I now am a resident of Massachusetts. The state motto above in Latin (Ense petit placidam sub libertate quietem) translates to ''By the sword we seek peace, but peace only under liberty''. So they seem to be serious about their liberty around here. The trip was crazy - over 6,400 road miles traveled within a few weeks (cross-country twice). Got in a fender-bender in Troy, NY and managed to to hit the guy who was the Mayor of Troy up until a few weeks ago - lovely. No injuries, except to my ego. Saw a wild turkey walking alongside a New York road and thousands of Geese heading North - Spring must be coming soon.

We landed in a little town called Tewksbury, about 25 miles NW of Central Boston. This will only be temporary. Hard to get used to apartment life again - I get pissed when the upstairs neighbor decides to vacuum at 11pm and wakes my kids up. Nearly all of the locals nearby have strong Boston accents - if you're a fan of the CBS show Survivor - they sound like Boston Rob.

Still don't have my bearings yet, in many ways. It'll come, I know it. I got emotional several times as I left Seattle - that region means a lot to me - it was there I met my wife, courted and married her - had my two children and built a career on the Internet (within a span of 10 years no less). I used to dream of living near Seattle when I was a child growing up in arid Eastern Washington State. But life had become comfortable (routine) and I no longer felt such a strong pull to the region. My wife's pull to move back to her native region was much stronger, and it made sense to make our move as soon as possible, for many reasons.

I also feel strange from a genealogical standpoint. My entire family - on both sides - has been marching steadily westward from Europe since the 1500's. From Germany, Ireland and England to New York, Virginia, to Pennsylvania and Ohio to Nebraska then Wyoming and to California, then recent generations to Washington and Alaska. It's almost like I'm at the end of the generational trip, some 500 years later and can say ''I've seen the frontier - been there, done that, there ain't no more.'', and return to the East. Maybe my kids will move to Germany someday, who knows.

Apologies to any of you who tried to reach me during the trip - I was web-deprived most of the time. When I got my PC up and running again (with newly-acquired DSL no less), I was a very happy camper.

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