Welcome, You've got LOFT!

I'm actually writing this in the business center of the AMLI Downtown apartments. I checked in today and so it marks the official beginning. Lots of stuff to do still -- don't have cable/internet in the apartment (and that's very important!!)

Get your kicks on Route 66

Over 1,000 miles behind me and it seems there is another 500 miles to go, according to the navigation computer. A pit stop in Amarillo, Texas. The journey will be mostly complete tomorrow. Not sure how the math is working out -- seems longer than I had original calculated.

Welcome to Wyoming

You would think I could have made it beyond 465 miles to Cheyene, WY -- but you'd be wrong.

Actually, it is partly due to getting an even later start than expected. I didn't leave the house until 9:30 am. It's much harder to gather everything in your life and leave than to just take a week-long or month-long trip. There is no going back [it's really not that bad]. So you take everything with you.

Goodbye Utah

As with most things in my life, I'm running a little behind. I was hoping to be on the road by 6am. But I always like to compare myself to the tortoise in the tortoise and hare story. Slowly, but surely, I make my way to the destination.

The car is packed up and I'm heading out. The adventure begins NOW!

Explore. Dream.

Twenty years from now you will be more disappointed by the things you didn't do than by the ones you did. So throw off the bowlines, sail away from the safe harbor. Catch the trade winds in your sails. Explore. Dream.

                - Mark Twain

My bags are packed and I'm ready to go

The packers picked up everything this morning. It was strange watching my home be deconstructed. As the contents emptied into the truck waiting outside, the echoing of the walls be more and more apparent.

While there is a certain sadness that comes, at the moment I just feel anxious. But anxiety is a two edged sword [it is?]. On one side is the excitement for the new adventure that is about to begin. The other side is the fear of truly venturing out away from my comfort zone.

[ed. for those that have heard this analogy, you can skip it]

It's much like the experience I had sky-diving. As I moved toward the door (getting ready to jump out), I said to myself "Oh Shit -- why the hell am I leaving a perfectly good, working plane." However, as soon as you jump out, the fear goes away and the excitement is the only thing you think about. On my last evening as a Utahn, I find myself also saying "Oh Shit", but I know that as soon as the jump is made, fear will turn into excitement.