Alas, the summer is over. Three days to go. I doubt I will get a chance to make another post before we depart from Fort Lost-in-the woods. I am not sure I stand so strongly behind my previous conviction that Ft Leonard Wood is not lost in the woods. After spending four months on base, every time we get off to go somewhere feels like my birthday.
Last weekend we had the ball/banquet to wrap up the class and congratulate the class for their accomplishments. I am so proud of my husband. This was no easy feat. He got to share many of the photos he'd been taking all summer at the banquet and they turned out so nice! A lot of them looked like they belonged on an Army brochure!
In preparation for the banquet I had to get a dress because I packed mine away :'( We had to drive all the way to Springfield to find dresses, because there is nothing remotely close to base that sells decent long formal dresses. Springfield is really only about an hour and a half away...but it took us quite some time to get there. Our truck broke down almost exactly in the middle between FLW and Springfield. We had to call AAA and get a tow truck to take us to Springfield. But no auto repair shops are open on the weekends in Springfield. Luckily we had very gracious friends that needed to make a trip to Springfield anyway that came and picked us up, brought us to the mall, and back to FLW. As luck would have it, when our truck was ready to be picked up last wednesday they needed to go back to Springfield again, so we were able to hitch a ride there.
On our way back from Springfield we made a few stops. First we went to Target, my home away from home...I could have spent hours just walking up and down the aisles. That's how much I missed Target. Then, we stopped at Bass Pro. It's the first Bass Pro, and neither of us had been to one before. What a treat! So cool to see all the fish and ducks and turtles (ALIVE)! They also had a firearms hall of fame, so of course we spent a good half hour up there chatting with people about guns and the army. On our ride home, we had no problems. How nice that was.
On a side note, we couldn't have been more prepared for the truck to break down on our way to Springfield the first time. We had given a friend our room key, just in case something happened and we didn't come back as soon as we planned so that they could let our dog out. E had taken out all of his Army gear that needed to be turned in the following week, just for good measure, and we just so happened to have a cooler full of cold water when we were sitting for hours in the heat waiting for the tow truck!
Anyway, it feels pretty surreal that four months is up. Tomorrow will actually mark our four month point I believe. To me it feels like it has been just a couple of weeks. E says it feels like at least a year.
There is not much I will miss about FLW. I will miss our friends. We made so many good friends that I hope to stay in contact with as the years go by (maybe we can make a trip to Italy to visit some of them??). I also think I will miss living on post to hear Taps play at 2100 every night. It is so pretty. Oh, and maybe I'll miss having maids.
I am ready to go back to Minnesota, even if it's just for a short while. I'm excited to see family and friends and I am excited for something new (and I'm a little nervous).
I haven't quite decided if I'm going to keep up this blog, or start a new one when we move to Washington. I think I might start a new one, so stay tuned for more adventures!
Monday, October 6, 2014
Thursday, September 25, 2014
Oh happy day!
Praise The Lord! My husband is back! Today marks exactly two weeks from the day we say goodbye to this dear (and grueling) chapter in our lives. Looking back I can't tell you if it feels like it's gone by slow or fast. I'll go with fast for the most part. I'm sure E would go with slow.
For E this has been one of the more difficult experiences of his life. It tested him mentally, physically, emotionally, and spiritually. I'm so happy to say he is leaving here a stronger, more confident man. Oh, how proud of him I am for sticking it out.
As for me, I know I'm leaving here a better woman too. Independent, social, and tidy. I learned a lot about supporting someone emotionally. I also learned how much I enjoy taking care of things for E like cooking and cleaning (things I dreaded before).
Now we have Harper. I was a little bit nervous at first that i had made a mistake in getting her. But she really has been a blessing. She is there to release stress for E when he feels like he just can't keep going. She's there to keep me company when E is away. She is calm when we want to cuddle, and playful when we want to play.
I'd be lying of I said that I wasn't nervous about the next chapter of our lives (at least the next few months) but I am confident that it is all going to be alright. I am blessed to have my little family with me on this journey. Most of all, my best friend who never ceases to amaze me.
I guess that is all for now. Stay tuned for more adventures ahead!
Monday, September 22, 2014
Winding down
I suppose not a lot has happened since my last post. E is still gone. Hopefully he will come home today or tomorrow. I have been thoroughly occupied in the time that he has been gone. Having several sleepovers in a row really takes it out of me. We even crafted!
Now we have only 17 days left!! On October 4th there is a formal event that we have to wear fancy dresses to. So we are going to try to rent dresses from post. Too bad I didn't just bring mine...
