Mississippi River Trip: Getting closer!

Whew - lots of organizing, advertising, and scrambling to find the things we need for the trip, but we're getting closer.  We finally found a tenant for the house while we're gone that we're comfortable with.   An army sergeant and his family will take the upper level of the house until they get regular quarters figured out.  We'd have preferred no pets, especially big ones, but the guys seem very nice and the mutts well behaved, so we're not stressing over them.  Besides, in our experience military tenants tend to be neat, quiet, and pay the rent on time and we're getting a good deal to have someone looking over the house while we're off on our trip.

AND. . .I shaved my beard.  I grew my beard ~20 years ago when I went hitchhiking up the Eastern seaboard, down part of the AT, and home to Tallahassee again. The last time I shaved was the morning of the day I left my job to go on that trip.  Since I'm doing something similarly adventurous I decided that I'd shave the beard and let it grow back during the canoe trip. I have to say, after a long time with a beard it feels weird to be clean shaven again.  I never noticed the little tic I have about playing with the chin hair until I tried to do it a few minutes ago. . .and couldn't.

I can't wait for it to be back.  Pictures courtesy of my lovely wife, who couldn't stop laughing.