we're wed and now we're off!

It's 10:30pm and somehow we are supposed to be awake at 3:30AM so that we can make it to the PDX airport to catch our flight out of the country (with a pitstop in Chicago with Hannah and from there, on to Florida). Our minds are racing a mile a minute and last minute to do lists keep appearing. After a crazy week, our panniers are packed, our four shirts are picked out for the next 6 months, and our two bikes are squished together into ONE bike box. Now, the reality of what we are about to do is setting in!

The wedding was this weekend and what a special event it was. Many thanks to all the friends and family who traveled from near and far to spend the day and weekend with us! It meant to see so many old, familiar faces, and meet those who mean so much to our loved one (me meeting Luke's Kansas friends and him meeting all my out of town family and friends). A huge thank you to our parents, families, and friends who worked their tails off to make the wedding go off without a hitch. We felt so well loved and supported throughout the whole process.

Perhaps we will finally have time to soak in all that has happened as we spend our 10 hours on an airplane or as we relax at the hostel we've booked in Quito, Ecuador through the weekend. Goodbyes are tough, but we are excited not only for our own adventure, but also to see all that happens in the lives of all who we are leaving.

Adios!

Post Wedding Plans...

As many of you know, Luke and I are getting married! The big day is only 2 short months away on September 5. We are excited to share our special day with many of our family and friends in God's great outdoors. After that, we are anxiously looking forward to beginning our life together, kicking it off with a big adventure. Where to? you might ask. Well, read on to find out!





Our journey will begin days after our wedding with a flight to Quito, Ecuador on September 8. Accompanied with our bicycles, we are excited to finally land in South America, a dream that has been stirring in both of our hearts for years. You may be thinking, wait a minute, did she just say BICYCLES? I did indeed! Through our lives in Portland, Oregon, Luke and I have both become quite the bike aficionados and lovers of bike touring, mostly in Oregon and Washington. Therefore, it only seemed logical to pack our bikes up and take them with us while going to explore some new places.



How long will we be gone and where will we go? We are both finishing up Americorps jobs this summer, putting our lives in Portland on hold and leaving to learn more about each other and Latin American culture. Hopefully, that will bring us back to Portland in spring of 2011. The route is flexible, but as you can see in the map above, we hope to visit Ecuador, Peru, Chile, Argentina, Uruguay, and Paraguay. On the map above, the red route is the part that we hope to bike. Somewhere around Christmastime, we hope to trade our buckets and bungees for backpacks, following the blue route by bus. Paraguay will be our end destination, as Luke spent 4 of his growing up years there with his family, while his parents were missionaries.



We hope to find God's kingdom breaking through the people, the nature, and the experiences we encounter along the way. We plan on being flexible and joining in where we find opportunities. We encourage you to research a place, project, or story in any of the countries we may be passing through, and SHARE IT WITH US or encourage us to visit it (you can vicariously live through our adventure!). Also, if you happen to know of an available couch, let us know.