Bike Business

I arrived home from work to the temporarily reassuring presence of a USPS Priority Mail envelope addressed with my very own handwriting sticking out of my very own mailbox..the last major possible glitch in the travel plans that I had envisioned. These things meant that my Mauritanian visa (and its’ delivery mechanism, my passport) made it back safely to Rhode Island for a brief stay before embarking on this epic little yellow bus adventure. This was reassuring for a number of reasons, but mostly because after confirming that it had been received and processed, I was starting to imagine all the red tape that would be necessary to locate the required travel documents somewhere between me and DC.

In an predictably excited inspection of my ever thickening passport, I looked at the latest official documents added to a formerly lonely Brazilian visa: the Gambia and Mauritania visas. I had glanced at the Gambian visa previously (for about the 10 minutes between receiving my passport and mailing it back out again), and was compelled to check again to make sure it was still there before admiring my latest acquisition. I am now the proud recipient of a Mauritanian business visa good for 3 months???? In a phone conversation with Eddie yesterday, he said the rest of the P Yanks received a one month tourist visa. Maybe it will go a long way towards explaining the 30+ bikes we are going to have strapped to the roof to be delivered in Senegal…and then again maybe not.

Outlook reminded me this morning at 7:30am in case I forgot that the PBC officially starts in about 14 days. If it’s in outlook, it must be so, right? One or two more shots from now (what’s a few more shots to add to the 11 I have already received this year?) and I will be able to bite anyone and not give them rabies…I mean pet strange dogs.

It’s really happening!!! It’s hard to believe at the moment that a mere 9 months ago the possibility of participation arose through a montage of random thoughts and experiences put together with a anxious hand clicking very decidedly on the submit button. It’s further more difficult to imagine that, 11 years ago, I vividly dreamt of a yellow school bus, a sailboat, and some unusual rocks…with no idea how it could all possibly fit together. I am not sure that I know now, but I can tell you with great certainty that I thought my days on a school bus were long, long, long gone by. I think I might be more logging more miles on the bus in Europe and Africa than I ever did throughout my entire childhood education. The paper on which the dream was recorded hints at accomplishment, anticipation, and joyous outcomes. Perhaps I cannot truly imagine how amazing and life-altering the whole experience will be...or perhaps I will become a business-woman dealing with unusual rocks and push-bikes.