Rogue Valley

Well, we are here, have been actually for a few days now. We are using some free Internet at one of the local coffee houses and I thought I would update you all.

While we loved Bend and find that it would be a great place to invest, it seems the Rogue Valley is where we are going to concentrate our efforts. We have looked at some great houses and we'll find something here in Ashland to buy and rent out before we take off for Portland.

Visits with the family have been great, everyone is doing well and when I have time, I will update further on that. So for now, I am off to check out a few more places this afternoon and we'll see where things lead us.

Thanks

Just wanted to say thanks to all of you that have been reading and commenting even though I haven't been reciprocating lately. As soon as we are settled in, I will get caught up on all my blogging, but for now, keep reading if you want and I thank you for your diligence.

Bend Rocks

Okay, so far this town has me sold bigtime....it is like my hometown in Southern Oregon. I really like it, and getting some investment property here is definitely something we are considering. We are going out with a realtor tomorrow morning to look at some things and we are going to try to do the same when we get to the Rogue Valley as well. We'll see how things progress.

Found a cache today on my walk and dropped the TB but will probably take the coin either to Southern Oregon or to Portland, we'll see.

West Coast

Finally we are in Oregon. Got in yesterday afternoon....whew...that was a haul. Feel like I was on the Oregon Trail (not really, since they had it much worse than me) but we made it and no livestock was killed in the crossing....haha.

Okay, so we are in Bend. Cool town. We are going to talk to a realtor today and see if we can poke around a bit and see what our options for getting some land in this area would be....that would be cool and this place is growing so it would be a good investment regardless.

Looks like we have an offer on the house in WA so we might be out from under it sooner than we thought. There are some interested parties that work next door so it would be very convenient for them. We'll see how it works out. Our realtor is going a great job keeping us in the loop considering we are not in the same place more than one day these days.

I have managed to find a geocache in each of the states we traveled through that I was lacking from before so that has been fun (and a good way to stretch the legs). Yesterday's was in Idaho at a TB hotel near the Flying J we were stopped at. I traded out two TBs I was carrying for a coin and another TB. I am going to see if there are any locally that I can grab while I am here, and perhaps drop one or both of these guys.

Will update more as things progress.

Night From Hell

Left Nebraska (the eastern end) yesterday afternoon after lunch with Gpa and early morning golf. We crossed the entire state and halfway into Wyoming before we started looking for a hotel. Found out the hard way that none of itty bitty or even decent sized towns in Wyoming along the I80 freeway had rooms available. We ended up driving 2 extra hours in hopes of finding a place to lay our heads and ended up sleeping in our truck in a rest stop near the western border of Wyoming. One town we stopped in, actually had rooms available at the Travellodge (comparible to Motel 6 or Super 8) and they had bumped their prices up to 131 dollars plus tax because they knew they were the only ones available. I refused to get screwed over like that.

The truck wasn't so bad, we pushed Chase to the back, and then J slept in the back seat and I slept in the passenger seat. J woke up around 6:30am and started driving while I slept in the back seat until 8:30am. When I woke up we had left Wyoming, and Utah and were making our way into Idaho. We are now at a Flying J in Twin Falls, and will try to get all the way to Bend today....we'll see. Figure since we lost a night, we might as well make up for it and get an extra day in Bend to sightsee a bit. Hopefully there is a hotel and a shower in my near future...haha.

Traveling Update

Just wanted to let everyone know we were alive and kicking. Have been off the Net for a few days while visiting family in Nebraska but will be back on the road again on Tuesday and will probably be in hotels with Internet along the way.

We have had a great visit so far. Everyone is healthy, J's mom flew out to spend time with us and Grandpa and family and it has been great. Got some golf in and even found a new driver that works well for me.

Will update more as we go, just using a coffeehouse connection to get the word out.

Hanging in Independence

Arrived in Independence Missouri tonight. It is about 8 miles east of Kansas City, MO and we are going to head into KC to check things out a bit tomorrow before making our way to Nebraska. I will hopefully get a geocache in KC, KS so I can count KS as one of my states. I found one at a rest stop in Missouri today so that state has been added to my map.

We visited this house in Independence today....just did a drive by really but it was so awesome looking and I am sure it has been used in movies, that I just had to post a pic of it. It is called the Vaile Mansion. I will try to see if I can find out more about it. Internet lore discusses it possibly being haunted but I am not sure if that is the real deal or just a matter of looking at the place and thinking it would definitely be just that....

Anyhow, this is just a small update on our travels...will write more tomorrow when we get settled in Nebraska at Gpa's or the hotel....

