rest of our time here with my mom, visit with a few other relatives & then prepare for the next part of our journey.

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...