Here goes nothing...

Day 1-2 Travel Time

Didn’t decide to get outta bed until 6:38…showered (because I knew how long it would be until I could do that again) and finished gathering my belongings. Planned on leaving Dtown at 7:30 but didn’t really leave until 8 (typical me) I said some sad goodbyes to the roomies and pretty much continued to cry until I left Duluth…

I remember threatening Duluth to be warmer than this when I returned…and Ben just laughed at me and said don’t worry it will be. The highway was still pretty slick from yesterdays snow/ice/grossness/slush so we took it easy until we passed Black Bear.

Ben’s silly car kept building up frost on the inside of the windows and stupid fast cars were splashing the brown/grey drops all over his windshield. And we were too afraid that using the windshield wipers would make it ten times worse so we agreed to stop in Hinckley and clean off the windows and such. (I let Ben in on a little secret about the a/c button in his car and the frosting on the windows disappeared after that.)

After our stop we continued on our way…the roads got better and I became more sad. The thought of saying goodbye to Ben kept popping up in my head and made me shed some tears, every so often. I’d start to cry, wipe my tears then blow my nose and be ok for awhile. Ben probably thought I was insane or was just having fun mimicking a faucet… But anyway we finally made it to the airport and then I wished the ride would suddenly be longer.

Ben and I sat there and waited till Jayme got dropped off and then we checked it…or tried to. Turns out my suitcase weighed about 62.5 lbs and was only allowed to weigh 50 lbs and if I wanted to bring everything with I would have to pay fifty dollars, I was like F THAT. I’ll just take some stuff out…so after getting rid of extra tanks, shorts and such I finally got it down to 49 lbs and then decided to add my lotion back in the bag just because I could=)

Then gave Ben 5 hugs and a few smooches and stumbled through security. Finally the crying stopped and Jayme and I found Subway…it was delicious (FYI) I decided to go pull myself together and Jayme and I took the first of what will be many pictures to follow. Boarded the plane to Chicago…which was a nice little 50 minute flight. Trying not to sleep during the day I decided to write some more on my “predeparture paper” and read My Horizontal Life, recommended by my room-roommate Steph. Pretty funny so far, I guess I never knew of any women to have so many one-night stands! Lol

Once we got to Chicago, I made some calls used the restroom and boarded the next plane to LA. Watched the plane take off and daydreamed awhile, read my book and then wanted to take a nap. But I didn’t…I took out my comp and finished my paper…1000 words-donzo! Darn it feels good to be done with that non-sense=) Now I’m just rockin out to my iPod and writing a lil blog post while I remember and to help keep me awake.

….This morning when I left Duluth it maybe was 10*F then Chicago was 26*F and when we land in LA it’s supposed to be like 54*F…I see that the US is gradually preparing me for weather in Oz.

I’m started to more excited and less sad which is good… because I’m dehydrated from crying. I was soo jacked to go to Australia I didn’t realize how hard it would be to say goodbye to everyone… I miss you all and can’t wait to Skype. But I think the LA arrival is coming soon so I’m gonna go. In LA, I plan on feasting before the never-ending-flight to Australia. Hopefully I’ll write soon. Take care and I’ll talk to you soon!

Love,

Shar