We said our goodbyes and we are officially gone. After a brief stay with Kylie’s parents we’re hopping over to Tucson for a few days to spend some time with my family before meandering to the southern terminus of the CDT.
The intense reality of this adventure is looming just over the horizon, but all is still too surreal and almost ordinary. Ozzy (the kitty) is riding with us in the same old car, we have snacks and air conditioning, and we haven’t even crossed the Alabama state line into Georgia. The sun hasn’t set and the landscape hasn’t changed. But I know the feelings are coming–the uncertainty, fear, exhilaration, awe, longing, freedom, and fatigue–so I’m trying to savor this sense of normalcy. Of course I am truly excited it has begun, but moments don’t last. Today will soon be yesterday and I will no longer smell the dusky forests of the Cumberland Plateau drifting through the passenger window on such a clear, cool spring evening.
The desert is coming.
-Chris