I'm still waiting to hear back from that job. And every day getting more excited to see family and friends!
Tuesday, September 16, 2014
Girls only
This week E is gone. He is off doing his last training, and last graded event for BOLC! Yay! We are so close! The last week was very stressful, and both E and I are so very happy that it is over and that he survived it!
This week it is Harper and I. I spent time cleaning today and now I will watch movies all night. I have been looking for places to live in Washington all week, and looking for jobs. Today I found a promissing job. It is for a bilingual case worker (spanish/english) working with refugee children. So up my alley. So I applied and now all I can do is pray about it.
This past weekend E and I celebrated our one year anniversary. Hooray! Saturday we spent the day outside with Harper and with new and old friends. We went for a walk by the river and watched the pups play in the water, then went to a park and had a barbeque and played KUBB all evening. Later on we went to a movie in the new movie theater with the fancy reclining leather seats!
Sunday E had a little studying to do after church. After that E and I went to Rolla to a little place called "A Slice of Pie" and had, can you guess? A slice of pie!! We then came home and made some dinner together and watched movies for the rest of the night. Relaxing.
Yesterday we went out to eat with friends, for one last good hot meal before E had to be gone all week eating yucky MRE's. Good thing I went to the store and got all kinds of goodies to send with E to make sure he wasn't running on an empty tummy. I got all kinds of individually packaged nut mixes. Some were breakfast, others just full of protein. I was sure to send protein bars, energy drink mio's to put in his water, and a few of his favorite coffee drinks. I love doing this kind of stuff for him.
I really don't have plans for my week, other than to hang out with the other wives. Tonight we are all doing our own thing, but tomorrow fun will be had. Muahaha.
I am really looking forward to seeing my family when I go home. I also can't wait to see my darling kitty cat. I do miss snuggling with her. Harper just doesn't sleep on my feet or cuddle with me on the bed or the couch the same (probably because I don't let her on the couch and bed). I miss her cute little kitten meow. I of course miss my human family too.
I really don't have much to share this time. I guess I will just ask for extra prayers for E as he is finishing his last hard week here at BOLC, and for myself as I look for jobs.
Can you believe it? Less than a month to go!
This week it is Harper and I. I spent time cleaning today and now I will watch movies all night. I have been looking for places to live in Washington all week, and looking for jobs. Today I found a promissing job. It is for a bilingual case worker (spanish/english) working with refugee children. So up my alley. So I applied and now all I can do is pray about it.
This past weekend E and I celebrated our one year anniversary. Hooray! Saturday we spent the day outside with Harper and with new and old friends. We went for a walk by the river and watched the pups play in the water, then went to a park and had a barbeque and played KUBB all evening. Later on we went to a movie in the new movie theater with the fancy reclining leather seats!
Sunday E had a little studying to do after church. After that E and I went to Rolla to a little place called "A Slice of Pie" and had, can you guess? A slice of pie!! We then came home and made some dinner together and watched movies for the rest of the night. Relaxing.
Yesterday we went out to eat with friends, for one last good hot meal before E had to be gone all week eating yucky MRE's. Good thing I went to the store and got all kinds of goodies to send with E to make sure he wasn't running on an empty tummy. I got all kinds of individually packaged nut mixes. Some were breakfast, others just full of protein. I was sure to send protein bars, energy drink mio's to put in his water, and a few of his favorite coffee drinks. I love doing this kind of stuff for him.
I really don't have plans for my week, other than to hang out with the other wives. Tonight we are all doing our own thing, but tomorrow fun will be had. Muahaha.
I am really looking forward to seeing my family when I go home. I also can't wait to see my darling kitty cat. I do miss snuggling with her. Harper just doesn't sleep on my feet or cuddle with me on the bed or the couch the same (probably because I don't let her on the couch and bed). I miss her cute little kitten meow. I of course miss my human family too.
I really don't have much to share this time. I guess I will just ask for extra prayers for E as he is finishing his last hard week here at BOLC, and for myself as I look for jobs.
Can you believe it? Less than a month to go!
Tuesday, September 9, 2014
A little blue
Harper has been keeping me pretty busy lately. Last you all heard E was gone away at camp and MW and I were hanging out with the dogs. We were going to have a sleepover but the puppies just wanted to play all the time and they wouldn't settle down so we couldn't sleep over. Which was just as well because the boys ended up coming back early because there was a heat advisory. E said that it was too hot to do a lot of things and ended up sitting around a lot. He came back early which meant we had an extra long long weekend. On Friday we didn't do a whole lot because he wanted to have a rest day. I'm Friday night we took Harper to the dog park. This is E's first time at the dog park and he really enjoyed watching all the puppies play.
