It is hard to believe we have got to this point...the movers arrive tomorrow to pack up our things. It will be a three-day process and I hope we are ready.
We have less than twelve hours to have strange men come into our house....pack it all up..and ship it across the country. Is that trust or WHAT!!!!???!!!
Really...no worries...we have been very busy getting it all together...the last big push to get everything where it needs to be...but I had my list and checked it twice. I have a few last minute things to do in the morning.
The biggest job was getting all the items we need to pack for our trip across country into a separate room. We are calling this room our "safety room." Brendan was so funny...he asked why we were keeping those things safe...I told him it was to make sure we had what we needed for the trip...he decided he wanted to put all his stuffed animals and LEGOS in there...we might not have room for him to sit but he wants to take it with him. We worked out a deal that works for all of us.
The other hard part was food...what to keep out...what the movers will pack...what to do with extra stuff, especially refrigerated items. I am supposed to have the frig and freezer clean and defrosted before they arrive tomorrow. That is crazy!!! I still have another week in the house...I need food to be cold. SO...I am breaking the rules and hoping they will let me keep the frig until the last day...the worst that can happen...they tell me to get busy cleaning while they pack up the rest of the house.
Even with all the work we had today...we managed to squeeze in a little pool time this evening. I hope the rest of the week we can enjoy the pool after the movers leave for the day. It is relaxing after a long day of preparing to move.
So...when all was said and done...the boys, Zaira and I got through the list today and are exhausted...I still have more to do after they all go to sleep...It is going to be a LONG night...but then the worst of it is done.
Unfortunately, we will not have anymore internet...and my computer is being packed...so I will have to keep a journal of our adventures to tell in a couple of weeks.
SIDE NOTE:
As I was preparing for the move this evening...I came across these two reminders of hope and love...I look at it like this...The Army might send us places and we should make the most of it...and enjoy it! However, through it all...the ups and the downs...Jesus will carry the burden. I am so thankful for Jesus in my life! Continue to pray for us...God bless!
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Sunday, April 26, 2015
Saturday, April 25, 2015
Running Around in Circles
I know my last post was a little annoying...I was pretty stressed.
Over the last couple of days, things have settled down again and we are making progress.
The appraiser came mid-week and he asked me to stay and walk around the house. I shared the various improvements made and he seemed to think the house would appraise as needed. We spent most of the time talking about children and learning how to speak languages. Such a joy to talk to him as we walked around the house.
This happened right before we were supposed to head to the library. The children were all in the car listening to The Silver Chair on CD. They were content until they realized we were going to be late to story hour. Today was a big deal because the younger ones were having a celebration of the alphabet.
We finished the appraisal just in time to make to the library. We had a great time and headed home to try to complete the last of our school work for the semester.
Instead...I ended up on the phone talking to movers. FINALLY...I had a mover and they wanted to come that day to survey our belongings. They arrived just before our second trip to the library. This time we were supposed to meet for a Nature Story Hour. Again the children waited in the car listening to the book on CD while I walked around the house.
What did I learn from this experience? We have TOO MUCH STUFF!!! Did I not say this less than two years ago? I really need to get this figured out. It is a good thing I already planned to have a garage sale...which will happen tomorrow with a big community sale.
We got to the second program of the day just in time to learn about butterflies. We were late but we only missed chasing butterflies around the back parking lot. The boys do this all the time along with Zaira.
We are going to miss the library so much. I came home and completed two photo books to give as gifts for Miss Elizabeth (our librarian) and Ranger Craig. I hope to get them back before we head west.
One thing I thought was sweet and yet sad at the library...I was holding Zaira during story time...it just happened to be by a map of the library. Michael must have shown this to her because she knew what it was and asked me where she was on the map. I told her she was at the star (a room on one side of the building) and she thought that was nifty and giggled. Then she pointed at the other side of the building and said, "That's my Daddy!" I guess that was her way of saying he was far away. She really is a Daddy's girl...she misses him so much. I guess we need to get to California soon.
