Taking advantage of the weather!

On Sunday we decided that since we had been stuck at a car dealer for most of Saturday, we would get out and enjoy the nice weather and do some hiking. We drove up to Silver Falls State Park which is about 20 miles east of Salem. The park is home to 10 different waterfalls and over 24 miles of walking trails. There were a number of trails that was off limit to dogs, so we just did a three mile loop and got to see two of the waterfalls on foot, and then we drove to an overlook to catch a peak at another one of the falls. On our way back from hiking we stopped in Salem for an early dinner at the Word of Mouth Neighborhood Bistro. We both got the turkey burger because the menu listing grabbed our attention....

"The Amazing Maralago Turkey Burger
As seen on Oprah. “I believe it may be the best turkey burger in the entire world,” she says. We agree. Ground turkey combined with chutney, apples, chipotle, lemon zest, celery and scallions on a whole wheat bun with lettuce, onion, tomato and mayo. "

South falls

Winter falls

It was very tasty and we also got some clam chowder to split which was delicious as well! It was a good weekend and now we're ready for week two!

Our new ride...

Well, after much looking (and we did start our looking with Ford, just to let our Detroit friends know) we bought a 2010 Hyundai Santa Fe on Saturday. It has 21,000 miles on it, but it is dealer certified and so we have an awesome 10 year 100,000 mile bumper to bumper and powertrain warranty, and because of it being a used vehicle we got it at a great price. It has a ton of storage, which will come in handy as we travel over the next year and a half. The only negative is we were stuck at the car dealers for close to four hours and did not get to enjoy the gorgeous weather!

The first week....

To most people just starting a new job and having a 45 minute commute would be enough, but not for Katy. Katy decided we need to get up at 5:00 each morning so we can work out before she goes to work! Oh well, I guess we do live on a farm now and farmers typically start their days early! Work this week went well for Katy and she enjoys the staff at Mercy Medical, which is a good thing. I spent two days this week on the farm digging a ditch to bury an electrical wire, and while I was working the dogs were playing. I had them outside with me the whole time both days and they were in paradise. They would run around chasing one another and the other dog, Spot, then they'd go jump in the pond to cool off, and when they were hungry there was a whole smorgasbord of various animal droppings to snack on (I tried to discourage this). On Friday night we went into Eugene to a microbrewery called Steelhead Brewery to eat dinner and have a few drinks to toast our first week. It was a good week for everyone and we are excited for the weekend!

Our first weekend as Oregonians...

Katy with Rex

Our first day in Cottage Grove was low key. We spent time exploring around the farm, drove into  town and ate at a restaurant called The Pink House (Katy got a swiss avocado burger with sweet potato fries that came with melted marshmallows to dip the fries in and I got some seafood bisque and a salad).  That afternoon we met with our new landlady, Paula, to go over some information, most importantly the feeding schedule for the animals. Katy and I will feed the animals 6 times a week. There are two horses (Rex and June), a donkey (Jack), a goat (Blue), and a duck (Blackie) that we will be feeding. In addition to those animals there are also two cats (Moxie and KitKat) and a dog (spot) that live on the farm. As well as doing the feedings, I will also be working 15-20 hours a week on the farm doing odd jobs which will help pay off our rent. 

Eli with June

view looking up our driveway 

Blue, Blackie, and Rex

In the afternoon we drove into Eugene, which is only about 20 minutes from Cottage Grove. We parked at the University of Oregon by the athletic fields and took advantage of the nice weather and walked around the campus. After we returned home from Eugene we cooked dinner (well, not really....we chopped vegetables and had a salad with a loaf of bread) and settled in to watch a movie. It was a good first day!

In front of the Henry Estate Vineyards

On Sunday we drove down to Roseburg and went to Mercy Medical Center, the hospital that Katy will start working at tomorrow! After driving to the hospital we decided to test out one of the nearly 30 wineries in this area. The Willamette Valley and specifically Roseburg is nationally renowned for their wine. We went to a winery called the Henry Estate Vineyards and had a very enjoyable time chatting with the locals and tasting wine (our favorite was, of course, the sweetest wine they had). When we returned to Cottage Grove we picked up the dogs and headed off to do some hiking along the Willamette river that was about a 5 minute drive from us.  We picked up a pizza from a little restaraunt called Figaro's on our way back from hiking and then called it an evening early as tomorrow Katy would start her first day as a real Physical Therapist and she needed to be well rested!

outside the winery

hiking...

some kind of creature we saw while hiking...

