Omaha......finally!

Here I am in Omaha, I think that's in Nebraska. I had planned to leave home somewhere between 6 and 7 am this morning. And with my usually self discipline I was on the road at exactly noon today. What can I say?; I guess I spent too much time with family and friends last weekend and left too much to do for Monday. But at least I have not forgotten anything important(like this laptop), and my house is clean, my plants are watered, the birdfeeders are filled, bills are paid.

The honest truth is, that although I had planned this trip for months, it was somewhat intimidating to finally leave.

The drive was only about 7 and a half hours and driving wasn't bad. And I realized that I owe the entire population of Iowa an apology. I used to joke that Iowa was nothing more than a suburb of Minnesota. But the rolling hills were very pretty and the one reststop that I did visit was probably the nicest one I have ever been to. It had a small walking path through an area that was restored with native prairie plants. It took about 15 minutes to walk it and parts were shielded from the highway so I had the illusion of being in a park.

I did see one truly amazing thing on the drive through Iowa. I saw 'Iowa 80', the largest truck stop in the world. I was past the exit before I realized my mistake so I will have to leave that experience to the next time I get to drive the entire width of Iowa.

Over the last week or two, I purchased, borrowed, or downloaded lots of music onto my ipod. I also purchased a transmitter to send my ipod signal to the car stereo. Much of the new music I had never heard before. With the ipod on 'shuffle', I was frequently looking to see what music was playing, not even sure who the artist was. It was great. I only have 2.9 days of music, so sometime during the last half of the trip I might start hearing repeats.

I am staying at a Homewood Suites. The room is actually a suite with a mini kitchen, a living room, and a bedroom. The price was right though: free. I cashed in some of the Hilton Honors points that I had accumulated over the years from business travel. The kitchen comes in handy as I have packed a cooler full of food. I get to refridgerate everything overnight and refreeze the blue freezer blocks that I am using instead of ice.

It is my goal to go this entire four week trip without eating at a fast food restaurant. Feel free to make bets among yourselves as to when I might fail.

I need to sign off now because I really do need to be on the road by 7 tomorrow morning. I am meeting a former vendor in Denver tomorrow for a late lunch. I have purchased racking material from Ted for years, but have never met him as he is based in Denver. He was kind enough to allow me to use their corporate condo in the mountains for my next two nights and I want to spend time with Ted and buy him lunch before I drive the hour and a half beyond Denver to the condo. He was very supportive during Cindy's illness and after her passing, often calling just to see how I was doing.

Good night folks.

Greg

Ready to travel?

As many know, yesterday was my last day at work. After over 14 years on the job, I have left DSC Logistics for......whatever comes. It was hard to say goodbye to friends and coworkers. It was gratifying to hear their praise, but some of the folks made me cry. (I hate it when that happens). Today I am trying to get ready to travel. I am making lists, running errands, finalizing plans, and setting up a blog that few will read.