SO...We spent most of the week sorting through clothes, furniture and books. I have three "piles" (or should I say rooms) sorted out around the house.
These items have been moved around our house multiple times. It is really crazy to see it all come together. Edward was learning about kinetic versus potential energy this week...we had plenty of examples of both as we would work...then rest...and back and forth as we completed the various tasks.
I most likely will not be back on line for a while...we pack up on Monday and my computer is going with the movers. I will try to give an amazing report when we arrive in California. If I am fortunate to have the time and computer at my mom's I will try to post before we leave.
Please continue to pray for us as we make this change. God is good and we are certain that there is an amazing plan for this short move. I look forward to finding our path.
Over the last couple of days, things have settled down again and we are making progress.
The appraiser came mid-week and he asked me to stay and walk around the house. I shared the various improvements made and he seemed to think the house would appraise as needed. We spent most of the time talking about children and learning how to speak languages. Such a joy to talk to him as we walked around the house.
This happened right before we were supposed to head to the library. The children were all in the car listening to The Silver Chair on CD. They were content until they realized we were going to be late to story hour. Today was a big deal because the younger ones were having a celebration of the alphabet.
We finished the appraisal just in time to make to the library. We had a great time and headed home to try to complete the last of our school work for the semester.
Instead...I ended up on the phone talking to movers. FINALLY...I had a mover and they wanted to come that day to survey our belongings. They arrived just before our second trip to the library. This time we were supposed to meet for a Nature Story Hour. Again the children waited in the car listening to the book on CD while I walked around the house.
What did I learn from this experience? We have TOO MUCH STUFF!!! Did I not say this less than two years ago? I really need to get this figured out. It is a good thing I already planned to have a garage sale...which will happen tomorrow with a big community sale.
We got to the second program of the day just in time to learn about butterflies. We were late but we only missed chasing butterflies around the back parking lot. The boys do this all the time along with Zaira.
We are going to miss the library so much. I came home and completed two photo books to give as gifts for Miss Elizabeth (our librarian) and Ranger Craig. I hope to get them back before we head west.
One thing I thought was sweet and yet sad at the library...I was holding Zaira during story time...it just happened to be by a map of the library. Michael must have shown this to her because she knew what it was and asked me where she was on the map. I told her she was at the star (a room on one side of the building) and she thought that was nifty and giggled. Then she pointed at the other side of the building and said, "That's my Daddy!" I guess that was her way of saying he was far away. She really is a Daddy's girl...she misses him so much. I guess we need to get to California soon.
SO...We spent most of the week sorting through clothes, furniture and books. I have three "piles" (or should I say rooms) sorted out around the house.
- Things for the movers to take
- Things for us to take in van/to my mom's house for older boys
- Things for the garage sale
These items have been moved around our house multiple times. It is really crazy to see it all come together. Edward was learning about kinetic versus potential energy this week...we had plenty of examples of both as we would work...then rest...and back and forth as we completed the various tasks.
I most likely will not be back on line for a while...we pack up on Monday and my computer is going with the movers. I will try to give an amazing report when we arrive in California. If I am fortunate to have the time and computer at my mom's I will try to post before we leave.
Please continue to pray for us as we make this change. God is good and we are certain that there is an amazing plan for this short move. I look forward to finding our path.
Sunday, April 19, 2015
Life's a Beach
So, last night Michael posted some pictures of his walk on the beach. As you might have read his blog post, you then know that he made it to California earlier this week. He is now living in an empty five bedroom-3 bath house on base in Monterey. I am sure it is not comfortable for him but he is making it work and getting set up for classes to really get started next week after last week's introduction.
All the while, I am back here in Texas with the children and dog wondering how I am going to get it all done in the next couple of weeks. This is not a complaint...but I thought I would blog about the other side of this coin...to have the full picture of our lives.
