Dean is off

Dean didn't quite get away at noon as he had hoped, but by 4:30 on Saturday afternoon he pulled out of the driveway. I obviously wasn't thinking because all the photos I took of his departure are on his camera, which is currently somewhere north of Sudbury...I hope! We packed all of our backpacks, camping gear, emergency bottles of wine and anything else we could think of in the trunk of the car so that the kids and I will only have carry-on bags when we fly on Thursday. It was substantially tighter than it would have been in the van, but we'll make the best of it. Watching Dean pull out of the driveway did not hit home like I thought it might. It was like he was just off to another ball tournament and will be home at the end of the weekend. I'm sure the reality of this whole adventure will sink in once we get on the plane. I think we have just been too busy with our preparations to really think about the enormity of what is ahead. Maybe that is for the best. Four days to go...