Elizabethtown, PA

A long day of travel took us from Wichita to Chicago to Harrisburg, PA. Our flights were followed by a short bus ride to Elizabethtown, PA, to the beautiful campus of Elizabethtown College.

People from all corners of the USA--I personally met people from Florida, Minnesota, Virginia, and New York and a few other states--are here to be part of the band and choir. We shared the flight from Chicago with two other chorus members: one from Ottumwa, Iowa, and another from Stover, Missouri.   (I think this young man was a little surprised when I told him that we had driven through Stover many times to visit Charles down by the Lake of the Ozarks.)

A very full day.

Windy City Layover...

...time to solve the Jumble.

Packing!....BUT hold on.

A hectic day! Packing has been placed on hold, at various times, by:

-Strong winds and storms last night, leading to a large number of branches needing to be cleared on the lawn to be mowed (Thank you, Jackson!).

-An extended (ex-ten-d-e-d) phone conversation with a Verizon representative to prepare cell phones for use in Europe. (It's never a good sign when the Verizon tech support guy says, re: Jacob's phone: "Huh!? I've never seen that before on an iPhone." An additional 45 minutes was needed for him to tackle this 'never seen' problem.)

-A near disastrous encounter with the steam iron. I will say no more on this subject.

-A needy dog. (Okay, I was expecting that part, and he's been pretty inactive (read: sleeping) since this morning.)

But those suitcases are filling up, checklists are being checked, last minute details are being addressed, and the countdown is officially on.

And so it begins.

Welcome to "J Blog." Very soon, in this space, you will find updates about travels to Pennsylvania, then to New York, on to Germany, Italy, etc. Jacob has been learning songs in preparation to join the Sound of America choir, and I am anxious to share some pictures and stories about his/our experiences on the upcoming trip.

For now, though, I'll begin this blog with a snarling puggle.

Thanks, Chester.