Starting Out

Here's hoping that I can continue this web journal when I get to Albania. I will be stationed in Elbasan, a city of about 150,000 during the three months of training, so chances are good that I will have some access to the internet. After that, it's up in the air.

I just returned to Kansas after traveling for the last five weeks. What a great trip. I went skiing in Colorado with my dad and some men from the local church. From there I drove by myself out to Moab, Utah and spent a couple of days exploring Canyonlands and Arches National Parks. They were both beautiful and definitely worth the effort to get there. Moab is pretty much in the middle of nowhere. From there I went to Las Vegas and stay with Lisa, my sister-in-law's sister. She was kind enough to show me all the hotspots on the strip, and I managed to make it out to Hoover Dam one afternoon. After Las Vegas I went up to Fresno, CA to stay with David and Lois and David's family. Made it to Yosemite Valley. Amazing. All of Central CA is very green and very scenic. David, Lois, and I made trips to San Francisco and Los Angeles. Definitely liked San Fran better than LA. From LA I drove back to Kansas by way of Albuquerque and Amarillo.

After being in Kansas for two days I went down to Waco, TX to work with my friend David on the World Hunger Relief Farm (http://www.worldhungerrelief.org). Spent two weeks doing whatever they needed me to do, including shoveling manure, feeding chickens, and putting up siding. It was nice to get outside and work a little bit, and they have a really great community of people working out there, so it was fun being a part of that community for a little while.

So now I'm back in Kansas, and feeling a little overwhelmed by all the list of things I need to do before I leave. I just booked my plane ticket to Philadelphia for staging on March 21. The next step is to start getting all my stuff together to see what I have and what I need to buy. How do you pack for two years? I let you know in a couple of weeks.