While Michael was crossing the country on his solo trip, we received the inspection report and the requests from the buyers. The list was short but the items still needed to be completed. Here are the requests:
Good news for me...the chimney sweep also cleaned dryer vents, so I only had to make one call for two items on the list. When he arrived at the end of the week, he took one look at the chimney and said it did not need to be cleaned. No surprise to me, as we had only used the fireplace one time since we moved in. He said the vent cap was off the deck and had been chewed by our sweet dog...the dang dog chews on rocks in the backyard so that was no surprise either. I needed to get this fixed but did not want Hank to chew it again before we moved, so I had the man write out an estimate on the invoice so I could leave money for this to be done after we moved. The dryer vent was another story...it was very dirty! I am glad they were able to get that cleaned...I might even get my clothes dried faster for the next few days!
The best part of this visit? I was able to talk to the man's partner (wife?) while he cleaned. We talk about the immigration concerns for our country...the need to help people even when it does not seem fair...about our faith in God to make all things right...and being a mom of a big family. I also shared a jar of my pear butter with them at the end of their time. It was a nice experience and the clean chimney is now cleaner and the dryer vent has never looked better! AND...the boys and I all got to shake the hand of a chimney sweep...good luck all around!
Now...the gutters were a job! I had actually told Michael that this needed to be done before he left...long before and inspector came! Such is life! Henry came to my rescue and helped me climb ladders and dig out all the leaves. It was so bad that we had thistles growing in the gutters! NOT fun! But we got it done in one morning and Henry earned his chance to take a driver's course. I did not tell him he would get this...he was just so willing to help that I decided this while we were working and surprised him with this reward after we were done. I can hardly believe he is old enough to take this course but I also know...of all my boys, he can handle the responsibility of driving. A new adventure that we will start this summer! I guess he will be learning to drive in California.
When we bought the house less than two years ago, I know we requested a carbon monoxide detector to be installed...but here I was with the same request. I checked all the detectors in the house and only had to "change" one battery...actually there was no battery in this unit...how odd! No big deal there. And then I ordered a CO detector that could be plugged into a wall. Easy fix that took less than 5 minutes, including climbing up and down ladders. Yay!
Thankfully, we have a home warranty so the A/C should have been an easy fix. Michael told me that we are offered an annual tune-up but when I called I found that the window of opportunity ended two weeks before I called! Bummer! However, we were having a small issue with a flipped breaker that I had already planned to call about so I requested a service call. I am glad I had this done because it turned out to be quite the fix! AND...I explained the situation to the repair man and he helped me get the coils cleaned and checked the levels while he worked on the unit.
The best part of this repair? I was able to talk to him about growing up in the military and traveling with his parents around the world...from Korea to Panama to Italy and several other places in between. I thought it was interesting to hear his stories and I hope my children enjoy telling their military adventures with others as well. The experiences they will have make them who they are...we have to make the most of the life we are given even it seems like a roller coaster ride at times!
The most annoying of the requested items on the report was the bathtub. We had just had our entire house line snaked two weeks before the inspection. There should not be any clogs in our system! SO...I called my brother who is a plumber and asked him how to check a line. My realtor had said to just poor some Drano down the drain but I hate doing this...it is not good for the pipes. I was told to put 30 gallons of water in the tub and time how fast it drained. The rule of thumb is a tub is slow if it takes longer than 5 minutes to drain...ours drained in less than 3 minutes. I wrote up a statement and sent in an invoice from the plumbers that came earlier in the month.
The last item on the list was the sprinklers. Again, we had a man come to look at our sprinklers earlier in the month. We knew there was an issue with the sprinklers and we had it fixed. However, we had a good man come out who did not charge a lot to fix the problem. Come to find out...we had several sprinkler heads covered...one was completely underground! Other heads were covered up with some landscaping stones we placed last year. Since we have had such a nice wet spring, we never used the system and not realize this was an issue. I am glad we had him come out to fix. And...I shared some of our honey with him because he is such a nice guy!
