Don't stop... believin'

We've elevated these last couple weeks from trip status to "Journey" status now. Last week I created a window of opportunity in my calendar at work for us to fly out and bring the plane home but with questions about the airplane being ready, weather, airline ticket prices, and a myriad of other stars needing alignment, things were looking pretty grim.

But, at the very last possible moment this morning, I got the text message that the plane was flown and everything checks out for the trip back west! Miraculously, airline tickets were not only available, but hadn't risen in price.

Even though every step of the way becomes a new evaluation point to turn back, the plan right now is to fly out at noon tomorrow, grab the charts and gps from the plane on our way to the hotel, pre-dawn patrol wakeup on Saturday, and be wheels off the ground by 6am. The idea is to get to Mountain Home, ID (Caroline's first duty station actually) and overnight there. That should give us a fairly light day on Sunday or travel buffer if need be. Total flight time will be around 14 hours given our zig-zag path through the Rockies.

Packing list:
- Underwear for 2 nights
- Warm clothes
- Toothbrush and toothpaste
- Work computer (to VPN in if need be... otherwise it's junk weight)
- Flight planning papers
- Tuna kits for lunch with almonds and trail mix as a snack
- Plenty of water
- Fancy new Osprey rolling luggage carry on case. (Lightest cu. in. per pound at REI)

Like I said before, we re-evaluate every step for a go-no go decision but so far, things are go!