I am departing overseas from DC.  I can't think of a more fitting place to depart from.  After soaking up some quotes from our nation's forefathers, I can continue the journey.

Kels grabbed me from the airport.  There were pine needles in her car too!  and we almost drove off an exit ramp (she doesnt drive anymore). Ran red light. She said it wasn't red. My favorite was getting honked at back because she was honking at people.
A lot of police but a nice neighborhood of row houses.  The first night, we stayed up past 2 am drinking Two hearted ale and looking at old photos.
She has a treehouse apartment that's nice for waking up outside and staring into the trees.  I thought huge hummingbirds buzzed by but one landed nearby and  it wasn't a hummingbird.  They were giant cicadas! 
Kels prepared a healthy looking breakfast of soy latte, oj, peach, toast that morning but we each gained at least 5 lbs during my visit.


We drove down to Virginia to visit my sister Ashley and my nieces Stella and Vera.  And Charlie and the dogs.  I brought him some homebrew and the dogs some treats from Japan.  A lot of rain down there!  But it was fun and my nieces are incredible.  Visit Ashley's blog if you haven't recently.

Kels and I had a few days in DC.  It was really fun.  Saw the new MLK monument, free lunches from Kels (thanks!), and good scene.  Got to have dinner with my Aunt Nancy and Uncle Terry and Sarah.  Aunt Nancy made cherry pie!  And it was cool to throw some beers back with Clint before I took off.





Thanks Kelsey for hosting me and everything in helping me get ready for the trip!

Leaving the Heartland

And here I goes. 

My Dad took me to the airport on "one of the most beautiful drives". It was fine. Chester was happy even though I left him. That's good. It was very nice of Ann to come up and say bye.  She helped me inside with my bags and everything. It wasn't until I was through security that everything really hit. A room full of strangers looking at me, me thinking about everything I am leaving and that this is really it. I am moving. Not just a short trip like everyone else. 

I quickly made my way to my mother's plane's gate but the door was shut and plane was leaving. I walked away disappointed and not wanting to be around all these people watching preseason MNF and all the usual impersonal traveling attitudes. I walked to a quiet window and stood looking out at the sunset. My Mom appeared! It was great.

In the air, I remember it was an eerily beautiful evening with an orange glow low on ground and continuous blue clouds higher. Could just make out the ground.  A nice time for leaving.
Many emotions- no reason to be sad, but hard to be super excited. Just something I want to do. That's how I would describe it. I've known for a long time that this would come. And I tried not to think about it too much. I really am going in blind.

And like Christoph the planner says, you can prepare but there's no way to be prepared. I did all I could or most of what I wanted to do. Had some great times. The last few years were some of the best and worst of my life. I will miss everyone for sure.  

But I look forward to seeing my sisters now. And my nieces will bring smiles. And hopes.

I told both my parents in the last few minutes of seeing them that I felt packing prepared but not mentally for language and work and all the differences that I am now. Oh well. Meaning all is well. I will figure it out.  At some point I will become very motivated to go there and try hard in all aspects of life Amory Blaine would deem important and some he wouldn't.  For now though I will chill and enjoy the ride to our Nation's Capital.

Mush!

Realized a lifelong dream and went dogsledding. It was awesome! We were deep in the forest in the UP and had a great team of dogs (alaskan huskies). The dogs were amazing, so fast, so strong, just wanting to pull all the way to Alaska.

More winter activities

Cross country skiing in Sleeping Bear Dunes National Lakeshore.

Bitter cold ice fishing on Gull.

Chickens stuck in dead end of snow maze I built.

Hockey

Yes, I can play.

PR

Ahh, the warmth.

Yosemite

Out of this world.

Colorado in October

Went all the way around Pike's Peak in a Mercury Grand Marquis.

Rest of August

New Mexico splendor.

Updating in progress

Hard to catch up once you lapse posting but will put in a few old pics now.

ROGUE MAGMAWOLVES take Shermanator by force

, Gettin ready for the start (swim).

After race Tim telling us about his harrowing swim.

Nothing but pride and looking to the next contest to conquer.

Lots of partying the rest of the weekend.

More pics of me (205) in the race can be found at: http://www.backprint.com/go.asp?57559245. I knocked a few minutes from my time from last year, finishing at 1:13 and in the top half of my age group. But we all finished and people were entertained by the performance of the rogue magmawolves.

ROGUE MAGMAWOLVES band together

full of energy, toughness, and puffed-out chests, the rogue magmawolves were ready for anything...including the shermanator. excitement for the tri the next day was barely contained. whiskey shots ensued.

The cure

This specialty of a detroit diner included fried potatoes, eggs, sausage gravy, green chiles and lots of cheese. The cure indeed.

Sweet Chicago

The best sandwich in the world! The 3 little pigs as featured on the food network. It was good and greasy.

And the Flaming Lips closing out Pitchfork.

Chickens and me invaded a wedding

A very organic wedding in OH. But none of us got kicked out.

Thought about getting a dog like this...

then I thought better.

Accidents happen

Ah, a beautiful hot summer day, got the grill and beers, arriving at the ball park for some tailgating...what could possibly go wrong? Pull the cooler out of the trunk and splat.

And another day, I guess the coals got a little hot starting the grill. Should have seen the other things that got melted! Well, at least it was on an island and no one was injured.

Good fish to start the summer

Fishing with a couple of my academic heroes on a private MI lake and to top it off, I caught the big one.