Moving on

Our first three days at Lewis have been eventful and busy. We were so happy to be out of the car! Now the hotel is starting to wear on us a bit.
Bright and early Tuesday morning Robert ran to the housing office to check the block so we could get started on our house hunt. We had been told that while we couldn't be put on the housing list until we got here, it would be a 6-9 month wait since they were renovating the few houses available to us. So we have been exploring the off post options. So, of course, he walked in there Tues morning and they offered us a house, newly renovated. That threw a wrench in our plans. We went ahead and looked at some other places before looking at the housing.
Bottom line is that while we usually jump at the chance to live on post, the quarters were simply too small - under 1500 square feet. They did a very nice job renovating them - new floors, redone bathrooms, redone kitchen (and not just painted cabinets) that is now opened up to the living room, new light fixtures, new paint. It was almost all the way. The things I saw that could have been better: add an over the stove microwave to the kitchen. The kitchen was TINY, with no pantry and very small counter space (for the Leavenworth folks - think smaller). A microwave would have helped. So would a pantry but I guess there was no where for it. They put in popcorn ceilings, which I could not figure out in these older buildings. Not good. And I am not a fan of tile kitchen counters. Hard to keep clean and easy to break things. But in the end, it was the long, rectangular room that had to serve as LR, DR and office that did us in. Just like Leavenworth but a tiny bit bigger. I just wasn't sure I could do that again. And there was no yard. Not even a little. There was a playground behind but no little space that could just be Jordan's. And with Robert being gone a lot, I need a small green space for Jordan that is easy. I tried to figure out how it would work but the bottom line is that I just don't think it would.
So we kept looking at houses until yesterday afternoon when we found the right one. It is pretty much what I was looking for. Right amount of space arranged well without being too big. Tiny yard but I think we can squeeze the swing-set in. Close to post without having to get on the interstate.
We get the keys tomorrow and move out of the hotel. We get to pick up Jordan from the kennel and all be back together in a house again. Our stuff comes on Monday.
I was going to enroll Gabby in school tomorrow once we have the lease but after checking the website, the enrollment office is closed on Friday. So it will be Tues before I can get over there and Wed before she can start. That stinks!
Even worse, we called Comcast today to set up internet, cable and phone and they can't come until the 25th! 10 days is ridiculous. So is planning to come on a Sunday morning. So when we leave here in the morning we will not have internet or phone for ten days. I will be in withdrawals!! I won't have anything to distract me from unpacking boxes-bummer.
I will update when we finally get everything up and running. Have a great holiday weekend.

Big Trip West - A Summary

2400 miles, 9 days, 7 hotels, 10 states, 3 time zones

We saw the Mississippi, Missouri, North Platte, Snake and Columbia Rivers. We crossed the Continental Divide three times. We drove through rain, snow, wind, and fog. We saw cows, elk, antelope, deer, sheep, llamas, and horses. We followed Lewis and Clark, the Pony Express, the California Trail, the Santa Fe Trail and the Oregon Trail at many various times, right from where we lived on the Santa Fe and Oregon Trail at Leavenworth.

We did get to see Mount Hood but no luck on Mt. St. Helens or Ranier. I have been close to Mt. St. Helens a twice now and have never seen it. I WILL see it one day before we leave here!

I cannot even count how many times we watched Cars or Nemo. We all can recite the words if that tells you anything. Gabby learned a lot about her states and rivers and all sorts of things that drove past us or that we drove past.

Would I do it voluntarily at this moment just for fun?? Probably not unless we had three weeks in the summer with a nice RV. Did we survive and come out better for it?? Probably. Always an adventure....

Big Trip West - We Made It!

Finally. We are here. We went the last 400 miles today from La Grande, OR to Fort Lewis. We had a small but tricky mountain section this morning. The temp went up overnight so there was no more ice on the road. That was good. Then we followed the Columbia River Gorge to Portland and came up I-5. The gorge is beautiful but the road is narrow. The traffic wasn't bad, though. For a while we had a great view of Mount Hood but the clouds rolled in after lunch and that was it. No more Hood, no Mt. St. Helens, no Ranier. I have been here twice now and still have not see Mt. St. Helens. I'd better see it before we leave.

The kids were troopers in a big way. About 50 miles out, Sam started to lose it. We stopped and got some junk food (Doritos) and he managed to make it the rest of the way. 2500 miles and the last 50 was almost more than he could take. Not too bad for a 20 month old that can't really entertain himself. Gabby, of course, does great but she can craft and play and do while we ride. I got a scrapbooking set with a tote for Christmas and I let her borrow the tote for her crafty stuff while we drove. It fit on a box right next to her seat and was a great thing. That, together with her cookie sheet she uses for a tray, kept her occupied a lot of the way.

