Destination: Charlotte

Before you can high-tail it off the starting line, you gotta pull into the first set of beams (pre-stage). I liken my travel preparation to the staging process.

pre-stage = pack the small bag of essentials, as seen in-process here

stage = pack the big old suitcase (which I also photographed, but for some reason I had a bra right on top and no one needs to see that)

launch = take off on that big old metal bird, hurtling along the runway at speeds in excess of 195 miles per hour before lifting off and ascending to 34,000 feet

The whole trip is the race to the finish line, and of course the finish line is landing back at the home airport with a sigh of relief somewhat tinged with sadness depending on the magic of the trip.

Ah, drag racing. So useful for symbolism. Ha!