So today is the big day. My bags are not packed and ready to go, my work is not finished and ready to be delegated, I’m sort of sick and I even still have shopping to do. But today is still the big day. I’m leaving in about 3 hours for South Carolina to begin one of the largest roadtrips I’ve ever taken part of.

For those of you who follow this blog religiously, you may recall a certain trip that I took to Canada back in May (for those who do not remember such a trip or for those who need a refresher, read these blog posts). Dan, who was the Australian I drove to Panorama, BC has been staying with his brother Chris in Raleigh, North Carolina for about a month during his time off between summer and winter seasons at Panorama. A couple months back, Dan told me that starting in November, he was going to be driving back to Canada before starting winter work early December. He politely asked if I wanted to tag along for part or all of the trip (not sure if he actually wanted me to come along or not – last time he’ll make that mistake).

Fortunately (or unfortunately) for Dan, I have been wanting to do this trip since I got back from my European backpacking adventure in 2008. Once I spent a decent amount of time abroad, I realized that there was so much to do right here in the US and I wanted to make sure that I saw every state before I traveled abroad again. This goal became a little more urgent when I decided to start traveling abroad again in 2010. Dan’s timing couldn’t have been perfect.

So today, we begin the quest to get Dan back to Canada, and along the way, we will finish all of my states (except Alaska – which deserves its own trip). The plan is as follows:

Fly to Greenville, South Carolina.
Drive from Greenville, South Carolina North through North Carolina, Virginia, West Virginia, Maryland, Pennsylvania, Delaware, New Jersey, New York, Connecticut, Rhode Island, Massachusetts, Maine, New Hampshire, Vermont, Quebec, Michigan, Indiana, Illinois, Iowa, Wisconsin, Minnesota and North Dakota (*whew* that’s sounds a lot more daunting now that I write it down!).
Dan continues on to Canada from Fargo, ND and I fly back to Long Beach for our December company staff meetings.

We will also be joined by the notorious Mr. Brian Lee from the New York through North Dakota leg as a road trip wouldn’t be complete without him!

We’re going to attempt to cram all of this into two weeks. And hopefully we will succeed because I have a plane reservation made already :)

So that’s the plan, I’ll be picking back up blogging more frequently now that I’m on the road again so stay tuned for letters from the road.

Also, if you’re on twitter, feel free to follow more up to the date updates on my twitter @ahesser

Now… time to go get packed!

XOXO