Saturday was a big day for us. One of the E's classmates volunteered to watch Harper and we went to St. Louis for the day. We got there just in time for lunch so we went to an Irish pub and I had fish and chips and E had corn beef. After that we went to the old Courthouse Museum on our way to the arch. At the arch we had to wait for a really really long time to get our tickets but somebody had told us a way to get one for two tickets so we didn't have to pay for two tickets. After getting our tickets we went and got some fudge at the gift shop went to the museum underneath the arch to kill some time. We had to wait for about an hour and a half to two hours between the time we got there and the time we actually got to stand in line for the arch. We thought that once we were standing in line that it wouldn't take very long for a ride to the top. However it was really deceiving because you couldn't see what was in front of you. Ended up waiting in line for about an hour before we got in the little pod. The pods were teeny tiny and we were glad we weren't very tall otherwise our heads would've touched the top. We found out that those pods were actually the original ones from when it was built. We finally got to the top it was super crowded and the windows were really tiny. We had to wrestle our way to a window to take pictures. About 5 to 10 minutes later we were on our way back down. As soon as we got back down we looked outside and it was pouring down rain. This was so weird because when we were at the top of the arch we couldn't see any rain in sight. My trusty umbrella from my purse came in handy once again. We stopped briefly in the shelter of the arch for E to check his phone to see where we were going to eat. We were so glad that we wore our tevas because it made walking in the rain a little bit more bearable.
We ate dinner on a rooftop restaurant. Was really really nice and a fun buzzing atmosphere. The restaurant overlooked the baseball game which was pretty cool too. After that we made one more stop before going home. Went to a chocolate bar that some of E's friends had suggested that we go to. They had chocolate drinks and really really yummy chocolate desserts. E and I ended up sharing a sample platter of all kinds of fancy desserts. It was love at first bite! The whole place was so romantic with roses candles and tables for two all over. We headed back full and exhausted.
Sunday we went to church and spend the rest of the day lounging around. On Monday E worked on some homework for the whole day. Tuesday was a big day. I spent the day with MW. We got a scary text saying E didn't pass something, but just after that they said he did pass. As t turned out, his instructor wasn't listening when E was presenting. So when the instructor was going down the list of reasons for why E didn't pass his classmates started chiming in telling the instructor that E did say all of those things. So he really did pass. Praise The Lord.
Because E passed, it means he doesn't have to brief any of the other ones. He has like 5-6 of them. He has been much less stressed because of that. Many of his classmates are startling to get SSRd. That is the review board where they decide if you have to be recycled or just done with the Army or given one more chance. This happens if you get too many No-gos. If E had failed he might have had an SSR and who knows what would have happened. We would appreciate your prayers for E to have confidence and competence.
On Friday MW traveled to Lawrence Kansas to sail. MW had never sailed so I thought it would be fun for her. She ended up having a good time despite getting a little motion sick. Being home meant that E was in charge of Harper. Even though he hates doggy dooty duty I thing he did fine. He still loves going to the dog park. We went again when we came home from sailing.
Sunday night E had to finish some homework so he stayed up all night. I stayed up for a while but passed out around 2am. Monday I did nothing, which was wonderful. E had a good day too.
Today I went to Rolla with MW to pick up some stuff for the boys. Now I sit. I've been so busy and had so much social time that all I want is peace and quiet.
I have been getting a little bit sad at the thought of BOLC being over. I have gotten along with MW so well that it makes me sad to know they will be so far away. They are moving to Italy. :( we have many things in common, but the funniest thing is that MW is just like E in so many ways and I am like her husband in so many ways. Go figure we would get along so well. All the time we are surprising each other.
Things feel like they are coming to a close with just a month left. On to more adventures. I'm feeling nervous about having no clue how we are going to make the next step. Hard to get a place to live without a job, and it's hard to get a job without living there...I know it will all work out somehow, but I don't know how to plan. I don't know what will happen in the next 30 days and I have no control over it. Scary. Good thing E doesn't seem stressed. I trust him.
That is all.
