Wandering with Tedder and Tamara

Hi family,

I having been very behind in keeping everyone up-to-date, so I apologize.
Things have been pretty hectic for me the last 2 1/2 weeks, and you'll see
why!

Relationships
Ted and I are back together, and taking a 'nothing to lose' approach;
basically giving it another try, with high hopes, but acknowledging that
if things don't work out we're in no worse position than before and all
the better if things do work out.  We've been doing well so far, and I've
been happy to be spending more time with Ted.

Jobs
Ted was laid off February 1, and immediately started thinking about how
he'd like to approach this in order to get what he wants out of life.  His
next career move will likely be to continue his education in computer
science, which means going back to school somewhere in the states or
Canada.  First though, he thought this would be a great chance to do
something he's always wanted to do - take an extended trip on his
motorcycle.

Motorcycle trip
Ted's vision of an open-ended motorcycle trip to South America (and
beyond?) is something he's always wanted to do, and I have always wanted
to travel to see other cultures, art, architecture, and to just experience
the world.  I decided to join him (this was when we were first getting
back together) and so we're starting this new adventure together.

We are going to sell our house, put our belongings in storage, and use the
money to finance a trip South to Mexico, Central & South America, and who
knows where else.  We have no idea how long we will be gone - it all
depends on how fast our money runs out, if we are enjoying the trip, how
the bike holds up, etc.  We figure our money is likely to last about 5
years, so we're not making any commitments to be back anytime soon.

We are going to only take one bike for now and see how it goes, that means
sharing a very small amount of packing space, but allows for one of us to
'drive' while the other can take a break as passenger.  It will also be
easier to stay together, but will definitely be less flexible if we want
to do separate things at any point.  We are taking very few belongings, as
they all have to fit on the bike - a few changes of clothes, our big
ditial camera, and a smaller digital camera, a mini laptop, tools for the
bike, medicines & first aid, sleeping bags, plus all our
motorycycle-specific gear (protective boots, pants, jacket, helmets,
gloves). It will be a tight squeeze for sure!

So the past couple weeks have been filled with getting the house ready to
sell, our stuff ready for storage, and us ready for the trip.  So far, the
house is a couple days out from being listed by our real estate agents,
and we need to finish packing all our stuff to go into storage.  Ted & I
are almost ready for the trip - I just need one final dental visit, but
we've gotten all our shots & medicine for the trip.

On the house, I've been painting over some of my wild & crazy colors with
a more sedate off-white, and we had the woodshop door demo-ed and replaced
with a set of french doors.  It really looks nice and opens up the hallway
downstairs.  We also had carpet installed, and I have been working on
painting the walls & ceiling since they had lots of screw holes, etc in
them from the dust collection system.

Our plan now is to get the house listed Monday or Tuesday, and finish
packing up everything by Thursday.  We are getting a truck Thurs evening,
having a bunch of friends come over to help us load it up, then driving it
to the coast where Ted's parents live to put everything in storage Friday.
We will spend a few days there, then head to Vancouver to spend a few
days visiting.  Then we will make our way down through Oregon & California
to Baja to start our adventure!

Well, it has been a long email, so I will wrap up. Ted & I will be posting
blog entries along the way whenever we have an internet connection, and
email will be the best way to stay in touch with us.  The blog is at
www.perljam.net/wandering

I have already given my phone to someone who is taking over my contract,
so if you want to talk, you need to call Ted's phone (we'll have it until
we are out of the country).