So what's next?

Elisabeth has been kindly requesting and reminding me to add something useful to the blog. I thought I would give a brief update on where we stand. As of April 23rd, I have not yet begun to get some income. It will still take some time for my first paycheck to come in, this is why we are so thankful to stay with Tom and Ann. However, I have not just been sitting around watching Opra re-runs (I do watch a lot of Home Improvement though). I am now fully licensed in the state of South Carolina. I recieved my license in the mail last week and got my malpractice insurance set up. I am all ready to start working... 5 hours away... our life is complicated. I am concentrating on studying for my upcoming test on May 17th. I spend most of my days helping with Ellie, studying, going for long walks in the wonderful North Carolina sun, and... well that's it. I am really enjoying the time with Ellie, she has come so far in her development and I have been there to see her grow every step of the way.

We have several meetings scheduled for next week in South Carolina, so we will see what God has in store for us there.

Also the house has not yet closed escrow, the underwriter is being very thourough and requesting more documentation from the buyers. We sit and wait for that to close so we can start to look for housing in South Carolina.

So we are actively waiting, but we are so close we can taste it.

-Josh-

12 states in 7 days

Oregon to Idaho to Utah to Wyoming to Nebraska to Iowa to Missouri to Illinois to Kentucky to Tennessee to Virginia to North Carolina with 3 adults, one baby, two dogs and 2 ice chests full of frozen elk among many other things!! This was definitely the most complicated road trip I've ever done. First off, we started basically a day behind because we left Portland so late on Sunday.

Sunday, Day 1-

Our original goal for the first night was Twin Falls, Idaho. However, we decided to settle for Boise, but we hit a snag in the middle of nowhere Eastern Oregon. Ever heard of Duncan, Oregon? Neither had we. At around 11pm on Sunday, our passenger side trailer tire blew while we were going 60 mph. Josh pulled over to the side of the road and assessed the damage. It was not good. The tire was completely shredded and a good chunk of it was wrapped around the axle of the trailer. And the rim was no longer circular because the friction from the road had

flattened it to a half moon shape. We called AAA only to find out that our trailer wasn't covered for a tow. We called a tow place and asked for a tow, but the guy recommended just having a tire guy run us out a replacement tire and rim. The original quote for that was $400, but we said we'd pay cash (Thank you Dave Ramsey) and we ended up paying $240. This was a deal considering the guy had to drive nearly 30 miles to bring us the tire and they charge $90 a hour for after hours service. So after spending two hours on the side of the road, we were back on our way. But not before we had to call the tire guy back after he fixed the tire and drove away. We needed a jump. While sitting and waiting for him to show, we kept the dome light and the flashers on which ate up our battery. It's a good thing we gave the tire guy a tip the first time around. We gave up on getting to Boise and settled for Ontario, Oregon.

Monday, Day 2 -

We left late since we had to buy more dry ice for the elk meat and we were tired from getting to the hotel at 2 am. Our original goal was Cheyenne, Wyoming, but opted for a closer town in Wyoming, since we were 200 miles behind schedule and we stopped at Cracker Barrel for lunch in Boise (and everyone knows that CB is an integral part of any cross country road trip that I do). In fact, we used a Cracker Barrel map (and our GPS) to navigate our way to NC. Josh was pretty irritated that we didn't have a "real" map of the US, but excuse me the CB map has all 50 states and most major roads, so I didn't see an issue. We stopped in Twin Falls around dinner time to see the Shoshone Falls, which was fun. Then we pressed on and eventually made it to Evanston, Wyoming that night at around 2 am. While Idaho had been a nice 70 degrees, which meant Josh was wearing shorts and a t-shirt, Evanston had snow everywhere. Josh looked kind of funny in shorts checking into the hotel. :)

Josh, Ellie and I at Shoshone Falls

Tuesday, Day 3 -

We left Evanston with the original goal of Lincoln, Nebraska in mind. But we were several hundred miles off our goal by this time. Even though we left at a reasonable time in the morning and drove all day, we ended up stopping around 11 pm at North Platte, Nebraska. We were asked by a lot of people if we were driving through the Rocky Mountains, to which we replied "I don't know, where are the rockies?". You see the Rockies don't appear on the Cracker Barrel map and neither mapquest or the gps are forthcoming about mountain ranges. Most people looked disturbed that we didn't know if we were passing through the Rockies. We knew we driving I-84 to I-80 until the end of Nebraska and then taking some turns to get to TN. The funny part was we started asking people at gas stations and restaurants if the Rockies were nearby and if the highway went through them and THEY DIDN"T KNOW EITHER! :) I can now assure everyone that driving on I-84 or I-80 does not take you through the Rockies.

Wednesday, Day 4 -

We decided on Day 3 to stop early instead of driving until 2 am and trying to make Lincoln. It turned out to be a good decision and we left North Platte, Nebraska early, stopped in Lincoln at Cracker Barrel for lunch and then drove all the way to Saint Louis, Missouri, which was our original goal for Day 4. Yea! Our other daily goal for driving was take turns putting Ellie in the dreaded car seat. Josh tried to rename it "the happy seat", but he couldn't fool Ellie. She was tired of being in it, who could blame her. When she saw it she would start crying. We made it a point to drive as long as possible while she slept and was reasonably amiable. All in all, she was a great passsenger, as long as her needs were met and she had a least some time out of "the seat". To complicated things a bit more, she started on rice cereal a couple of days before we left Portland and we would get hot water at gas stations to mix with the rice cereal for her to feed her on the go. She was wonderful on the trip and very tolerant, but by day 3 she was getting stretched.

Thursday, Day 5 -

We had considerably less distance to cover on Thursday. We left Saint Louis and were going to my Grandma's house in Oak Ridge, TN that night for a short visit. We stopped off in Clarksville, TN to see my Uncle Jim, Aunt Judy and cousin-in-law, Robert and second cousin, Hunter. It was great to see everyone even though it was only for a few minutes. We made it to Oak Ridge around 7 or 8 pm. Grandma was excited to see us and Ellie! We had a nice visit and it was wonderful to sleep in the same bed for two nights in a row for a change. Of course, Josh was stoked to not have to load the car on Friday. Grandma couldn't get enough suger from Ellie and we look forward to seeing her much more often. We'll only be 3.5 hours away once we're in Greenville.

Four generations: Grandma Potter, Nana, Elisabeth and Ellie

Saturday, Day 7 - We left Oak Ridge in the morning and drove to Raleigh. It was the shortest distance we'd driven yet, so it was very relaxing. One last Cracker Barrel stop for lunch and we were in Raleigh by 6 pm.

It was a long trip and you probably heard way more about it than you wanted to, oh well. :)

Saying Goodbye to Portland

Well, we're officially gone from Portland. We miss our friends a lot and Portland will always have a special place in our hearts. Our last week or so was mostly filled with packing and signing escrow papers, but we did try to get out and enjoy a few uniquely Portland things.

We took Ellie to Mt. Tabor and pushed her in a swing for the first time. She loved it, but was even more fascinated by the tall trees all around her. We've discovered that she really loves the outdoors.

Packing and loading took several days. Thankfully many great friends from our small group stepped up and helped us have a garage sale one weekend and load the moving truck the next weekend. Thank you! In the end, all our possessions took 16' in the moving trailer.

On Sunday, April 5th we loaded up the car and our teeny trailer to pull behind it and left Portland. Unfortunately, we didn't get away until around 4pm, so we didn't get nearly as far as we wanted to, but that's another story...

Goodbye Portland!