When I was growing up, I liked watching movies. A lot of Disney movies, to be precise. (Sorry, Mom and Dad. There’re probably still some songs permanently stuck in your heads.) There’s one movie preview/commercial thing I remember watching…two young boys, packing for a trip to Disneyland, all excitement and anticipation. The older one is dispensing wisdom to his younger brother, they get everything packed into the suitcase…and the punchline of the whole thing is when the older one says, “We’ll be leaving in about three weeks.”

I can relate to this, because I was the kid who was usually packed a full week before leaving for any family vacation. (Which was a problem when I packed away things I still needed.)

For the most part, that’s really changed, and my typical packing routine now is to prep ahead of time — use the week before to make sure I’e got everything I need, go shop for whatever, and then pull everything together the day before. (Mostly because my dogs pout and sulk as soon as the suitcase comes out, so I try to spare them the stress and worry until the last minute.)

must you go anywhere, mommy?

But right now? I feel very much like I could pack everything and twiddle my thumbs for the next two weeks. I may be going in with a “cheerfully realistic” view (I know Roo will give me his best effort, and I’ll do whatever I need to do on my end to manage him and keep him cheerful, and we’ll get as far as we get), but that doesn’t take away from my excitement levels of seeing my name on the sign-up list and just being able to start the ride.

as seen on http://teviscup.org/2018_tevis_rider_list

Just like Virginia City last year — this is not according to plan. But it’s an opportunity and a chance, which is more than what I would have just sitting around and waiting for life to come together in alignment with what I think it should look like.

Shared this on Facebook this morning, courtesy of theawkwardyeti.com

With two weeks until I leave, and two and a half weeks until the ride, things are coming together. My dad volunteered to come up and help crew, which means more to me than I can adequately express in a blog post. Riding Tevis together has been our goal for years, and that hasn’t changed…but the fact that he’s willing to come crew me through the attempt is one of the best parts of this whole endeavor. (And he’s crewed for me at several “home” rides in the past, and he’s an A+ crew.)

Of course, I’m now moving into the “second-guess and overthink things” phase, in which I ponder last-minute gear shopping, or what clothing to wear at what point. (Hey, we’re at least gonna look good for photos.) I think I’ve got the critical stuff checked off, so now it’s just “mental fiddling” as I count down the days.