Day 1 - Baltimore to Cleveland

The day started out a little on the rough side. We had to take the cats to the vet and have them cleared for takeoff so that Missy and Bryan can ship them to us when we arrive in Oakland. While Jess took care of the cats, I stayed home and packed the odds and ends we'd left out the day before inside one of the "pods." After all the sentiments of the last few weeks, it was surprising (to me at least) how easy it was to lock the door and hop into the car... while it's been coming up quickly, I was pretty well prepared for the move (probably since I'd spent a whole week out there in Oakland getting to know the area and meeting so many great folks).

Jess on the other hand was a bit spaced out, her mind wandering over lots of things, as proven by her initial departure from our parallel parking space in front of the house... backing up, she kinda drifted into the truck behind us, which had been parked a good 15 feet away! Until we were a good half hour out on Route 70, we were both a bit flustered. After sharing some bites of a good gyro at a sandwich shop out by the Howard County Fair Grounds, we were a bit more settled. I took a nap, and she settled into the ride.

We drove through the Allegheny Tunnel on the PA Turnpike (1.2 miles through a mountain!), and then got a good view of some windmills before stopping for dinner.

We made a simple, but difficult pact about eating on this trip...

No fast food.

Having learned a bit about the industry from the book Fast Food Nation, we're avoiding burgers and fries. We'll see how long it lasts. So far so good. Last night's dinner was at a "Kings" restaurant, which we guess to be a Pennsylvania chain. She had a tilapia fillet and I had a salad.

We got into Cleveland, had a nice chat with Mama and Dean (Jess' mom and her husband-to-be), and hit the hay, ready for a day of relaxing with the family before hitting the road Sunday...