Our Destination

"Goals are loose things, less tied to schedules, more amenable to circumnavigation than destinations, which seem to call for the straightest course possible: the one serves exploration, the other arrival." William Least Heat-Moon

Many of our friends have asked about the planned route for our adventure.  For those who are interested, a map can be found on the blog "Two for the Road". Generally speaking, we will travel on the "Underground Railroad" and "Lewis and Clark" bicycle trails from Mobile, AL to Seaside, OR using additional cycling routes to reach Mobile from our home in Lantana, FL. We plan to visit for a few days in St. Augustine, FL, tour the Shiloh Civil War Battlefield Park in southwestern Tennessee, and travel the Katy Rail Trail across Missouri. That is the extent of our plan. To say that our destination is Seaside, OR or even that we will traverse the US from the southeast to the northwest oversimplifies the more important goals of the trip.

Katherine Russell Rich, author of the book Dreaming in Hindi advocates that when one is facing a rescaling of life, "Don't just do something; sit there". For me, a 30 year career in business is coming to a close. I left a job that I held for eight years, a job that was comfortable, financially rewarding, but lately not emotionally satisfying. It's time for a change. What to do?

In the past I would have looked for another similar job at a different company while still employed at my present job. I have used that strategy five times in the past. This time it just did not feel right. I have reached the stage of life where my work needs to be more rewarding than just bringing home a paycheck. So, I'm going to "just sit there" on the back seat of a blue tandem bicycle as we pedal across the US. The trip will allow ample time to collect my thoughts about what comes next. The interesting people we meet along the way will provide clues about possible future endeavors. And with a belief in karma, a new opportunity will present itself that will set the course for the next 20 years.

So while Seaside, OR is a destination, it is not the goal. The goal is a new direction.