It's not like you just wake up one morning and say, “You know what, I think I'm going to do a midnight run today!"

But to almost everyone around me, that's how it appeared.  All of a sudden, I'm gone.  I made a departure from China with zero notice.  I left behind my job, my marriage, and my entire expat life of nearly 20 years.  A move this drastic doesn’t happen overnight. It took months—maybe years—of mental prep, quiet resolve, and a growing pull toward something better.  The push factor was that things were increasingly miserable and toxic in China that something had to give.  The astute reader following all my past journal entries would have seen the signs and knew this was coming.  Well it finally happened.  The bird escaped the cage and is rebuilding a new life.  Read here to find out the whole story.  

For the record it is now Day 45 of "The Run" we'll just call it.  The journey has taken me through South Korea, Taiwan, Thailand, Dubai, and now Kazakhstan.  Some of it has been on a bike.  Highlights included the Seoul-to-Busan bicycle trail in Korea and the Taroko Gorge traversing the highest mountain pass in central Taiwan.

I'm now at a point where it's becoming clearer what the next steps are and I feel safe enough to start journaling this whole thing.  The first month was a complete mental and emotional clusterfuck, and that was entirely expected.  Planning the prison break took everything I had. What came after? That part was sketchy at best—but I trusted I’d figure it out.