People are intimidated by a big block of content. I appreciate your writing and I don't mind, but for most people, content on the web has to be bite sized chunks. If that big fatty post was broken up into sections then people could digest it easier. For this, I'd say you could break it in two at "a few days later". It gives a nice pause, people can catch their breath. And I'm pretty sure nobody will accuse you of post-padding.