Big Trip West - Day Eight

Are we ever going to get there??? It is starting to look like we might. I wasn't so sure yesterday. We made it to La Grande, Oregon today and are only about 400 miles from Fort Lewis. We didn't make it too far today but we stopped in Mountain Home, Idaho to visit the Cruser family that we knew at Fort Riley. It was great to get out of the car for a few hours. The kids got to play with other kids. Sam took a good nap on the couch instead of in the car seat. They made us a good brunch that hit the spot after so much restaurant eating. It was a nice visit and we are so glad we stopped. Thanks Pat and Sally!! After that, we headed up through the mountains and snow one more time, but not on the road this time. We have one little stretch of mountain left for the morning and then we will hit the Columbia River Gorge to Portland. Then north to Fort Lewis. Finally. I rebelled today against the movie selections and after Cars and Thomas in the morning, the kids watched Baby Van Gogh and Jonah this afternoon. The Cedarmont Kids brought us in. I had to have some variety!

Big Trip West - Day Seven

We finally got further down the road today. We went about 370 miles to Jerome, Idaho. The road was still fairly mountainous in places, but not icy today so we did a little better. We're all still tired and starting to get a little cranky. Ok, we're a lot cranky. We've been driving and staying in hotels for a week straight. But anyway, the movie choices of the day were, you guessed it, Thomas, Nemo and Cars. If I am ever called upon to recite those movies to save our lives, I am well equipped.
Just for future reference, if you are ever in Rock Springs, WY DO NOT go to eat at JB's. DO stay at the Holiday Inn, however. The pool was great - nice and warm with a baby pool, big pool and hot tub. We tried to eat dinner at JB's a sort of family chain. I think that is the first time I have ever cancelled an order and walked out of a place. We ended up grabbing microwave meals from Albertson's and going back to the room. They were not interested in anyone's business at the restaurant - we waited forever to order, there were no clean plates on the salad bar (in fact there were dirty plates sitting there) and the folks working were just standing around talking. The final straw was when Robert saw a kid just walk into the kitchen. We've already had the stomach problems on this trip, thank you, not interested in puking again. It was crazy to say the least!

Big Trip West - Day Six, Driving on Ice

We've almost made it across Wyoming. Almost. We only went about 250 miles today as well. I woke up feeling better but still haven't eaten much in the last 24 hours. I am drinking my Starbucks now so I feel a little better. We left Cheyenne a little late waiting on me to feel better and the little bit of snow that fell to the west of us overnight to clear out. Sounded like a good plan. First was the pass before Laramie. Windy and blowing the snow across the road making icy patches. So that was slow going. Then the one between Laramie and Rawlins. Also windy and blowing snow across the road making icy patches. We only actually were snowed on for about 15 minutes but spent most of the day driving on patchy ice. Nerve wracking watching the back of that boat! The last 100 miles wasn't too bad but we were tired and there wasn't much else for another 100 miles.
The kids and dog are doing pretty good. Sam and Gabby ride in comfort, watching Nemo and Cars. Sam only gets upset when the sun is in his face, which is about 3pm when we're heading southwest. They have lots of energy in the evenings, of course. Jordan does also. She's also riding in comfort in the back of the van and her leg is better.
Gotta run out to supper. Getting tired of eating out...

Big Trip West - Day Five, Not a good one

We left North Platte late since we were trying to decide what to do about the high winds we were about to face. That and I only got four hours of sleep since Sam was up with gas. We finally decided to aim for Cheyenne - not very far but the last stop before heading into mountains with 50 mph winds. Not long after we left I started feeling queasy. And tired. We made it to Sydney, NE for lunch and the winds started up. Robert fought the winds with the boat trailer the rest of the way to Cheyenne. I fought feeling bad. As we approached Cheyenne, the local weather station said not to take small trailers west of Cheyenne so we felt good in our decision. We got here about 2 and got into a hotel room. Robert packed up the kids and took them to the mall to play. I fell into the bed. After sleeping about an hour, my stomach was full fledged angry. Why me?? I finally started feeling a little better about 10 last night and slept good, at least. We're still looking at how far we are going to try to get today. We're heading over the mountains and it's supposed to snow a little. The wind is almost gone, thankfully. Not that it matters too much if we don't get very far today - you can't get to Fort Lewis at the moment anyway. All roads are closed into the area due to flooding. We have to wonder, is it us?