Last night, for my first night on the journey, I came to Ontario, CA. A hotel, right beside the airport and one of the largest freight train lines. Engines came cruising past the hotel, shaking the bed and floor as they passed and I had to keep reminding myself it wasn't an earthquake. Though I was born and raised in the state, the shaking is never something I get used to.

I came out to Ontario for a very simple reason, but extremely important reason as I set off. My sister. My sister is a Deputy Chief for Cal Fire, our State Fire Department and in Ontario that weekend they were having a training for all the incident command teams from across the state (the teams that come together when a large fire or disaster hits an area and they need support from multiple agencies).

I don't get a chance to see her often enough and so we made it happen in Ontario. When she finished her meetings for the day she asked me if we wanted to have dinner by ourselves or with her team, though I wanted to spend every second I could with her before setting off, I also thought it would be great to meet some of the team members that she spends so much time with especially during the summer months.

She had already told many of them that I was at my first stop of a trip across the country. When I explained a bit more about the process of connection and creativity, a beautiful and unexpected thing happened. They asked me the next stops on the journey, when I said I get to Arkansas and don't know anyone, the man sitting right across from me, said, "Arkansas? My son goes to college there. My wife went to high school there and she still has great friends there that are teachers." And he proceeded to give me his contact information so we could be in touch. Then later I met another one of my sisters teammates who again asked me a similar question about where I would be stopping. I told him I am down to Alabama. "Alabama? My buddy from the Navy lives there. In fact I have friends in just about every state in a ton of cities, so if you ever get stuck, you just call me up."

This was an incredible way to start the journey over a conversation like this on the first night. With people who I didn't know before, who now somehow become a slice of the connection that always exists.

PS - It was tough saying bye to my sister, but it was more like see you soon, as I hope we can come together somewhere across this country.