I also had to contact the company that put in our water softener system. We had spent a lot of money to have this installed so we wanted to take the system with us...only a small service fee to do this and well worth the money spent. I hoped they would be able to come before the movers...all set to come next week. AND...such a great company...they are not only going to come disconnect the system but box it up in original packaging to have an easy move...for a small fee. Yay!
Speaking of movers...what happened to them? I began to question Michael because we had not had any word about our movers. When he finally got in touch with a live person (The military has an automated service for moves.), he found out that the forms had not been turned in properly and we needed to allow three weeks to process. After Michael explained the situation they agreed to speed up the process.Hopefully, I will hear back at the beginning of the week.
We also found out that I am NOT married to Michael...well...at least according to the military records. Funny...ever since I have been "married" to Michael he has been in the military and there has not been any problem. All of our children are considered his...thank goodness...but in order for us to get housing allowance, Michael needs to prove he is married to me. LOL! We keep all of these records ready as we know how the military can be some times...all paperwork has been turned in and hopefully we will be official again soon!
The children are all looking forward to our adventure but it is a little confusing for the younger ones. They are hyped up...I am sure they are feeling the tension of this change. There have been outbursts and wet accidents...regression is a sure sign of stress...hoping we can all calm down and get back on track for this next week. Zaira asks where Daddy is several times a day. Brendan...so sweet...comes to me and asks..."What are orders?" We just throw words out there and expect the children to know what it all means.
Through it all...we continue to do school work...hoping to finish almost all subjects before we leave. AND Henry was offered a chance to go on a photography camp for the weekend (I hope he will share some of his camp adventures soon.).
SO...time to buckle down and be calm as we work through the remainder of this move. It IS exciting...It IS scary...It IS reality....but how I handle it will affect the rest of the crew...so no more complaints...I am going to keep "Peace and Calm" oils in the diffuser this week to help us as we work through the details.
Please say a prayer for us...we are off and running soon!
All the while, I am back here in Texas with the children and dog wondering how I am going to get it all done in the next couple of weeks. This is not a complaint...but I thought I would blog about the other side of this coin...to have the full picture of our lives.
While Michael was crossing the country on his solo trip, we received the inspection report and the requests from the buyers. The list was short but the items still needed to be completed. Here are the requests:
- Fireplace and chimney cleaned and fix a vent cap.
- Gutters and downspouts cleaned.
- Change batteries on smoke detectors and install carbon monoxide detectors.
- A/C units cleaned and serviced.
- Unclog bathtub as it is draining slow.
- Dryer vent professionally cleaned.
- Sprinkler system serviced.
Good news for me...the chimney sweep also cleaned dryer vents, so I only had to make one call for two items on the list. When he arrived at the end of the week, he took one look at the chimney and said it did not need to be cleaned. No surprise to me, as we had only used the fireplace one time since we moved in. He said the vent cap was off the deck and had been chewed by our sweet dog...the dang dog chews on rocks in the backyard so that was no surprise either. I needed to get this fixed but did not want Hank to chew it again before we moved, so I had the man write out an estimate on the invoice so I could leave money for this to be done after we moved. The dryer vent was another story...it was very dirty! I am glad they were able to get that cleaned...I might even get my clothes dried faster for the next few days!
The best part of this visit? I was able to talk to the man's partner (wife?) while he cleaned. We talk about the immigration concerns for our country...the need to help people even when it does not seem fair...about our faith in God to make all things right...and being a mom of a big family. I also shared a jar of my pear butter with them at the end of their time. It was a nice experience and the clean chimney is now cleaner and the dryer vent has never looked better! AND...the boys and I all got to shake the hand of a chimney sweep...good luck all around!