Trip Statistics....

A= Gibsonville, North Carolina, the starting point for our trip
B= Staunton, Virginia, where we spent two days saying goodbye to family
C= Ashland, Kentucky, where we stopped for several hours to visit with Billy Dell, Roger, and Trish
D= Kingdom City, Missouri, where we stayed the night in a Motel 6
E=Denver, Colorado, where we spent a day and a half relaxing with Cyndi and Carole
F= Salt Lake City, Utah,  where we stopped for dinner with Katy's good friend, Callie Spencer
G= Burley, Idaho, where we spent our last night on the road at a Motel 8
H= Cottage Grove, Oregon!

-Total miles in the car- 3,107 miles
-Total driving time- 52 hours
-Total number of states driven through- 14
(North Carolina, Virginia, West Virginia, Ohio (for about 3 miles), Kentucky, Indiana, Illinois, Missouri, Kansas, Colorado, Wyoming, Utah, Idaho, and Oregon)
-Total amount spent on gas- $293.76
-Restaurants we ate at:
        Ruby Tuesday (Ashland, Ky)
        Subway (somewhere in Illinois, Kingdom City, MO, and Rawlins, WY)
        Panera Bread (Topeka, KS)
        El Parralitos (Denver, Co)
        Sugar House BBQ (Salt Lake City, Utah)
        McDonald's (Ontario, OR)
    

Day 5: Welcome to Oregon

                                                                                                                                                                  We left Burley and the mountains of Idaho in high spirits as today would be our final day of driving! We had about 10.5 hours and a little over 600 miles left!

We got into Oregon just before lunch time and actually ate our first meal in our new state at.....its very exciting...a McDonald's! Driving through the Mountains of eastern Oregon we quickly realized two things; first, they pump your gas for you here, and second, not a lot of people live on this side of the state! We would drive for miles and miles and not see another soul. Finally we got to a town called Bend and started seeing some signs of civilization. We ended up getting to our new home in Cottage Grove a little after 7:00pm and we picked up chinese on our way in so we would not have to go back out again. Our "cottage in the woods" was better then the pictures from craigslist (yes, Katy found this place through craigslist) showed, and we were thrilled to unload our car and finally be done with driving! The dogs had been troopers the whole trip, but you could tell that they too were glad to be done with driving! Oregon....home sweet home for the next three months!

Day 4: Both hands on the wheels.....

After a big breakfast with Cyndi, we said goodbye to her and hello once again to the road. It was a gorgeous day as we drove out of Denver and we had a clear view of the snow capped Rockies. Before long we crossed over into Wyoming and started driving up into the mountains. The scenery was breathtaking, but we kept seeing caution signs for blowing snow. Before long we realized why there were all those warnings. Even though it was a clear day, they were experiencing wind gusts of 50mph which was causing the snow already on the ground to whip around like wild and make it very hard to see. The speed limit where we were driving was 75mph, but at times we were barely going 25mph. The wind and the snow made for a slower trip through Wyoming than we had anticipated, but none the less it was a very scenic trip.

By sunset we were crossing over into Utah. For dinner we stopped in Salt Lake City and met up with Callie Spencer, one of Katy's good friends from growing up. Even though it was dark, the glimpse we got of Salt Lake really made us want to go back there and visit some day. It was a beautiful town tucked in between some very impressive mountains. 

(sunset driving into Utah)

After we left Salt Lake we decided that we would drive a little ways outside of the city before stopping at a hotel. Little did we realize how sparsely populated the mountains between Utah and Idaho are. We got outside the city and saw a sign that said the next service exit would be in 89 miles! So, instead of turning around we kept on trucking until we got to Burley, Idaho where we bedded down for the night. Today we covered 700 miles and 10 hours of driving. One more day to go.....

