Casting Off

On May 14, 1804, William Clark and just over 45 members of the "Corps of Discovery" cast off from Camp Dubois, where Clark had guided the training and preparations of this team just off the Mississippi River. They met up with Captain Meriwether Lewis a week later in St. Charles, Missouri, officially beginning the voyage of the Lewis and Clark expedition to the Pacific Coast. 


In a matter of 24 hours, Clark and I are now homeless, jobless, car-less, and have all of our belongings packed into 1 rental car and 2 very small U-boxes somewhere in the middle of the Orange County. We have officially cast off onto perhaps the biggest adventure of our lives. It all happened so fast, I've hardly had a chance to take it all in. We ended our last day of work, packed up our little 1 bedroom apartment, sold our cars, and said our goodbyes - to people, places, and our regular way of life.

Goodbyes are always the hardest. But I'm going to go ahead and say my goodbye at work was more eerie than it was hard. I stayed late that last day to finish up all that I could. By the time I left, all my co-workers had already gone home, the office was silent, and the lights had already started to turn off. Not a single person was left in the whole upper hall. I packed up my few belongings, sent my last email, turned off my computer, and headed out by myself. I'm not sure what I was expecting, but that was weird.

And now I'm unemployed. And that's weird too.

People talk about big transitions and life changes and how they are like "new chapters" in the book of life. It's a little hard to feel that way when I think instead that a whole book just ended and I'm starting a brand new book. Or maybe I'm not even in a book anymore. I don't really know. I'm just... here.

I suppose that the original Lewis and Clark never felt this way on their cross-country expedition. Where Meriwether and William were paid to explore, we're paying to explore... to be paid once we eventually land... well, after we finish school...

Ours is a much longer story. And more complicated.

Here's a pic of some of the packing commotion. This is before the apartment was completely bare.

Unfortunately, this is the only pic I have. I was pretty bad about remembering to take more pictures. Not to worry, though. This will change as we continue this once-in-a-lifetime expedition across the country.