See you later SLC, UT!
I'm a west coast girl by nature but on 20 May, my car was loaded with the bare necessities along with Tux, Sami, and my new co-pilot in life, Joe, and we headed off to North Carolina. It took us about three days. We didn't rush it and I got to see some parts of the U.S. I haven't seen before...very beautiful country!
We got to Pikeville NC Saturday early evening. Sami and Tux were awesome traveling! Sami, I knew, would be but I wasn't sure about Tux. I heard horror stories about cats in cars and was praying that Tux would go off of Sami's chill vibe and be cool and he was. We had a small litter box for him in the car but he didn't use it until the last day of driving. He would get brave and check things out every once in awhile but for the most part he found a cave behind one of our seats and slept.
Needless to say by the time we got home we were spent!
Sunday was a lazy day but one of Joe's friend's, Chris, invited us over for drinks and BBQ. Two lazy people who just drove three days had no problem taking him up on his offer! Chris, well...everyone out here, lives on some land and it's country out here. He has a beautiful house and it's right next to a wheat field and the sunsets are truly something to take pause and admire! Chris's wife is currently deployed and he's a single parent of two girls right now, poor guy needs some adult interaction :P
Monday my stuff was delivered. Steve, the bad ass driver, and Mesa moving were AWESOME! I had no problems and would recommend them in a heart beat!
Joe had all that following week off of work so we got busy unpacking, hanging things on the wall, and just getting settled. Sami and Tux were helpful as is their norm :P Sami will be 11 this August and her back legs are getting weaker. Stairs give her problems, although she tries her best, and she gets tired rather quickly. We have a nice back porch but some decent stairs that go to the yard. Joe quickly made Sami girl an old lady ramp so she has access to the yard AND I don't have to carry her up and down stairs. It's taken her about a week and a half but now she goes up and down the ramp completely on her own with no coaxing! She's such a smart girl :D
That Thursday since we had pretty much finished unpacking we headed to the beach! :D I love being driving distance to the beach. We spent a good afternoon there, got some food and headed back. It was an overcast day with a nice breeze so THAT is what I blame our sunburns on, NOT that we failed to utilize sunscreen :(
It's been a week and I'm still peeling off my skin! ugh
Last week Joe was back to work :( But I had things to do. NC driver's license, NC license plates CHECK! Looked into getting my interim social work license here and found out I need some paperwork from some good folks in UT :( ugh. So that's on the docket for completion next week. I'm also getting my bearings around here. I'm so use to having a big mountain range to gauge where I'm at, and what direction I'm going in. Here.... not so much. I'm seeing tobacco fields right and left but they don't help me with a sense of direction :P
This is the first move in my life where the military wasn't a part of it somehow. Yes, Joe is active duty Air Force but that has no real impact on me. Even when I moved to Utah I transferred to the Utah Air National Guard and I was still part of something, I had work responsibilities, something while I searched for another job. Now, I don't have that anymore and it's weird but nice at the same time. Granted, being a military brat and then serving for 20 years I will never ever be completely away from the military! Yesterday I went with Joe to a retirement on base, followed by a house party and yep.... military everywhere I look. It's fine, it's kinda nice being the "civilian" girlfriend although he's told everyone that I just retired so I can't play like I don't know anything about military stuff LOL
Today I did some venturing on my own and while people watching realized how "white" Utah is. I knew it was but being here and seeing so much more diversity is a nice change of pace for me. Also, the history here, I think, can be felt. Just driving around some of these small towns you see some amazing old houses, plantation houses, Victorian looking.... I can't wait to explore more of the East coast and all the history in the area.
On Monday I'm meeting up with a friend I had in middle school/high school! We were in the P.I. together and the last time I saw her I was a freshman in high school! She lives about 2 hours away with her family so we are going to meet in either Raleigh or Chapel Hill! I have another close friend that is about 3 hours away, and then another one about 6 hours away! I have NO excuse not to travel up and down the eastern seaboard!
Since I've been here I've slacked on photos. Mainly it's because I usually use my phone but T Mobile SUCKS out here and I have been having phone issues :( That's something else on my "to do" list! I'll probably blog more now since I have some free time with the job hunt and all....
We will see how that goes :P
