This is the weekend we've been working towards for what seems like forever. After a whirlwind week of getting final to-dos completed, we officially moved out of our house this afternoon, handing over the reigns to our dog/house sitter. Although we are very excited to embark on our adventures, the whole week has been bittersweet. Selling our car and handing over the keys to the house wasn't too bad, but saying goodbye to our dog has been the moment we have been dreading for a long time. After taking one last long walk around the neighborhood on this drizzly day, we hugged our white furry mutt goodbye and the tears started rolling, and kept rolling, and we kept sobbing as we headed down the road, and we haven't really quite stopped crying yet.
And then it also dawned on us that we are officially homeless...and unemployed after tomorrow...
And then it also dawned on us that we are officially homeless...and unemployed after tomorrow...
...which leads me to the second part of today's blog title. We are indebted to the multitude of friends and family who are helping us live our dream. Without asking, we have literally had so many people offer to help in any way they can. Many are opening up their homes to us, allowing us to stay for as long as we need until we get to our next destination. The result is that we will hardly have any lodging expenses for the entire month of May. We are truly humbled by everyone's generosity and know that it does not go unnoticed. Thank you everyone.
Aside from the sadness of leaving our dog, we are feeling very calm. We think it has to do with all the homework and planning over the past 6 months. We feel at peace knowing that we've done everything we could do to prepare, and that we have enough smarts to figure out almost anything that we encounter. We are not worried about too much at this point.
After finishing up our last day of work tomorrow, we have a couple more days in town to finalize vaccinations, then we will hit the road towards Alabama via St. Louis and Nashville, to spend some time with our family before we fly off to Tokyo.
Stay tuned as our real adventure blogging starts soon. No more of this planning stuff!
Bon Voyage! We'll miss you, Ogi.
