Four years ago, Chase and I moved from our apartment in Michigan (where we'd lived for 6 years), to Northern Virginia, just outside of Washington, DC. (We lived in Vienna, the last stop on the orange line of the Metro.) We moved there so that I could go to school to get my Master's Degree in American Government from Georgetown University. I was accepted into a 12-month program and enrolled with 15 other students.
Our class was small and politically very diverse, ranging from extremely conservative (that would be me, though I don't consider myself an extremist!) to far-left-liberal to socialist and everything in between. We took most of our classes together and got to know one another pretty well. Despite our differences, we genuinely enjoyed one another's company, and I think that was in part because we were so diverse and had so much to learn from one another.
When Chase and I moved from the DC area back home to Nebraska, there wasn't much we thought we'd miss. But those 15 people from my class and a number of our coworkers (and Voccelli's pizza!) were hard to leave behind. Fortunately, we live in a mobile world, and we're only a flight (or a scooter as the case may be) away.
Tuesday evening, Jay scootered into our driveway for a much-anticipated visit. And since he's already gone to the work of writing about his visit, I'll just let him share it in his own words. But before I send you to his blog, I'll set the stage a bit...
Jay works for the federal government doing good work in an unconventional way - we need more civil servants like him. He saved his vacation days over a few years, and this May set out on a 2-month road trip throughout the US and Canada. He went from DC to Louisiana, to Houston, to Denver, to San Diego, to Vancouver, to Montana, to us. When Jay left us, he was shooting for Minnesota, then the UP of Michigan, then Canada, and eventually back to DC. He travels by "Rousseau," his lovingly named Kymco scooter that looks much like this one:
He mostly camps on his trip, though he stays in a hotel every once in a while, or visit friends as his route allows. He's put over 12,000 miles on Rousseau in the last 6 weeks, and he's obviously not afraid of adventure! Born and raised mostly in New Jersey, Jay was very happy to leave the state behind and settle in DC for the time being (except when he's crossing the country on the back of Rousseau).
Now, please sit back, relax, and enjoy the story of our summer visitor: Jay's visit to Nebraska
PS - Here's a picture of Jay and I after a tour at Preferred Popcorn. My phone takes horrible pictures, and the protective gear required for safety/health reasons doesn't help. None the less, here it is:
I loved reading both of your posts! Hope you enjoyed the visit.
ReplyDelete