OK! It’s finally here! I woke up at 745am today (which is VERY early!) and finished the last of the packing.

Today, I leave my home in Suttons Bay, MI and head to Ann Arbor for a tailgate weekend with my family. From there, my parents drive me out to a northern Chicago burb, and I stay there Monday night.

The next stop is to meet up with Kristen and her family about 30 miles south. It’s farewell to my parents, then an evening in Chicago. The next day, Wednesday, we leave for Madrid!

Here is the current route that’s been planned so far:

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We will train to Alicante from Madrid on the 19th or 20th, depending on what works best. Because we’re late in picking a date, we’re forced to pay a premium and ride First Class. Not so bad, really. We get fed + showers. I’m not complaining!

One of the things that I found when on the tour of the Thumb was that I carried way too many books! I was reading “The Sunfood Diet” by David Wolfe on my iPhone (which is now dead, thanks to a canoeing accident with Max :), “Flow” by Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi, and some small stuff. I brought along a book on Spain, a book on edible mushrooms in Michigan, and a journal. LOTS OF SPACE.

I looked into a Kindle 2, because I’ve heard so many good things about them. The price had dropped to $299, and I decided to get one.

I got it in yesterday loaded a majority of my books (in PDF, converted for free) onto it. It’s awesome! I’ll update about how I’m liking it, but at this rate, it’s my best leisure purchase yet!

I was also lucky enough to stumble across some great people at KindleBoards.com who helped me with issues with my case and converting files. They are really a great group of people!

Quick stop at Oryana to grab some crystal deodorant and a veggie juice.

More later. Gotta run! Goodbye Suttons Bay!