TUCSON - For U.S. Rep. Gabrielle Giffords and her family, today's trip is expected to be a special and uniquely triumphant journey. 
 
 Less than two weeks after being shot in the head at point-blank range, she is scheduled to depart the hospital for the airport and a trip to a rehabilitation center in Houston. 
 
 A day after being taken outside the hospital to gaze at the Catalina Mountains, Giffords will be transported by ambulance through the city she loves, from University Medical Center to Davis-Monthan Air Force Base. 
 
 A group of VFW motorcycle riders has volunteered to escort the ambulance to the base. The congresswoman rode with this group in May 2009, when they escorted the remains of Civil War-era veterans from Tucson to Sierra Vista. 
 
 Her husband, mother, staff members and medical personnel will accompany her in an air ambulance to William P. Hobby Airport in Houston. Air ambulance flights differ from traditional plane flights because air ambulances fly at a lower altitude and the cabin pressure is altered so it does not impact a patient with a head wound. 
 
 From there, she will be taken by helicopter to Memorial Hermann hospital's trauma center, where she will be evaluated before being transferred to TIRR (The Institute for Rehabilitation and Research) Memorial Hermann Rehabilitation Hospital. 
 
 Astronaut Mark Kelly, who took in the mountain views with his wife, voiced optimism about Giffords' long-term recovery during a news conference at University Medical Center on Thursday. 
 
 In two months' time, he said, "She'll be walking through the front door of this building. She's a fighter like nobody else that I know." 
 
 Kelly also thanked doctors, nurses and others for the "perfect" care she had received at the medical center, which helped Giffords reach the next phase in her recovery. 
 
 TIRR Memorial Hermann specializes in helping patients rehabilitate after penetrating brain injuries. 
 
 "One of the best rehab hospitals in the nation is in the city of Houston," Kelly said. "It's got an outstanding, world-class reputation." 
 
 In addition, Kelly said, he and his teenage daughters live in Houston, where he works for NASA. With Giffords undergoing rehabilitation there, he said, he can be with her every day. 
 
 At TIRR Memorial Hermann, Dr. John Holcomb will be in charge of her care. 
 
 One of her Tucson neurosurgeons, Dr. Michael Lemole, said Thursday that Giffords continues to show improvement both neurologically and physically, including standing up while being supported. 
 
 But rehabilitation will be an arduous process, which could include months of intense physical, speech and occupational therapy. 
 
 "I do want to caution everyone that she has a long road ahead of her," Lemole said. 
 
 Asked if Giffords has spoken, Kelly said that "she has made some attempts" and noted that she still has a tracheal tube to protect her airway. 
 
 She is scrolling through her iPad and touching her husband frequently. Yet she remains vulnerable, with sections of her skull still missing. They were removed in surgery immediately after the shooting to allow the brain to swell. 
 
 She will have to wear a helmet while she undergoes therapy at the rehabilitation center in Houston, doctors said. When her skull will be reattached or reconstructed, and who will do it, has yet to be determined. 
 
 The route through Tucson to the base will be: Cherry Avenue to Helen Street, east on Helen Street to Campbell Avenue, south on Campbell Avenue and Kino Boulevard to Aviation Parkway, southeast on Aviation Parkway to Golf Links Road, and east on Golf Links Road to the base's Swan Road gate. ||||| Arizona Rep. Gabrielle Giffords' condition has been upgraded from serious to good and she could be transferred to a rehabilitation hospital Wednesday morning, Memorial Hermann-Texas Medical Center said. 
 
 Giffords' doctors have determined she is ready to move to TIRR Memorial Hermann, where her rehabilitation will begin, Memorial Hermann said late Tuesday. The transfer was scheduled for sometime in the morning after doctors reviewed her condition again. 
 
 Giffords, 40, was shot in the forehead Jan. 8 outside an Arizona supermarket in an attack that also killed six people and wounded 12 others. 
 
 Giffords was transferred Friday to Texas from University Medical Center in Tucson, where she had been treated since the shooting. Her husband, astronaut Mark Kelly, has been training in Houston for a space shuttle mission scheduled for April. 
 
 Giffords has been in intensive care since her arrival in Houston. Doctors said she was given a tube to drain excess cerebrospinal fluid. The fluid is something everyone produces, but an injury can cause it to back up, resulting in swelling in the brain. 
 
 Earlier Tuesday evening, as President Obama delivered his State of the Union speech, Kelly watched from Giffords' bedside, holding his wife's hand. Most attending the joint session of Congress wore black-and-white lapel ribbons as a tribute to the Tucson shooting victims. The Arizona congressional delegation sat together, leaving an empty seat for Giffords. 
 
 Giffords, a Democrat, was shot when a man opened fire on the crowd that had gathered to meet with her outside the supermarket. Jared Lee Loughner, 22, has been charged in the incident. 
 
 Kelly said the family had considered a number of rehabilitation facilities throughout the country, all of which could provide excellent care. 
 
 "The critical factor in this decision is that it will let me be there by her side as much as possible every single day," he said. "I don't know how long this process is going to take. If I want to address problems with our teenage children, or consider returning to work, it makes the most sense that she is at Memorial Hermann in Houston."
– Following her first trip outside yesterday, Gabrielle Giffords today departed on an even bigger one: She left her Tucson hospital for a rehabilitation center in Houston. Crowds saw her off holding “Get well” signs and flags as an ambulance carried her to Davis-Monthan Air Force Base, MSNBC reports. Giffords was escorted by motorcycle riders from a Veterans of Foreign Wars post, and was then taken via medical flight to a Houston airport. From there, a helicopter will carry her to the rehab hospital. Giffords’ husband, mother, and staff members were expected to ride alongside her in the air ambulance, the Arizona Republic reports. US Capitol police put extra security in place at the Houston facility, where she will remain until she no longer requires 24-hour care. First order of business: Check her vitals and give her a number of tests to determine what she can and cannot do, from walking and swallowing to brushing her teeth and combing her hair. Click to see what else might be in store for Giffords.