Clean gutters! |
Henry placing the CO detector |
Thankfully, we have a home warranty so the A/C should have been an easy fix. Michael told me that we are offered an annual tune-up but when I called I found that the window of opportunity ended two weeks before I called! Bummer! However, we were having a small issue with a flipped breaker that I had already planned to call about so I requested a service call. I am glad I had this done because it turned out to be quite the fix! AND...I explained the situation to the repair man and he helped me get the coils cleaned and checked the levels while he worked on the unit.
The best part of this repair? I was able to talk to him about growing up in the military and traveling with his parents around the world...from Korea to Panama to Italy and several other places in between. I thought it was interesting to hear his stories and I hope my children enjoy telling their military adventures with others as well. The experiences they will have make them who they are...we have to make the most of the life we are given even it seems like a roller coaster ride at times!
The most annoying of the requested items on the report was the bathtub. We had just had our entire house line snaked two weeks before the inspection. There should not be any clogs in our system! SO...I called my brother who is a plumber and asked him how to check a line. My realtor had said to just poor some Drano down the drain but I hate doing this...it is not good for the pipes. I was told to put 30 gallons of water in the tub and time how fast it drained. The rule of thumb is a tub is slow if it takes longer than 5 minutes to drain...ours drained in less than 3 minutes. I wrote up a statement and sent in an invoice from the plumbers that came earlier in the month.
The last item on the list was the sprinklers. Again, we had a man come to look at our sprinklers earlier in the month. We knew there was an issue with the sprinklers and we had it fixed. However, we had a good man come out who did not charge a lot to fix the problem. Come to find out...we had several sprinkler heads covered...one was completely underground! Other heads were covered up with some landscaping stones we placed last year. Since we have had such a nice wet spring, we never used the system and not realize this was an issue. I am glad we had him come out to fix. And...I shared some of our honey with him because he is such a nice guy!
I also had to contact the company that put in our water softener system. We had spent a lot of money to have this installed so we wanted to take the system with us...only a small service fee to do this and well worth the money spent. I hoped they would be able to come before the movers...all set to come next week. AND...such a great company...they are not only going to come disconnect the system but box it up in original packaging to have an easy move...for a small fee. Yay!
Speaking of movers...what happened to them? I began to question Michael because we had not had any word about our movers. When he finally got in touch with a live person (The military has an automated service for moves.), he found out that the forms had not been turned in properly and we needed to allow three weeks to process. After Michael explained the situation they agreed to speed up the process.Hopefully, I will hear back at the beginning of the week.
We also found out that I am NOT married to Michael...well...at least according to the military records. Funny...ever since I have been "married" to Michael he has been in the military and there has not been any problem. All of our children are considered his...thank goodness...but in order for us to get housing allowance, Michael needs to prove he is married to me. LOL! We keep all of these records ready as we know how the military can be some times...all paperwork has been turned in and hopefully we will be official again soon!
The children are all looking forward to our adventure but it is a little confusing for the younger ones. They are hyped up...I am sure they are feeling the tension of this change. There have been outbursts and wet accidents...regression is a sure sign of stress...hoping we can all calm down and get back on track for this next week. Zaira asks where Daddy is several times a day. Brendan...so sweet...comes to me and asks..."What are orders?" We just throw words out there and expect the children to know what it all means.
Through it all...we continue to do school work...hoping to finish almost all subjects before we leave. AND Henry was offered a chance to go on a photography camp for the weekend (I hope he will share some of his camp adventures soon.).
SO...time to buckle down and be calm as we work through the remainder of this move. It IS exciting...It IS scary...It IS reality....but how I handle it will affect the rest of the crew...so no more complaints...I am going to keep "Peace and Calm" oils in the diffuser this week to help us as we work through the details.
Please say a prayer for us...we are off and running soon!
Friday, April 17, 2015
Goodbye Mrs. Durkin
Guest Post by Michael.
Goodbye Mrs. Durkin
Goodbye Mrs. Durkin, I'm sick and tired of workin'.
No more I'll dig your praties, no longer I'll be poor.
