I am going to see Karen, mi amor! I have a part time job teaching music at a school in Panajachel (on Lake Atitlan). I am very excited about the trip! Biscuit, my cockatiel is traveling as far as St. Louis with me and will be staying there with my friend Fred for a while.

Well, what a ton of work it was to move out of my apartment, basically I moved out of a three bedroom townhouse into a 10X10X8 feet storage unit and a Ranger pickup (the stuff I am taking with me). I’m not sure why it was so much work, but it took me about 2 weeks of full time work. Now that I am just driving 8 hours a day, I feel like I am taking a break. I know the storage unit seems small but it is still 800 cubic feet of stuff, stuff you can’t take with you (literally in my case for this trip). Holy crap how much stuff do we need or more importantly want, as all that stuff takes time, fixing, financing, etc. Anyway I did it, I’m moved and here I am the night before ready to go.

So the trip so far. I slept in a town called Fort Madison, Iowa last night. Because I had promised someone I wouldn’t drive at night. So I didn’t. I was shooting for St. Louis but got a late start (noon) yesterday. So yeah…I have to keep the trip in perspective. I also started out 5 days later than I had wanted. Remember that two weeks of moving (I thought it would only take one). No problem. My goal is to get there and have fun on the trip.

Biscuit is a dream to travel with, likes to talk a little, never complains, like’s Bob Marley. In fact no kidding “Redemption Song” was playing when Biscuit and I left the driveway. Right after these pictures were taken.

We made it to Iowa as I said. Gabe’s Star Wars space ship is keeping us safe on the dashboard.

Thanks for reading. See you soon. Love you, Todd

Total miles today: 336