The Journey begins...

Rumor has it that one’s trip really doesn't happen unless you write a blog about it (what happened to the days of intruding your friends, families and distant friends e-mail account with a lovely impersonal mass e-mail?) and after planning this son of a bitch for what felt like 20 years, but was actually only 2, I figured your god damn right I’m gonna write a blog, bad back and all:) So here we are in blogville, which I've creatively named after my arrival and destination cities, crafty eh?

(WARNING - For those of you who are just looking for cool/fun/interesting information regarding my trip – please respectfully skip this section and for those of you who have some time to kill, get the tissues ready :)

Speaking of that 2 years of mayhem that led up to this trip I’d like to throw out a few (OK ...a lot) shout outs to those who have honestly made this endeavor possible for me (I feel like I’m accepting an Oscar for Christ sake).
- My parents, although they have questioned my sanity on several occasions (and their own sanity for paying for my college education) have been very supportive in my extended sabbatical from “the real world”.
- The same goes for my brother, sister and sister in-law, who have allowed me to lean on them on several occasions especially when it came to family gift exchanges such as (don’t read this Mom) Mother’s Day, the (don’t read this Dad) upcoming Father’s Day etc. And have been very giving hosts when I’ve been passing through the windy city.
- The 30 or so Doc’s who have prodded (not the prostate exam sort of prod you sicko’s) at, inspected and attempted to (and in a few occasions actually did) help my ailing back. The most important (and of the few successful) of those being Jordan (paid sponsor - Proformance Rehab in Eastlake (206) 322-2842...j/k) who honestly didn’t give up on me regardless how shitty my attitude became (i.e. “What the hell do you mean I’ve ‘re-herniated’ my back, you’ve got to be F-ing kidding me!”)
- Torrie (K.U.–wana). It was my honor to serve for over 1 ½ years as her “Manny” (definition: part man, part nanny) for her little rug rats - Tilda-girl, Kramer - the 20lb thoroughbred of a feline and to the silent meow master, Tigger, may he/she (the gender thing is a long story) rest in peace.
- The spark plug who sorted through the chaos that my trip planning had become and helped finalized this adventure for me, major props to Ms. Natalie Collins. When I say finalize I guess that could also mean f-ing endless calls to the airlines with ridiculous hold times, non-stop support, and that trip to Maui 2 weeks before I left, wasn’t so bad either :) (see the above mentioned K.U.- wana for the other half of that going away present)
- Jimbob (yes, that’s his real name), the resident master of the shire (definition: his basement with 5ft 9inch ceilings) for which I lived for 6 months. JB helped see me through my financial woes (i.e. free rent) after I retired (without a true financial retirement) from corporate America.
- And to all of you who listened to me bitch, complain, whine and cry about my god-for-saken back for the past couple years this includes, but isn't limited to “everyone’s bud” Dustin Vanlue, the fuseloge of the landhawks-Jonathan Fussell, Kyle Ozzzzwald-who was instrumental in preventing me from sitting at home feeling sorry for myself on the w/e's , the chairmen of my “don’t pack so much shit” campaign & "don't just sit on your ass all the time" influence - Aaron Wiehe, humanity’s women of the year 5 years running – Ms. Amy Conner, the folks at Plymouth Poultry who were unbelievably supportive of my adventure to Africa (regardless of the number of complete meltdowns I had while working with them:), my good buddy Brian Marks, my boy Curtis who was there with numerous motivational speeches for me, my soon-to-be fellow Pac NW buddy - PJ, the Laoation lover – Pie, my hommies back in J-burg and last, but certainly not least my good friend and traveling buddy who continues to inspire me with his "I'm going to kick my brain tumor's ass" mentality as he battles on with his fight against the 3cm diameter tumor in his head - my thoughts are with you Dugan!
As you can see (for those of you that have made it thus far) I’ve had an endless, and life altering amount of assistance in my struggle (i.e scratching and f-ing clawing type of struggle) to get over my back injury and make this trip happen! There is no way I could possibly think about mentioning my trip without touching on the impact these people have had not only on this adventure, but also my life! Many, many, many thanks and now it's onto exploring Cairo!