You have to fight through some bad moments to earn the best moments of your life.

The last 24 hours has been...intense.

I got up at 6 am yesterday morning and started working.  I worked until 4 pm and then left work to go to whole foods to buy a few more things for the trip.  As the cashier at whole foods was ringing me up, I realized that my wallet wasn't in my purse.  I went back to work to see if I had left it there and when I couldn't find it, I started to panic. All of my credit cards/ bank cards were in that wallet. Both my drivers license and my student ID were in that wallet. And I was supposed to leave in 2 DAYS! Not only was I supposed to leave in 2 days but it was a Sunday and the next day was a national holiday which meant that there was no way to get my cards replaced in that period of time. After several hours of looking, I called Capital One and American Express to cancel my cards. American Express (having the wonderful customer service that they have) arranged for me to pick my card up locally but I couldn't get another Capital One before I left.  I was sooo down that these things had been lost, but then I got a phone call. . . It was whole foods and my wallet had been turned in to customer service!!! I picked it up and nothing was missing and luckily I had yet to cancel my check card, so all is good again!

Today I packed my pack and realized that when fully packed, it is slightly bigger than I had expected. I realized that I might have to check it, but after reading the horror stories about shredded packs after being checked, I decided I needed a pack duffel to put it in during air travel.  I was about to head out to REI when Dustin suggested going to Target first to see if they had anything.  We were about to leave Target but decided to look in one more section.  On our way to the luggage section. we passed a clearance end cap with a few lightweight collapsible duffel that were EXACTLY what we were looking for.  We took them home and they fit PERFECTLY!! It was meant to be!

I have been finishing up packing the last few things and I am almost READY TO GO!! I can't wait!