Haere Rā, Aotearoa

I hate hate hate John Denver but unless a new crisis arises in the next few minutes, I am in fact leaving on a jet plane, not sure when I’ll be back again. I certainly want to come back, though—and soon, with Booster in tow. There’s so much more magic to see down here, so many unexplored roads to ride.

The Kennett Brothers (creators of the Tour Aotearoa) have drawn up the Kōpiko Aotearoa, an east-west trail traversing the North Island. They’ve also charted a Sounds to Sounds Trail on the South Island, connecting Marlborough Sound in the northeast to Milford Sound in the southwest. I’m due for another sabbatical in seven years, when I’ll be 56. Now I have a goal for what kind of shape I want my knees, thighs, and shoulders to be in.

I’m not going to hit “Save and Publish” on this post until the plane is moving, but right now my chances look good for a 43-hour Thursday. If all goes well, I’ll land in Chicago one hour before pushing back from this gate in Auckland. Coming home doesn’t mean coming to the end of the blog, though. Not yet. I still have stories to catch up on and photos to share. My goal—always dangerous to put these things in writing, but here goes—yes, my goal is to publish on Thursdays until I’m done, however many weeks that takes. I won’t promise every Thursday (in fact this coming one seems unlikely) but I aim to take this story to The End.

So keep an eye out for Throwback Thursdays, and feel free to send questions if you have any. I’ve gotten a few and they’ve been fun to think about and write about. In the meantime, I’ll enjoy one last old school, deep-fried, burn-the-hell-out-of-your-mouth McDonald’s hot apple pie. I hold it high like the Holy Grail that it is.