At It

Well, we left NC yesterday. We stopped in Greensboro to pick up my sister's travel bug and then made our way along the 40 to Tennessee. I found two caches along the 40 in Tennessee to be able to mark this state off. It was so nice of J to alter our route (I didn't even ask) so I could get Tennessee in. We have been here before but that was before I started geocaching. One of the caches was really cool on this greenway trail that took us a bit to find.

Saying goodbye to the friends was absolutely horrible. Some of them are like family to us and that just makes it harder. I just have to hope that we will get to see each other again in the future and make an effort to make that happen as well as to stay in touch. Being the corresponder that I am, I am sure I will drive everyone nuts with my postcards, emails and letters.

We stopped for the night a ways out from Nashville (difficult to find a place that would let us have Chase in the room, but we managed) and we are getting ready to eat some breakfast and head out again. Hope to make it to Kansas City today. I don't have any caches in Missouri or in Kansas so I have already done a search to find a few I can make use of...should be fun and it breaks up the trip a bit.

Chase is doing okay....didn't like the car much (never does when she first gets in) but I think she has resigned herself to it. Right now she is hiding under the bed thinking that we might forget about her and she can live happily looking out the window of this hotel room forever....little does she know.

Heading Out

We are done at the house. I have to pick up the cat tomorrow morning when we take off, and other than that, we are done. It really hit me today that we are leaving....cleaning up the last of the house did it.

I was in the shower before running over to see one of my friends and I started crying a bit because I realized that I wasn't going to see them for a very long time and I didn't have much time left with them.

We had dinner with my niece and her family, and saying goodbye to them afterwards was terrible. I am going to miss her more than she even knows. All our friends here have helped us so much with this moved and there is really no way to say thanks properly. I think the thing that we remember is that they know if they need us to do the same, we would be there for them in a minute.

I am excited to get to Nebraska so we can see J's grandpa and family. I am also looking forward to getting all the way to the west coast and seeing the rest of the family. Of course that means more goodbyes as well but hopefully I will get to see most of them again in 6 months or so...depending on schedules.

Checking The List

I am checking the items off the list faster than ever....

sold car,
sold house,
shampooed carpets
emptied and cleaned hottub
shaved cat
put rhino liner in truck
picked up cat records
picked up my records
closed po box
forwarded mail from both po box and house
cleaned most of house
shipped or stored all belongings
took all plants to my friends

Now I just need to finish cleaning out the refrigerator, wipe down the kitchen, and sweep out the garage. Chase is still staying at the house so that will be our last minute pickup before we take off on Monday. Hopefully when I get there today, the carpets will all be dry. I think I might get an air freshner at Lowe's to liven the house up a bit.

I can't believe our time here is almost over. We have a little get together today at my friend's house...don't know if it will be the big goodbye or not, hope not because goodbyes kill me.

Ziploc Stock

I should have stock in reclosable plastic bags, whatever brand they might be. Practically everything I own is in a ziplocable bag of some sort, and then in a Rubbermaid tote (I should have stock in those too).

I used up 25 gallon size freezer bags today just organizing spices and other loose ends from the pantry. Once I get to Japan, I'll use the bags for other things and won't have to buy any until we move again, I am sure.

In The Hotel

Well, we are in our first hotel of many, I am sure. It is pretty nice. We have a suite so there is a little kitchen with plenty of dishes and utensils so I will be moving most of our refrigerator over here while we try to use up what we can. We left Chase at the house. It is less tramatic for her.

Our last shipment comes tomorrow, and I probably should be in bed by now, but I am waiting on laundry that I want to get into the shipment. Fortunately for me, we are pretty much done now, so I can relax and do some fun things.

We went to watch the fireworks tonight with some friends and that was cool. We have free high speed Internet at the hotel so I can stay in touch for a few days at least. I need to download some geocaches for the first legs of our trip.

Looks like we sold the car today...they are coming by tomorrow to pay for it and take it away. We'll pull the plates so we can make sure to get it unregistered in Oregon. We are signing the paperwork on the house on Friday even though it won't close until the 11th. It works for us.

I finally hired a realtor for the house in WA and we'll see how long it takes us to sell that one. She seems really nice and is willing to give us a break on the commission.

I managed to get the bedliner put in the truck and the cat shaved again all in the same day. This holiday in the middle of the week is really throwing things off.

Some friends of our taught us how to pan for gold the other day, and I have a bag of dirt from them that I need to go through before we leave. I was supposed to show it to J but I might end up doing it without him. I found gold in the last one so I am sure this one will have some too.

Classic Soft Rock

I am currently watching the longest commercial of all time for "classic soft rock" hosted by Air Supply (who knew they were from the UK?). I can't believe how many of these songs I know, and I actually considered buying it for my sister...she would get a great laugh out of it.

It was definitely a case of nostalgia watching it...brought be back....haha.