Friday, September 5, 2014

Checking One off the Bucket List

Brayde and I are taking our motorcycle travels to the next level and are going to finally live out one of our dream rides this fall:  Seattle to Tierra del Fuego.


This is no small feat and has taken us years of planning.  We kept waiting for the time to be right when we had the perfect balance of free time and money.  We realized a while back that for us, working in the motorcycle industry and non-profit sector, those two lines would probably never cross.  Every time we were between jobs, we had no money; every time we had money, we had no time.  Sometime in the last year or so, we came to the realization that the opportunity wasn't just going to pop-up and present itself.  If we wanted to do this, WE were going to have to make it happen for OURSELVES, and no one else could do it for us.


After much convincing and presenting a clear plan of attack,  I was able to get my employer to buy
off on a 4-month sabbatical during the motorcycle off-season.  I cannot tell you how lucky I feel to be able to do this.  I did by no means expect this allowance or feel that I deserved it, but damn, am I grateful for it.  Brayde, not working in the motorcycle industry and holding a leadership position at a local non-profit, had a more challenging proposal to make for the sabbatical but ended up honored to find support at her organization as well. Once we got the green-light, it was "game on."

Now that we've gone through all the trouble to get approved for this trip, the pressure is on.  It has officially turned from a distant dream to a quickly-approaching reality; no turning back.  The next couple of months will be a tornado of researching, planning, buying, selling, arguing, stressing, and many other emotions.  We'll try to write about the planning process as much as we can.  We realized not many people talk about what it takes to go on a trip like this, so we'll try to go into as much detail as possible for everyone.  Stay tuned for such blog posts as: "It costs how much???" "I'm not getting that many shots!" and "What the #%$* do we do with the cat?"

-Matt & Brayde

3 comments:

  1. While we're bummed we won't be seeing ya'll come Christmas, Ebe and I are both really excited you're able to go on this adventure. Tacos!!!

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    1. We're bummed about that too. I guess we'll have to catch you the next time.

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