To boldly go

Well here we go. Now only about six weeks left here in good old PDX! Wow. The list of places we adventure to slightly grows. First we start off near a village north of Granada called Alcala la Real. This is in the Andalucia region of Spain a couple hours from the southern coast. Here we will spend the summer. August will see us off to a small,(600 inhabitants),town north of Thessaloniki, Greece called Paranesti. We will stay in this small seed saving community till mid October. Our jobs will be varied, from gardening to carpentry, building a straw bale house, caring for animals of all kinds, and all sorts of other stuff. Hopefully the winter will see us in Corsica, Morrocco, Portugal or all three! We then head to the Calabria region of Italy near the town of Zambrone. We arrive here sometime in early March. Here we will stay with two Italian brothers and their families helping manage an agritourism farm, again many varied jobs here. The workload is about 20-25 hours a week per person. Whether that can be done in 3 days instead of 5 I dont know yet. The weekends and evenings will be ours to rest, or whatever we come up with. Thats all there is so far. With June 1 approaching fast we have our work cut out for us to get out of here. We have met all our goals thus far and have gotten rid of more than half our stuff! It is truly amazing how much you have to deal with to leave town for a year. It is coming together and soon we will be starting the first leg of our trip in New York!! Why not? New York is rad and fun and we have super great friends to stay with for a few days. Besides I like the idea of having New York be the last place we see in the USA before leaving the country for a year. These next few weeks will be a bit frenzied with packing, going away parties and trying to learn as many foreign phrases as possible. Got Moylanism? Read the book.

Fixing for a Start

I know "Fixing for a Start" is a rip off from the Lewis and Clark expedition, but it is a nice fit for our adventure we are soon to embark on. Some time ago we wondered if there was another way to live our lives other than the usual 9-5 grind. What if we could live abroad? So we began to research. That set the wheel in motion and here we are months later about to set off to Europe for a year. We are the Moylan family. Mike 37, husband, father and carpenter. Cadence, wife, mother, and gardener. Isaiah 8, eldest of two brothers, artist and biology expert. Diego 6, youngest brother, math expert and problem solver. The preparations have been extensive to say the least. This blog is a way for our family and friends to follow us on this adventure. For me and maybe all of us the adventure of a lifetime. Hopefully my weekly entry (interweb access provided) will give a glimpse of what our day to day life is like and allow easy access for communication. Our trip begins June 1st, as we say goodbye to our home in the wonderful city of Portland, Oregon. There is still much to do and as of yet not much to write about so this blog may sit dormant for a bit until the beginning of June.