THAT WAS THE MOST COMMON QUESTION my friends and colleagues asked, as my departure from the workaday world drew ever nearer.  "Run away from home." was my stock response.  And I meant it.

It wasn't a lot more specific than that at the time, nor were my ideas and intentions any better-defined or easily articulated.  But it's true that I planned, and still plan, to be away from home a great deal more, and more often, than during the time I was working.

Now that the office door is fading into the rearview mirror, I've set about creating a more detailed version of that answer, to wit: "In the short term, I plan to ride my bike a bit over 4,000 miles to get home after a family event in Oregon, over the summer of 2022."