It was two years ago just about today that the first idea of this trip entered my mind. I was at home at my apartment way too far into the Cincinnati suburbs. (It was hard finding a place that'd take my dog and I've since moved)

I was thinking about the possibilities of getting my boss to give me a few months off the following summer so I could go travel. I knew it would never happen.

Then all of a sudden it occurred to me that I could just quit. I'd gotten reasonably good at this TV thing and shouldn't have too hard a time finding another job when I needed one. I could at least feed myself. So I got all excited and laid awake all night thinking about where I'd go.

That seems like it happened in another lifetime.

In the last two years I've seen friends, coworkers, and intended departure dates come and go. (Some of them are pictured above.) I've worked hard and sacrificed a little to save enough money to go. Now that it's just over two months away, it gets harder to imagine myself actually going. I guess it's because the gritty realities start to set in at this point.

But I'm undeterred. I'm lining up my quick friends-and-family tour of the US on my way south to Mexico and buying the last few items of equipment and clothes I don't already have. And I'm hoping more things go according to plan in the next two years than they have in the last.|