This bike adventure will be my longest time away from both my business and home since 1977 – at that time I didn’t have a home or a business! What I’m discovering is just how many details there are in my everyday life that get handled largely as just part of my routine. Here is when and how I pay my personal bills, where I keep the bird seed and cat food plus where I buy it, how the garden is watered, how to deal with the garbage, who to call when the heat goes out or there is a plumbing problem,etc,etc. That’s just a small sample of what has to be related to my friend Joyce who will stay at my home and care for my cats.
The list is much longer at my store. Most of the operating tasks there are already delegated to the great staff who will run the place while I peddle south. I was really surprised when I compiled a list of all the things that I’m still solely responsible for doing. Understanding what to do also requires an explanation of how and why I do these things the way I do so there is no confusion. I am certain that there will be things I will fail to cover as they only happen occasionally.

Then of course there are all the details involved in the trip preparations themselves. However I really kind of enjoy that part of the equation.

Once I get on the airplane my mind will no longer be cluttered with the myriad details that it is now. Perhaps the greatest gift of travel and adventure is the feeling of being just in the moment. Your mind frees up and allows you to absorb all the people and things around you. The clutter is just gone. Everything that you can do you have done. Nothing else matters but what’s in front of you. Some kind of zen has grabbed onto you. It’s great.

Stay tuned for an August 2nd post from the Mitad del Mundo monument just a few kilometers north of Quito. It is a 35 meter high monument celebrating the equator. There is a yellow line where you can straddle both hemispheres at once!