Today is January 27th. Late on January 27th actually. January 31st will be the last day I can be in the house I'm renting with four other guys. Sometime between then and now, I need to pack up everything I own and move it into the basement. Crazy, right? I am literally down to my last four days. I also need to pare down my extensive wardrobe to only two small bags of clothes. Clothes suitble for any weather - from the beaches of L.A. to the frigid tundra that is New York in March. Yes, we do have lofty goals for this trip! Plus, we'll need blankets, pillows, a down pad (for sleeping on the floor), books, shampoo and such, laundry detergent, travel mugs, laptops, water bottles, car food, can opener (canned pineapple!!), shoes (two sneakers, two flip-flops, boots, heels. is six pairs too much?). I'm also seriously considering taking my mini-blender.
February 2nd, Tricia and I (Kat) will be reuniting in Peoria, and beginning our two month long road trip around the country. Currently, I'm in Madison and she's in Toledo, Ohio. If you're counting the days, this leaves me homeless for two nights. That's alright - someone will offer me a couch. It's good practice anyway - Tricia and I are trying to avoid hotels for the entire two month stretch. We'll be trying our hand at Couch Surfing (couchsurfing.org - check it out!!). Basically, I scroll through profiles looking for semi-normal, semi-sane, semi-interesting people who are willing to lend us a couple couches (or, more often, one couch and space on the floor) for a couple nights. So far, I've managed to get a maybe in Lincoln, Nebraska; a yes in Salt Lake City, Utah; and absolutely nothing from San Francisco, in spite of the fact that 163 people have listed their couches as being definitely available. I've so far asked 11 people in San Francisco if we could stay with them for three nights on the first leg of our journey. Two have declined. Most of the rest simply didn't reply. :( It's a little disheartening, but never fear! Things do have a way of working themselves out.
Stay tuned to hear of the packing extravaganza that will soon ensue. :)
