Thanks for sharing about your journey, especially the difficult parts. You don't have to search far to see some photo-journalism blog about a "super awesome perfect" cross-country family travel experience. It's actually more refreshing to hear about the pain points. My good friend wrote on his blog this week "Joy is elevatory, but pain is connective."

>Oh, how I long for community, a place to be myself with all the wrinkles and blemishes. 

I hope you are able to find this community. I feel that I have, and it is a game changer (and there's room if you wanted to make another move to Detroit this time ;) but not so easy to find sometimes.