Ready to launch

Howdy!  Welcome to my travel blog.  I hope to post every day so that you can keep up with my road trip.

Let me suggest adding an RSS feed of this blog.  "What is an RSS feed" you ask?  Its only the most convienient way to keep updated with a blog.  Also called a "live bookmark", an RSS feed is like a bookmark; however, when you click on the bookmark, a drop down menu expands to show you the titles of each post from the blog up to that point.  When you click on a post, the icon should change to indicate that a post has been read.  This way, you can easily see if there is a new post to the blog by clicking on the RSS feed (instead of actually visiting the page to check), and you can keep track of which posts you have already read.

To add an RSS feed, click the link at the bottom of the page that says "Subscribe Atom".  This should open a window that asks to add a feed or live bookmark.  Click OK or Subscribe and then add the feed to a location that you keep your bo okmarks (I add a lot of my feeds to the bookmark toolbar so that I can quickly check the blogs I follow).  Just a note, this may not work so well with the Chrome browser.

Anyways, I am almost ready to leave on my trip.  Most of the items I need for my trip have been purchased, and at this point, I am just trying to see if I can fit it all in my car. I remember my friend Amanda Mills posting her pre roadtrip packing ordeal on her blog.  She was leaving for several months to a year, and she only had a subaru hatchback.  I am fortunate enough to have  a minivan!  (Thanks  Teresa and Jim!)





I am trying to strike the difficult balance between being prepared and being overly reliant on the things I bring (I can just improvise something if I need it, right?)

As I finish up packing, I got to have a great meal with my parents. Mom and Dad made polenta with a delicious sauce. It was so good, and we had a great time sharing this meal.

I will let you know what happens next. First stop: Little Rock, AR.