Last Day on Pacific Standard Time!

(karen)
We've planned and packed for years now and we can plan and pack no more. Tomorrow we get on a plane and head off for our great adventure! For those curious, here is a photo of all the things we are bringing, spread out on the floor. Somehow we have to cram all this into a couple of backpacks.



The kids seem to be adjusting well to their new home at the Fergason Doggie Camp. Can you spot the imposter amongst the golden retrievers? (BTW the 9 week old puppies are insanely cute and I'm going to sneak one on the plane to cuddle)


Don't Molly and Spencer look happy?


Tomorrow we are heading to San Francisco to spend a rainy day in the city before we hop on the plane. Keep your fingers crossed that we don't get blood clots during flight.

Diamond Springs, CA

(karen)
Sat, 12/24
Here's a quick update on the preamble to our trip: We made a final trip to Oxnard with a dual purpose to A) drop off the last tidbits from the house and B) retrieve our passports from the filing cabinet. How many engineers does it take....? Yeah, we know. Shut up. That evening (Christmas Eve) we joined Brian and Kara for a final night of dinner and games like we've been doing for over four years. Our final goodbyes before leaving LA.

Sun, 12/25
On Christmas morning we rolled up our sleeping bags, packed up the cars and headed with the dogs up north to Diamond Springs, about half way between Tahoe and Sacramento. The kids were very excited until they realized this wasn't a trip to the dog park (at which point they fell asleep). We hit a lot of rain around Stockton but still managed to make excellent time. Later that night we shared Christmas dinner with some of Steve's family and got to answer many more questions about our trip.

Mon, 12/26
Yay, Christmas! Well not really, but today we open presents since yesterday was in transit. We received many lovely things but what will be most fun on the trip is our brand new GPS receiver! Somehow we'll have to figure out how to upload our traveled route. Sweeeeet. So today we rest, tomorrow we shop at REI for last minute goodies. Buenos noches!

Fair Dinkum

(karen)
We're at T minus 7 days and counting! Yesterday concluded about two weeks of solid merry-making and goodbyes as we prepare to leave our friends and home in LA. The scene at the Fergason household has been pretty much this:


While I was finishing up my last couple days of work this week, Steve went into overdrive to box up all the last minute crap that you don't even realize you have until you move. What a guy. He and Nick spent a day driving up to Oxnard to put everything in the storage facility until our return next August. I know it seems silly to take our stuff all the way to Oxnard, but at a savings of $80 a month I think you'd do the same.

In the meantime we're camping out in our sleeping bags in this big empty house for the next two nights and then it's off to Steve's parent's house near Placerville on Christmas Day. We'll spend a few days relaxing in gold country before we jump on the plane south. Tune in again...same bat time, same bat channel.