Last Wednesday Astrid and I escorted some fellow adventurer-friends out of Missoula. Dave & Marybeth Gurtler are headed for the Southern tip of South America...Terra del Fuego. I am following (and living vicariously through) their adventure on their blog. They wrote an entry about their first day and Astrid and I were a small part of it...
We met up with them at Ponderosa Dental where Marybeth worked for nearly ten years. Equipped with every material thing that they owned (everything else was sold in a garage sale last month), and packed for the next four years of their lives, they were ready. Emotionally they were torn...the leaving was difficult, but the closer we got to the edge of town, their spirits lifted. It was an emotional goodbye at Ponderosa Dental, and I found myself welling up with tears, imagining how they must be feeling leaving this amazing place and everything they know...for the unknown.
One other place I couldn't help myself from going is thinking that baby Astrid in my trailer escorting them out of town...will be 5 years old when (and IF) they do come back to live in Missoula. It is difficult to imagine that kind of time. It will be fun for Astrid (once she can understand) to track their whereabouts with me on the computer.
These folks are truly an inspiration for me. I'm looking forward to my future bicycle adventures, and the possibility that my family will be as interested in it as I am.
Safe Travels my friends...we will be thinking of you!
No comments:
Post a Comment