We are leaving in 2 days (unless it rains on Sunday)

We have advanced our departure date to August 22, 2010. In the end, I have resigned from my current position and stopped working for TheMIGroup onJuly 30, 2010. Alain has obtained a sabbatical year with Desjardins, which is peace of mind in a way. Our house has not been rented, and our son, Julien, will live in it while we are away. After all, it may be better than having tenants,

In the last couple of months, we have continued on equipping our motorbikes and asking here and there for advice. Thank you to Patrice, Victor, Rick and Emily who have been kind enough to share some of their experience driving down to South America. Sincere thanks to Jason Yataco who helped me with setting up the blog! Sincere thanks to Yves and Jean-Claude who spent almost two days showing Alain and myself the basics of mechanics. Yves and Jean-Claude love riding motorbikes and shared graciously some tips…

The last month has been loaded with emotions. On July 30, 2010, it was difficult to leave my colleagues. It’s interesting to see how I was able to pack 16 years of my life in 3 archives boxes. What you leave behind is really not what matters, but rather all the memories you bring with you. I feel lucky I was given so many opportunities within this company to learn new things over the years and challenge myself. While cleaning, I found some old pictures of TheMIGroup’s team and when I looked at them I wondered where the time has gone.

I have now been at home for 3 weeks and I realize this is somewhat difficult getting used to a different pace. The first week I took it fairly easy, trying to do one chore per day, but by the middle of last week, I started being hyperactive. I had an urge for cleaning the house, like a pregnant woman ready to give birth. The cupboards were first, then the stove, under the stove, above the stove, the fridge, behind the fridge and on and on in the whole kitchen. The following day, I started again, room by room. The inside of the house is now spick- and-span. Last week on Wednesday night, our son, Julien was gone partying with friends. He was driving my car. Somehow, I woke up at 1:30 am and I just knew then that he was not home yet. I started rolling over in the bed and he finally arrived at 2:34 am. Needless to say I was worried. All of a sudden though, I told myself I was insane to worry, as we would be gone and would not know whether he was partying, or just staying home. The problem is that being awake, my brain started to work on its own: I was thinking about the list for Julien on things he would have to do while we would be away, about the clothes I would take along and which was the new chore of the following day. Alain also had a nightmare that same night, which is a sign of stress for him. He had seen a giant in our bedroom, but just the legs…Weird! In the last few days, I have noticed that Alain was overall more anxious, not talking and laughing as much, more irritable generally speaking. His last day at work will be August 20, 2010 and it’s true that we still have many little things to do and we are sad to leave Julien behind.

On the preparation front, Alain and I have been negotiating what we absolutely have to take as luggage or what is luxury. He keeps on reminding me that we have motorbikes and not a truck. You will see on the pictures that we have put everything on a tarp and this will have to fit and we will have to have no qualms and discard… This is going to be tough ! Last Sunday, we loaded everything on the motorcycles and it did fit. The only exception has been our large camera that we have to leave behind, as it is taking too much room in the top case. Skype has now been loaded too, and we should be able to make some calls to our family.

We have discussed the first part of our itinerary and this is the road we think we will take : St-Lazare, cross the border to the States in Cornwall, Ontario, drive along Lake Ontario, Rochester (NY), Buffalo(NY), Pittsburg (PA), Columbus (OH), Cincinnati, Frankfort, Louisville (Kentucky), Nashville (Tennessee), Memphis, Jackson (Mississippi), Natchez, Lafayette. This may change, but this is the general idea to get to New Orleans and visit Louisiana.