Day 3: Some R & R

On Wednesday, the third day of our trip, we spent with Cyndi in Denver just relaxing. After sleeping for close to 12 hours we got up and enjoyed some nice weather and went on a run. Carole came over and we went out to grab some lunch and do some shopping. Like typical Denver weather, the nice morning we were having turned into a windy and bitter cold afternoon that saw two inches of snow fall on us. Since the weather had turned bad we decided to just head home for the evening. Cyndi said she was just going to do a simple dinner...so we did some filets on the grill, some sauteed zucchini with pesto and Parmesan cheese, a baked potato, and bread with oil and a Tuscan seasoning to dip it in. We ate our dinner and watched a movie before heading to bed to get another good night's sleep before getting on the road again. 

Day 2: Waffles and Gravy!

We were up and out the door by 8:00am Tuesday. Katy started out the driving today and I relaxed in the passenger seat while watching a movie on my ipad! We stopped in Topeka, Kansas at a Panera Bread for lunch, and then kept trucking through Kansas and into Colorado. 

(sunset over Kansas)

(outside a gas station in eastern Colorado)

We got into Denver around 7:30pm to my aunt Cyndi's house. We were thrilled to be there as we knew Cyndi would spoil us with her cooking and we'd be able to put our feet up and relax after 11 hours and 700 miles in the car today! 

Cyndi fixed one of my all-time favorite meals for dinner....waffles and turkey gravy! I know that might sound disgusting to some of you, but like they say, don't knock it till you've tried it! My Momma and Poppa used to make it for mine and Seth's birthday meal every year. It had been several years since I had enjoyed this dish, so I was quite excited when I found this is what we were having. After a nice meal Katy and I hit the sack knowing we'd sleep well after two days on the road!

Day 1: Sam Black Church and Beyond...

Monday morning we were up at 5:30am and out the door just after 6:30am. We made our first stop just west of Sam Black Church for some juice and granola bars and to let the dogs stretch their paws. 

 The next time we stopped the vehicle after that was in Ashland, Kentucky where we met up with Katy's grandmother, Billy Dell, and her uncle and aunt, Roger and Trish, at a Ruby Tuesdays for some lunch. We had a very nice visit with them and after stopping by Billy Dell's place to take the dogs on a walk, we were on our way again. 

(we went right under the arch while driving through St. Louis)

 After 14 hours of driving and over 850 miles    on the road we stopped in Kingdom City, Missouri for the night. We got to bed around midnight and went to bed pleased with the progress we had made for our first day on the road. It was the dogs first night in a hotel and the longest drive they had ever been on, and they did great! 

Final Goodbyes...

Before starting our drive we spent the weekend with family. Saturday we enjoyed the day playing cards, watching football, and eating some delicious seafood and apple pie with the Lovell clan. On Sunday we enjoyed the day with the Herr family and got to have one last home cooked southern meal before hitting the road. We had ham, mac 'n cheese, corn muffins, and my personal favorite, chocolate pecan pie! Monday morning we were out the door early to start our trip! 

It's officially official!

We were all packed up, all the paperwork for Katy's Oregon license was taken care of, we had our route mapped out and the car serviced and ready to go, we were just waiting on one small detail....to find out if Katy had passed her boards! Katy took her boards on Thursday, January 13th and spent the rest of the day as nervous as I have ever seen her over whether or not she had passed. Everything was riding on this. The next morning after Katy's boards we met our good friends, Chris and Ashley Sellers and Rachel Dirito, for breakfast. As we were pulling out of the parking lot after breakfast Katy got a call from the Oregon Physical Therapy Licensing Board saying she had passed and she was an official Physical Therapist, and that our trip to Oregon was now officially happening. We left for Virginia that night to visit with family before starting our big adventure!

Packing up....

We started packing up the house right after Christmas....and after living here for over three and a half years it was no simple task. It is amazing how much stuff you accrue in such a short time! We had an ice storm that made things interesting and made our driveway an ice skating rink, but it did not slow down the move. We moved our stuff into a self storage unit to be stored while we are away traveling and the house is rented to physical therapy students from Elon. All of this commotion was going on at the same time that Katy was trying to focus and study for her boards! On the day that Katy took her boards, January 13th, Seth came down to help us put some finishing touches on the house, like cleaning carpets and doing some touch up painting. That night we went out to dinner with our good friends and next door neighbors, Paul, Sam, and their 1 year old son, Henrik. After dinner we went into Chapel Hill to the Dean Dome and saw an exciting basketball game as UNC knocked off Virginia Tech by three! It was a nice last evening in North Carolina, but Katy had a hard time enjoying herself as she could not stop worrying about her boards...