As sure as my name is Barney, I'm off to Califarny.
Instead of digging praties, I'll be digging lumps of gold.
Well, I have never had to dig potatoes for Mrs. Durkin, nor anyone else. Nor have I ever gone digging for gold. Nevertheless, after several days and many miles, here I am in California.
DAY 1: Go West...and west...and further west
The first day started dark and early. Up at six, grabbed a cup of coffee, packed the cooler, kissed the kiddos and my wife and headed out. Bound for I-10 and the West Coast. Shortly after sunrise, I realized that I was soon to be leaving the land of
bluebonnets, and had to get a last picture of The Crew in the State Flower of Texas.
By lunchtime, I had made it to Fort Stockton. I decided that this would be a great place to pull off the road and take a picture at the remains of the actual frontier fort. Fort Stockton was built before the Civil War (and rebuilt following) to guard the nearby Comanche Springs, and to defend the settlements from Comanche raids. Calling home, Misa let me know that there was a driving tour of Fort Stockton, and reminded me to look for geocaches. She also let me know of several local diners where I could get a good lunch. All-in-all I spent almost two hours in Fort Stockton, instead of the anticipated 30 minutes, but it was time well spent.
For Stockton also boasts the World's Largest Roadrunner. No word, however, on a large coyote.
Faster....Must go FASTER! |
From there I continued west to the El Paso. There I spied a sign for the War Eagle Museum in Santa Theresa, NM. I pulled in just after they locked the doors for the day. As I was getting ready to pull back out, a museum worker informed me that, even though he was locking up the gates, there was an automatic gate off of the flight line, and that there was no hurry for me to leave. So I took some time to check out their outdoor exhibits.
Most spectacular were two World War Two bombers. These were not permanent exhibits, but operational aircraft flown by the Confederate Air Force. It was awesome to get to see these gallant warriors up close.
The Crew also enjoyed getting a closer look at these magnificent aircraft.
Leaving the museum, I returned to I-10 to hit the New Mexico Welcome Station just over the border. It had some historical information, and a lovely fountain where the Crew could cool their feet.
After that...New Mexico seemed rather endless, even compared to the miles I had already spent crossing Texas. Perhaps it is because the scenery along I-10 is very similar, or perhaps it is because there is nothing there after Las Cruces. Even all of the billboards were advertising attractions in Arizona!
Looking back into Texas |
I hit the Arizona border close to sunset, no welcome station here, just a sign. Around 8PM local (10PM in Texas) I pulled into Tucson, road-weary but excited to spend a day with my sister and brother and their families.
Daily distance: about 900 miles
Daily travel time: almost 16 hrs
DAY 2: Tucson Interlude
After a quiet evening visiting with my sister, her husband, and her three dogs and a cat; I crashed hard. At some point during the night, her 17yo poodle, Bailey, decided that I was warm and curled up in the bed beside me. My sister thought that it would be funny to get a picture of us, under the ballerina picture above the bed.
After breakfast, we headed out to the Pima Air Museum, located next to the Air Forces holding grounds of decommissioned aircraft, The Boneyard. The museum was huge, so we did not go in, but we visited the gift shop, purchased a post card and found that there was a geocache just down the road. As my sister had never cached before, she went with me to find it. As we approached the location of the cache, I spied a nesting dove sitting on her hatchling on the top of a cactus. The dove was a great model, holding still as I took her picture. As I did this, my sister found the cache hidden under another cactus.
We met our brother for lunch at a sushi buffet, and made plans to get together later that evening. Then we drove over to a cousin's house. He was working on his collection of remote controlled aircraft. He has them mounted with cameras, and plans to use them to help local authorities conducting search-and-rescue operations. We thought it would be great to send the Crew up on one of his aircraft, however they would not all fit. So one lucky one got to fly while the others helped operate the controls.
That evening everyone came over, including another cousin, and we enjoyed some grilled foods and fruit.
