I spent most of last night sitting at the kitchen table with a map of BC and Alberta open in front of me, checking distances between cities and looking for campsites and studying the city layouts trying to remember how I am going to navigate between point A and point B while driving.

Some moments I feel a surge of confidence and think that it’s essentially just two main legs – drive 500 kilometers south, turn right and drive another 500 or so west. But when I look closer there’s more to it – will I drive through Calgary or try to bypass it by going on the smaller highways? How will I find a motel in Lethbridge when I’ve never been there? How will I know which lane I need to be in at each interchange?

Like a fractal that becomes more and more detailed the closer you telescope in, this journey has an infinite level of detail that I could become obsessed with. At some point I am going to have to say, “I have prepared as much as I can, I will have someone sitting next to me who can help with the navigating, and if we get lost I will just stop and ask someone for directions.”

Tomorrow I am going to drive about 6 hours to Lethbridge. I feel like a novice runner who has registered in her first marathon. I keep telling myself, “This is not a race. I am in no rush. I will stop and walk around whenever I need to. Just take it one kilometer at a time.”

Running sounds very simple – just put one foot in front of the other over and over again at a certain pace. Driving can be boiled down to simple principles as well. The challenging part is the mental fortitude required. I am stepping up to the challenge.

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