The grass is greener here...

We did it: we left on Sunday. Only 145 miles into the trip and it feels so incredibly exciting. Nancy, Mike and Caroline's friend Jim were there to send us on the road: a very emotional moment. Pictures were taken, a prayer was made, hugs and kisses exchanged.

It was a strange feeling: we rode up Georgia Avenue in DC, a street we have driven on so many times, but this time, the sun was shining brighter, the air felt crisper and there was this amazing sense of freedom. Yes, we left and nothing can stop us now! Chad and I gave each other a high five at our first traffic light, laughing at how crazy but cool we were to undertake this adventure. We are about to experience and discover so much that it blows a little bit our minds right now.

A few hurdles before the start
We had saved Sunday for the last little items we had to take care off before leaving: delivering and selling our bed, selling the pick up truck, packing our trip belongings into the saddles and finally emptying the house of the remaining items. Well, it ended up being a little more fun than expected:) Excited by the departure, Chad wanted to capture the last supper in the house and dropped Caroline's camera in the Gazpacho soup. I think this one is lost, despite our "let it dry" attempt. And then, selling the truck: sounds easy enough but not if you already have packed the title in your bags and it is stored in Maryland. After much convincing about how honest people we were, the buyer accepted to have us mail the title from Maryland. Oh, and the last one was the best: Chad was convinced that his motorcycle keys were also packed in Maryland, which is a serious hurdle to getting the bike started, until Caroline realized she had put them aside in her jacket so that they would not get lost. So yes, a few hurdles to overcome...

At the end of the day, all this really did not matter: the grass is greener here! The first ride we took together through the hills of Western Maryland made us realize how lucky we are and happy that we made this life changing decision. Mountains, trees and fields were so green, probably because of the rain we had over the last couple of weeks, but mostly because we looked at them through new eyes, eyes of hope, happiness and anticipation of everything that lies ahead of us. That definitively makes the grass greener on this side.