Also, I received word that the Army would have a possible house for us as soon as I arrived in Monterey!
DAY 3: Crossing Arizona
This was by far the easiest day, and the shortest driving day. That is not to say that it was quick and uneventful. I had checked for geocaches heading out of Tucson, and found one at the Pinal Air Park.
This appears to be a former Air Force Base, but is now used to store old wide-body commercial aircraft like Boeing 747s and Douglas DC-10s. I found the cache just outside the gate, and headed back to the road.
My GPS decided that I needed to go around, rather than through Phoenix, so I turned off onto I-8 and headed into the middle of nowhere. My exit took me to Gila Bend. There were no caches here, but plenty of dinosaurs and one very large Gila monster. Then it was north bound back to I-10.
Here I decided that I had no desire to venture anywhere near Los Angeles, and so I headed north-west. Along a narrow little highway, I saw some armored vehicles in a small park in the town of Bouse, AZ. I quickly pulled in and found that they marked the site of a camp that trained tank crews for Patton's army during the Second World War.
From there, I continued north, through the Colorado Indian Nations Reservation and Parker, AZ. Found a cache in Parker, and then drove along the Colorado River to Lake Havasu City.
Stopped to look at a site that was supposedly home to Travel Bugs, I found the cache empty, but nearby appeared to be an old mining site.
While Lake Havasu City is a popular destination because of the lake, there is another, rather unique, place to visit. In 1971, the city of London decided to modernize the bridges over the Thames. In the process, it needed to replace the Century-and-a-half year old London Bridge. Rather than see London Bridge fall for good, it was purchased and moved, brick-by-brick to northwest Arizona, and rebuilt in the desert. When Lake Havasu was formed, a channel was dug under the bridge, so that it once again fulfilled its purpose. Of course, it also served as a spot for a cleverly hidden cache!
Driving around the north-end of Lake Havasu, I finally reached California. While there was no welcome center, there was still a welcome of sorts. California operates inspection checkpoints along its borders, to be sure that no one is bringing in any unauthorized plants or animals. After this I soon reached my destination of Needles, CA, home of Snoopy's brother, Spike.
Daily distance: about 370 miles
Daily travel time: 6 hrs
DAY 4: California Cruisin'
I attended Mass at lovely little St. Anne's Parish in Needles. The priest was quite good, and obviously wanted his parishioners to understand the meanings of the Mass. No joy on caches there, so on down the road to Barstow. At a Rest Area off of I-40, I found a little cache and some unusual rock formations. No luck with caches in Barstow, so I continued on down the road to Bakersfield.
My ever resourceful wife had clued me in to some interesting caches down CA-46, including one near the location of James Dean's fatal car crash. As the day was getting late, I decided to push on past Bakersfield to these caches. I did find one along the way, where the highway crossed the Central California Canal, and another where it crossed the oddly named "Brown Material" Road.
Picking up some caches near the intersection of CA-41& -46, I found James Dean's memorial. By this time it was nearly dusk, and I was only 3/4 of the way to my destination. I picked up US-101 near Paso Robles, in the middle of some beautiful vineyards. US-101 follows the old Spanish Royal Road, el Camino Real, that connected the missions and settlements of Spanish California to Mexico.
I pulled off to pass one of these missions, Mission San Miguel Arcangel. It was very lovely, but it was too late to visit. Back onto the road and headed to Monterey. I finally arrived at my hotel around 9 PM, but went back out to drive past the house that we had been offered. It seemed very nice, and made me very excited to actually look inside the next morning.
Daily distance: just under 500 miles
Daily travel time: almost 8 hrs
Total distance: about 1800 miles
Total travel time: almost 30 hrs
DAY 5: A new home
I was able to tour the house the next morning. While the bedrooms are smaller than is typical in Texas, they will do for the next year, and the kids can definitely spread out more. I was able to get signed up for the house before starting the reporting process to my new duty station.
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