Recently I was thinking about what I would like to do to celebrate my 40th birthday in April 2018. Turning 40 is a pretty big deal!
At first I thought: a cruise! I Googled a bit, and the ones that would be in my price range were to places I’d already been or that didn’t seem exotic enough. Europe! The flight alone costs ~$1,500, so it didn’t seem that I could do the sort of trip I’d like to. What about Quebec? I could still speak French, but flights are much more reasonable. And I could take trains around!
Absolutment!
I posted my idea on my Facebook page. Very soon after a friend commented, “Have you heard of the Route Verte?” Nope. It’s a bicycling trail in the Quebec province. Instead of trains, why not bicycles?
Excitant!
Now I’ve got a Facebook group of people interested in going on the trip. Some are friends that I haven’t seen in awhile. Some are more local. We’ve been planning the logistics: routes, take the bikes or rent when we get there, equipment needed, etc…
Today I made the more direct step of planning for the trip by going on my first training ride. Another friend and I rode 16 miles on Fort DeSoto’s trails. We took it easy, only going about 9 miles per hour. We’re going to start meeting weekly for rides, and we’ll up our mileage and speed as time goes on.
I’m glad I’m already making the trip a reality. I’ve got a posse of people interested in joining me. I’ve started saving for it. I’ve started training for it. I’ve started plotting out what gear I need to buy. I’ve started thinking about transportation to and from Canada.
At first I was afraid that this wasn’t going to happen for monetary reasons, but so many options have been offered that I think it is going to be fine.
I’ve set a pretty big goal for celebrating my 40th birthday next year. But you only live once. I didn’t do much at all for my 30th birthday, and I slightly regret that. Might as well go big on this one!
It’ll take some planning, but I’m confident I can do this physically and I’m confident logistics and money will come around. It’s a lot, but I’ve just got to take one step at a time. (One rotation at a time, for bicycles?)
What plans do you have that you are excited about?