Well, I’m now home, safe and sound in Cincinnati. The trip wasn’t nearly as bad as I thought it would be. Sure, it was long … but it seemed like a piece of cake compared to my countless experiences on Chinese trains this year. I guess that I’ve been toughened up!

I flew from Changsha to Beijing to Los Angeles to Charlotte to Lexington. And when I finally arrived at the Lexington Bluegrass Airport, I was delighted to find both Rob Lansdale and Kelli Faust waiting there to greet me! They helped me cart my things to the car … to Louie, my Mazda who I had missed so dearly. Then all four of us hopped on I-75N to Middletown.

Along the way, we stopped at Applebee’s for lunch (how glorious!), the bank and License Bureau in Middletown (to transfer Louie back into my hands), and Rob’s parents’ home. We then made a trip out to Pleasant Vineyard, where they were in the middle of their last week of camp … and let me tell you, it was awesome to see those people and that place. Then we had dinner at Great Steak and Potato Company before parting ways.

I then drove down to Cincinnati to the Outzs home … I’ll be renting a room from this family until I find a more permanent place to live. It was so fantastic to take a nice hot shower. And it looks like it’ll be a great place to crash and get my head on straight while I’m adjusting to American life.

In the next four days, I’ll be running all around Cincinnati, assembling my life. Tomorrow I’ll get a cell phone, arrange my financial life, update my address, and find some car insurance. But first, for the first time in four days, I’m going to bed. In a real bed.

Good night!

Posted to webeldotnet on Tuesday, July 31st, 2007 at 10:58 pm EST in America & Home & Travel & My Life (comment feed). If you refer to this post on your blog, please trackback. Thanks!