greetings from California to anyone patient enough to still be trying to look at this! I just figured out I needed to "punch that save button" before I post...so hopefully am now on track. "technologically challenged" doesn't begin to capture it. we finally got on the road early Tuesday morning. it was still dark in Springfield, and the full moon was beautiful and directly in our path west. we have been thinking of it as a sign of our full family life waning as we move toward a new life together. maybe by the time the new moon rises in a couple of weeks we will have an idea where that new life will be. we are thinking that being totally exhausted is a good precursor to my sitting in a car for a few days. as a famously fidgety rider, having no energy stores served me well. we had spent the prior 10 days packing, 2 days before that having a moving sale, and the week before that going to daily family holiday gatherings. none of my many previous moves prepared me for the physical and emotional work of clearing out our family home for a cross country move. the parade of possessions seemed endless, and as time went on I got more ruthless in my downsizing. a couple of days before we left I chucked a whole box of high school mementos without blinking. 2 words for how we spent our first day: Oklahoma and Texas. in stark contrast to the bleak scenery of the day, our evening entry into new mexico was magical. an amazing pink and orange sunset faded into blues and purples, then sparking lights at the foot of the mountains guided us to our planned stop in Albuquerque. we were on the road early again Wednesday, and enjoyed the lovely desert terrain of new Mexico and Arizona. rich is a champion driver, and did the heavy lifting of the trip with me spelling him just in the middle of of our long driving days. when we crossed into California in the afternoon it was as if we had suddenly gone into a second world cow try. the sleek Arizona roads became potholes and the impoverishment of Needles was a striking change.things slowly normalized as we crossed the dessert, and we stopped in Bakersfield to sleep. lost items so far in the car: rich's medicine, spare keys, my Bluetooth. we are anxious to be in one spot for more than a few hours, and have our sights set on San Luis obispo for today. only 2 or 3 hours in the car!