Arrival

I left Connecticut at 9:05 this morning and arrived at the seminary at 3:10 this afternoon. That included a break for lunch and two stops to stretch and walk around. The only traffic I encountered was the tail end of rush hour heading into Stamford and Greenwich. I spent about 5 1/2 hours driving, including two wrong turns in Alexandria. Fortunately, I remembered some of the landmarks and turned around before I got lost.

I already had mail waiting for me when I checked in at the Welcome Center (thank you for the card, Rachel!), and Katie, my new boss, came over to greet me. I moved some of the stuff from the car into my temporary quarters in the temporary guest house, the building in the picture. I'll be meeting a friend for dinner in a few minutes.

Yes, there were tears as I left home. They held off until I was out of sight of the house and lasted until I passed Exit 7 on the Thruway. After that I focused on the trip. It felt weird to pass exit from the New Jersey Turnpike to the Pennsylvania Turnpike and knowing that I probably won't travel to my brother's that way again for a long time. And I passed the exit in Maryland where I'd get off to visit Kurtis when we were dating. Then it was into new territory: the Beltway and into Virginia. The fact that I recognized landmarks when I got into Alexandria means I should learn my way around pretty quickly.

There were moving trucks at the guest house, so I can guess what's facing me tomorrow.