While our counterparts in the eastern US begin the trek tomorrow afternoon, those of us on the west coast start tonight. I’m on a flight leaving Seattle at 11:10PM Pacific time that arrives in New York at 7:30 AM Eastern (4:30AM Pacific). We will spend a few hours of the day at a hotel close to the airport coping with the first of many time changes in the days to come. Before long we will be heading back to JFK to meet the rest of the US Polaris Project crew as we head to Moscow.

I have checked and double checked my packing hoping I haven’t forgotten anything. Every time I panic for a moment when my passport takes a second too long to uncover. I am sure now that I have everything but I don’t think the worm of doubt in the back of my mind will go away until I begin seeing other Polaris people and it sinks in that this is really happening.