Updated some movies in my movie list, though I'm guessing about what night we watched "Invincible."

Several of us met for Ultimate yesterday, as usual, but after a massive rain Saturday night and all the snow melting, we found the fields at Grant were super spongy. Had we played on them, I'm sure we would have destroyed them -- that on top of getting cold and muddy. So we called Clark and played around of disc golf. Then I had to leave, but most of the guys played another round.

I spent nearly 11 hours straight skiing Monday outside St. Louis. I got there at 9 a.m. By the time I got my lift ticket and rental equipment, it was almost 10 a.m. Went down a couple runs and Josh Foster arrived. We took a break in the afternoon, I got an overpriced drink and ate an overpriced apple. He had to leave around 5:30 p.m. I stayed until 9 p.m.

Julie and I met Mom and Day for a movie Sunday night in Springfield. (Turns out that Troy's parents were at the same movie.) Then we went to Mariah's, near the theater, for dinner. Food was pretty good. Our waitress seemed uneasy, but she was attentive. We ran into Ed Faith there, as he was having his birthday dinner with his family.

This is cool. The largest drawback from our move to Illinois was going to be that the flights to Washington D.C. require a connection. My brother-in-law pointed this article out to me. It looks like we'll start having direct flights to D.C. in April ... so it will only be a short-lived pain!

We'll be looking at houses that Jantina narrowed the list to today. It is quite the variety. Everything from bargains to gut-and-refinish to pricey move-in ready.

When I looked at my iTunes total library previously, and thought it had 17+ hours of audio, I misread it. It has 17+ days of audio! There is a total of 3,106 files, 17 days, 9 hours, 26 minutes of content. So I barely scratched the surface when I placed it on random-play of my entire library for the trip.

11:30 a.m. (EST) in Ft. Lauderdale.
Class wrapped up, and I run back to the hotel to top off my small cooler with ice before I hit the road. The temperature is 83 degrees.



2:49 p.m. (EST) in Orlando
I grab a quick lunch and then swing by the tailor to pick up some pants I was having altered. "Work pants?" the seamstress asks. I confirm. She responds, "That's good! ... They are your 'make-money pants!'" The temperature is 74 degrees. 33 iPod tracks down.



6:26 p.m. (EST) in Valdosta, Ga.
The sun is setting. It's 66 degrees, and I'm on track 57 on my iPod. I don't have Internet here so I'll have to post this with the next stop. Nothing too eventful. The snacks for this trip include dried apricots, fresh bananas, yogurt-covered raisins, and blueberry bagels.




10:03 p.m. (EST) in Atlanta, Ga.
Now into the night and a bit further north, it is currently 33 degrees. I'm on track 98 on the iPod, and have ~640 miles left according to the GPS. I'm breaking my caffeine-free rule for this trip. Diet Dr. Pepper and even a few Coke Blak are in my cooler.



1:35 a.m. (CST) Saturday in Nashville, Tenn.
iPod track 153. Random included 2 repeats so far. The temperature is 25 degrees.

Things I really like about the Acura TL include:

• The dashboard clock automatically adjust to the timezone changes via data from the GPS.
• The high-intensity head lights.
• The iPod adapter (Don't know what I would've done without it this trip!)
• The hands free bluetooth for my cell phone (and how it pauses the music when a call comes in).
• The climate control switching from air-conditioning to heat without any prompting ... simply maintains the temperature I set regardless of climate changes.

3:57 a.m. in Paducah, Ky.
iPod tracks: 192. The temperature is 26 degrees. This will probably be my last fueling ...I'm 289 miles away and have 421 miles available with a full tank. For those curious, I've been using my MacBook Pro's built-in i-sight and photobooth for the handful of pics here. For the internet connection I've been using bluetooth from the laptop to my Motorola (Verizon) cell phone, which has limited bandwidth, but enough for posting from the road.

8:29 a.m. Arrived in Lincoln, Illinois.
Total tracks played: 270. Current temperature is 12 degrees. I'm pretty tired.

Yesterday morning "the package" was delivered to the title company and the buyers were able to sign the contract, so we're officially finished selling the house!

Jantina spent the last 2 days looking at houses in Lincoln and has picked out a couple for me to look at once I arrive.

Last night I went to the church service at Calvary Chapel Ft. Lauderdale. Wow, they have a great church. Excellent ministers, programs, and the facilities were pretty neat too. They have a Disney-esque tram for the parking lot and even a nice sit-down restaurant on campus.

I'm really anxious to start the drive home, the class I've been in this week has been paced a little too slowly for me. I'd like to just get it done and get on the road already. At least it warmed up today, its going to be near 80 in Ft. Lauderdale.

The furnace at the gallery stopped working Saturday morning. Bad timing, since we had a music show that night. The mass of people helped keep it warmer in there, but it was still hanging around 50 degrees. I really hope we can get it working by next Saturday's music show and not bust a water pipe or something frustrating like that.

I'm in Fort Lauderdale for training this week. Jantina is already in Lincoln with Sassy. She's relaying reports of extreme cold up there. She attended the funeral for her grandmother today and is expecting to start looking at houses on Wednesday.

I realized today that I drive right by Calvary Chapel Ft. Lauderdale when I go to class here, so I'm planning on attending their Wednesday night service. I'm really looking forward to it!

The instructor indicated today that the class should wrap up around lunch time on Friday. So I'll start my 19-24 hour drive to Lincoln at that time (~1,304 miles). I'll be sure to have my iPod loaded up ... iTunes currently reports that I have 17 hours and 7 minutes worth of audio in my entire library... so it might be interesting to listen to everything I own at least once on the trip.

This weekend our friends in Orlando threw us a "goodbye" party. It was great to see everyone, and sad of course.

We know we'll be visiting frequently and staying in touch via email and phone, but it isn't the same as seeing them every Friday night, celebrating special occasions, or random get-togethers at other times throughout the week. We love them all so much, it was really hard to commit to the move. We'll also miss our church, Calvary Chapel South Orlando. We stopped in to say "goodbye" to everyone there as well this morning before service.

I dropped Jantina at the airport this afternoon and then drove to work in Ft. Lauderdale... 3 hours and something on the road. I spent most of the time reflecting on all the great times we've shared over the 5 1/2 years in Orlando, especially all our great friends there.

We haven't had the official closing on our house yet, though the buyer's lender has assured us that everything is going forward. They simply have to rerun all of the processes for the new terms.

However, yesterday Jantina and I signed all of our parts of the contract (the seller can sign early, as all of the lender paperwork is for the buyer). So all that needs to happen is for the buyers to sign and our realtor will hand over the keys and garage door openers, and the money will be direct deposited. Everything should finally close early next week!

As for our next steps, we have everything loaded on the POD and it is on its way to storage, it will be delivered once we buy our next house.

We are looking for our next home in Lincoln.... we are moving back to Illinois!