Random Travel Update 21

Last Location: Southern California
Arrival Date: March 20, 2008
Departure Date: March 30, 2008

Current location: Farmington, UT
Arrival Date: March 30, 2008
Departure Date: April 30, 2008

Next stops: (Tentative)
Tucson, AZ (May 1-5)
Amarillo, TX (May 5-6)
Devils Den State Park, AR (May 6-8)
Memphis, TN (May 8-10)
Red River Gorge, KY (May 10-11)
Gatlinburg, TN (May 11-13)
(Great Smokey Mountains)
Hickory, NC (May 13-14)
Charleston, SC (May 14-16)
Key Biscayne, FL (May 16-18)
Mobile, AL (May 19-20)
New Orleans, LA (May 21-23)
Houston, TX (May 23-24)
San Antonio, TX (May 24-25)
Big Bend, TX (May 25-27)
Tucson, AZ (May 28-30)

Thanks to those of you who recently sent me your contact info! Do let me know that you get this email. If you are interested in receiving past updates, let me know and I will send you a link. I haven't gone anywhere since I last wrote so I suppose I ought to call this a pre-travel update. Jon and I leave tomorrow morning for Tucson, then head across country by Prius, stopping in every southern state along the way. I will try to hit an internet café every few days and send updates along the way, but it is hard to say how much down time we will have or how much wi-fi we will encounter. In the meantime, it would be nice if some of you would send me updates of your own. Last week one of my good friends from college wrote and it was refreshing to hear her story for a change.

It was nice to be "settled down" for a few weeks. I have been pursuing my ski bum dream and intermittently planning future adventures. In my spare time, I have been working for the Salt Lake City School District as a substitute teacher. I don't think it had occurred to me that I am now officially an adult until the day that I went to use the bathroom between classes and encountered an "ADULTS ONLY" sign on the door to the faculty restroom. I had to pause for a moment to consider whether I was at the right door.

Teaching has been great. I must give my mom credit for suggesting the idea. On lucky days—like yesterday, I get to teach high school, which means reading a book or writing a letter while students study. On other days, I teach elementary or middle schoolers, which is still great but requires some patience and a significant amount of actual instruction time. I have decided that AP Literature is my favorite subject to teach. I will l try to get a job teaching this in South Korea.

Now I must return to packing. In the next month, Jon and I will pass through over a third of the United States: Utah, Nevada, Arizona, New Mexico, Texas, Oklahoma, Arkansas, Tennessee, Kentucky, North Carolina, South Carolina, Florida, Georgia, Alabama, Mississippi, Louisiana and Oregon. I have attached a link to our tentative path. Let us know if we can visit you along the way.

Love,

Melissa