Happy Anniversary - Adios Columbia!

One year ago today I left Missouri. About 6:00 in the morning I woke up at my friend Carol's house where I spent my last night in Columbia. The truck was packed and my car on its trailer.

The night before had been spent working in the heat to get the 26' U-Haul ready to go. Carol, her son Jake, Stephanie, Stephanie's mother Terri, and a friend named Bill worked long hot hours in the July heat getting me ready for the road. By the time we were done, I was totally exhausted. But that next morning I was determined to get going. I did not wake Carol up. I closed the door behind me and never looked back.

I headed out of town, down the familiar streets of Columbia. I had a vaguely heartsick feeling. I knew I was leaving never to return. And then I pulled onto I-70 heading west, and I was gone. Elation and sadness flowed in equal proportions.

California here I come!

As the sun was setting that first night I was pulling off the road somewhere in the middle of Nebraska. It still felt like the Midwest, but somehow things were different.

The corn fields were giving way to cattle country. The air was distinctly less humid than it was back further east. I was to learn later that I was advancing into the land of the big sky. The horizons were not only further away, they were much clearer.

The next day would bring me to totally unfamiliar country in Wyoming.

Thanks to my buddies Carol and Steph for making this a lot easier than it might have been. I miss ya guys. Is it time to go home yet?