The day before heading to federal prison, an unrepentant Rod Blagojevich held a press conference on Wednesday to say that he was preparing for the start of a “dark and hard journey” that he called “the hardest thing I’ve ever had to do.”

“I am proud as I leave and enter the next part of what is a dark and hard journey that I can take with me the sense of accomplishment and the real belief that the things I did as governor and the things I did as congressman have actually helped real, ordinary people,” Blagojevich said outside of his Chicago home, surrounded by the media and a mob of vocal supporters.

“When I became governor I fought a lot — and maybe I fought too much — and maybe one of the lessons to this whole story is that you’ve got to be maybe a little bit more humble. You can never have enough humility and maybe I could’ve had more of that,” he added.

An unemotional Blagojevich addressed the media for about 15 minutes in front of his Ravenswood Manor home in Chicago in the final hours before he will report to federal prison — likely Englewood, a low-security facility in Littleton, Colo., located 15 miles southwest of Denver — on Thursday to begin serving his 14-year sentence for corruption.

With his wife, Patti, by his side, Blagojevich told the crowd he has “great trust and faith” in his ongoing legal appeal.

“We are appealing the case and we have great trust and faith in the appeal. And while my faith in things has sometimes been challenged, I still believe this is America, this is a country that is governed by the rule of law, that the truth ultimately will prevail, that right makes might and that this, as bad as it is, is the beginning of another part of a long and hard journey that will only get worse before it gets better, but that this not over,” Blagojevich said.

The former congressman continued to insist he “was on the right side of the law.”

“Everything I talked about doing when it came to campaign fundraising and political horsetrading, I believed was on the right side of the law,” Blagojevich said. “The decision went against me. I am responsible for the things I have said. I accept that decision, as hard as it is.”

Blagojevich scheduled his farewell statement – he spoke off the cuff without notes, but didn’t take questions – to coincide with the evening news at 5 p.m. local time.

“I have to go do what I have to go do and this is the hardest thing that I’ve ever had to do,” Blagojevich said. “But it is the law and we follow the law, and I will begin to do that tomorrow.”

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