October 7-19, 2014
Original Plan
Ride to Mexico by Christmas 2014. Spend 3-6 months in Mexico and learn Spanish. During this time we would learn to relax a bit more and prepare our minds and body for the trip through Central and South America.
New Plan
Drive to Mexico right now in a car with Andrew’s Grandfather. Spend 3-6 months in Mexico and learn Spanish. Return to Canada and resume our cycling South as originally planned.
Why the Change?
Andrew writes: The universe is laying the road and I’m just following where it leads. If there is a fork in the road, I’ll take it!
Amanda writes: For me it made sense to help out family and still achieve our goal of spending some down time in Mexico. Andrew is very close to his Grandpa and ensuring that he is able to enjoy Mexico safely and have some support is important to Andrew and I respect that and will stand beside him.
What’s on our minds and what have we been up to.
Andrew writes: Riding from Port McNeill to Parksville was uninspiring and uneventful. The landscape on much of Vancouver Island is dull. There are many sections of clear-cut logging in various stages, and you rarely see the ocean. Cycling into and through Campbell River, the first major city we encountered was a poor encounter. The city is dirty, and traffic was busy. We had a nice Warmshowers experience in Black Creek and then my Grandpa met us in Comox and drove us to Parksville.
We spent the weekend in Vancouver to attend Jesse’s funeral. Being so far from the epicentre of this disaster I think spared us much of the grief and stress that was plainly evident on many members of Amanda’s family.
It was nice to spend Thanksgiving with my Grandpa, Aunt, and Uncle. I feel really blessed to be able to have such a welcoming, loving family to call my own. Visiting with them for about a week, I tapped into my “Family” value. I decided I could fulfill it more fully by ensuring my Grandfather’s transit to Mexico was safe, and that once there Amanda and I would take care of him.
The nice thing about going to Mexico is that it would spare us some nasty winter weather riding down the Pacific Coast, and it will still allow us to pick up where we left off in the spring/summer. We can decide then whether to continue our ride south towards Argentina, or to strike out east across Canada. In the meantime, I hope to spend some time having fun in the sun, learning a new language and culture, and making friends.
Amanda writes:After riding to Andrew’s Uncle’s in Parksville we have been doing some planning and visiting family. We made it to my brother’s funeral and while we didn’t have the opportunity to spend non-funeral time with family, it was great to see them. The discussion of potentially spending more time with them didn’t come up until after the service and most of them already had others plans. Everyone seemed really exhausted and I was left feeling like I wish I could have done more to help out with the details. Instead we decided to let everyone go back to their respective warm homes and unwind for probably the first time in weeks. In any event it gave Andrew and I an opportunity to also relax. With the help of our friends, we had the luxury of a vehicle to use for transportation and a home to put our feet up at. We took advantage of it and watched Sunday football for the first time on our trip.
After our rest day we headed back to the Island to visit Andrew’s Grandpa and Uncle and chat about our idea of escorting him to Mexico. Since Andrew and I are on a very different budget I was careful to have a direct and pointed conversation with him. I wanted to lay the groundwork that Andrew and I are proud adults who like to pay our way and our budget to do so is smaller than him; so if we were going to share a home we needed to take that into consideration. By the end of the conversation we were all convinced we could accomplish it so that Andrew’s Grandpa could comfortably enjoy his trip in a safe manner with some support from us, and we could still honour our budget and pay our way. Now we needed to chat with the Aunts and Uncles.
We were concerned that his Aunts and Uncles were not going to be supportive of our taking him to Mexico. That is because Andrew drove his Grandpa to Mexico in the spring. Andrew left his Grandpa there and while he was there alone he had a health scare and ended up driving himself back to Canada. That was a questionable decision and it made his kids (Andrew’s Aunts & Uncles) pretty nervous about a future trip to Mexico. We were however pleasantly surprised that his Aunts and Uncles were not only very supportive, but also thankful that we were prepared to do this. And with this again, I’m impressed with Andrew’s family. Often very supportive and thankful for things. And that just solidified it; we were headed for Mexico in a car.
I had and have some mixed feelings. While it’s not that much of a change from the original plan, it removes us from cycling. And while we’re still cycling around the world, this rest is a bit earlier than planned. Plans usually change and I just need to remind myself of that. I will however miss cycling daily and I’ll miss the nice routine we’ve got right now. Riding everyday, talking, our bodies feeling great and in wonderful natural sleep patterns. I’ll just need to be sure I create the same atmosphere sans cycling.