I know we were supposed to give you Part 2 about how we made this trip a reality, but somewhere between our last day of work, packing up and moving, and saying good bye, Part 2 got pushed back a few days.  We promise, part 2 is on its way.

We’re finally off!  Last night was our official going away party in DC.  I’m not really sure how to describe how it felt to have so many people help send us off.  It was incredible to have everyone (ok our DC people) there and I will admit their enthusiasm was contageous.   As the night grew on, the feeling, at least for me, became more somber as one friend after another said good bye.  Over the next few months and potentially years, we are going to miss celebrating weddings, engagements, new jobs, new homes, new babies, not to mention birthdays and holidays. Some of the people that came to say good bye are new friends, some very old friends, but for both groups saying good bye was just as hard.  I’m not much of a crier, but if someone else gets going I can’t stop.   At least we did it all at once!

As if a big party wasn’t enough to get us excited and admittedly a little anxious about becoming unemployed and homeless (my favorite phrase from last night’s party!) , we packed up our final belongings today and hit the road.   Well…. that’s not entirely true; a great number of our belongings were forcefully dumped on others or trashed.  It is amazing what two people can cram, hide, and stuff into 575 sq. feet! My apologies to Jamie, Brian, Becka, Drew, Alicia, Falcon, Andrea, Alexis and Aaron who I refused to let leave empty handed.  “Take this lamp to remember us by!” All jokes aside, today was a long, long day.  Our feet hurt, our backs are achy and if I see another black trash bag I’m going to scream.

I’ll admit, I cried after everyone left our empty apartment this afternoon.  As Oprah says, it was ugly cry.  [Author’s Note:  Danny confirms…ugly cry]  Trying to calm me down, Danny offered to reverse our course and give up on the trip…he knew what my answer would be.  After enumerating the reasons to stay: no job, no apartment, no dream, no travel (wow there are just so many reasons to stay!) I had to turn down his tempting offer.  We’re off, next stop family roadtrip.