Monday, August 25, 2014
A lifelong friendship in the making
It has been mighty long since I've posted anything, but that's because I have been very busy! Last Saturday afternoon we went to see a movie (Lets Be Cops) with some of E's buddies from class. It was funny watching it with a bunch of soon to be Military Police! During the movie we heard thunder. It shook the whole building, which was the reason that I knew it was thunder and not just the movie next to us. Apparently everyone else thought it was just the movie next to us, because they were shocked when we got out of our movie and it was pouring down rain. Coincidentally I was the only person prepared, as I had a little umbrella in my purse and the only person willing to get wet! I thought this was pretty funny. The biggest guy (who doesn't even have any hair that could get messed up) made E take my umbrella to his truck, pick this guy up, drop him off at his car across the parking lot, and THEN come get me. The big babies!
After that we went to Ocean Buffet and had a good time eating some chineese food. Everyone had to get little wet this time. Muahahah. We saw another couple there and on the way home asked them if they wanted to go bowling with us. This was the beginnings of a magical night for MW (the other wife) and I. MW had met before, and she'd even taken me with her to the dog park before, we just both stink at initiating conversations and outings, and assumed the other person would do something if they wanted to see us. We had a good time bowling and after that were not ready to call it quits. So we let the boys lead the adventure onward. We ended up meeting up with more people from E's class, but MW and I sat together and H (one of E's female classmates) sat with us. All three of us were having such a good time that when it was time for people to leave we convinced E to go stay with MW's husband for the night and we had a girls night at our hotel (after we had an adventure with the taxis of course). We baked cookies and cheesy bread and watched movies and talked and talked until 5am!! So crazy.
After that weekend MW and I were super excited to spend more time together. Monday we spent all day together and when the boys came home we made them dinner at my place so we didn't have to say goodbye just yet. Tuesday we took a break and Wednesday...well, Wednesday was a big day. The day started off mellow. MW had to take her car to the shop because her husband said it was making weird noises. Turns out the diagnosis was crazy driver. Then we sat and thought about stuff to do. MW wanted to take me to the pet store. I agreed because I'd seen their website before and didn't think they even had any dogs that I really liked enough to take home. But as soon as we walked through the door my heart melted and I was a gonner. THE cutest puppies. Little Aussie/Hanging Tree puppies. I tried texting E all day, but he was too busy to look at his phone. I wasn't going to go behind his back and get a dog...but I was in love. So I waited not so patiently for him to get home. He said okay. I asked if he was sure a billion times (as I was jumping up and down like a crazy person). I told him he was allowed to say no. He still said it was fine. He was super busy at the end of the week with homework that I could tell he was stressed out. I still feel a little bit guilty for doing this when he his heart and mind weren't really with me. E was working on something with a classmate so he couldn't take me to the pet store, so I called MW up and she raced over. We got our puppy! E was pretty busy all night so we didn't get a chance to talk about names until really late. I rattled off ideas, even looking on the internet for "names that don't end in 'y'" because E didn't like those names. I mentioned Harper and E thought that would be fitting because the cross pistols used as the symbol for the Military Police is called the Harper's Ferry. So the name stuck.
Our first night with Harper we didn't have a bed for her. I had given her a bath earlier in the evening and when she was ready for bed she pulled up a towel to the corner and slept there...all night. E wakes up early for PT and she just watched him from her towel and went back to sleep. When E came back and got ready for class he tried to play with her so I took her outside and she went back to her spot and slept after E left for class. She let me sleep for a long time. We had a play date with Stark (MW's puppy) the next day and she had so much fun. I got her a crate. She freaked out the very first time she went in there and hasn't made a peep about it since. I don't know how we lucked out with this puppy because she is so easy!
Friday MW and I went to Osage beach which was an hour away. She got to pick up her wedding ring after having it re-sized. We went out to lunch, the pet store, and Target to pick out outfits for the next day's social event. We had so much fun.
Friday was a crummy day for both of our husbands. They both didn't do so well on an assignment they thought would be easy. Their ego's were hurt. They were stressed out and embarrassed and upset with themselves. Saturday I took extra care to cheer up E. We went to the banquet and afterward I sent him on a guys night to see ninja turtles with his buddies while MW and I went with H for another girls night. We ended up having a splendid night together once again. E got some much needed sleep.
By Sunday E was a new man. Refreshed from plenty of sleep in the last few days, his outlook became quite a bit brighter. I was happy to see my husband be happy again. As much as he was indifferent to our puppy right away, he sure has warmed up to her and loves playing with her and even talking all cute to her. Now he is gone for training stuff for the next three days...so MW and I will have plenty of sleep overs and puppy play dates this week!
Like I said, it was a busy couple of weeks!
After that we went to Ocean Buffet and had a good time eating some chineese food. Everyone had to get little wet this time. Muahahah. We saw another couple there and on the way home asked them if they wanted to go bowling with us. This was the beginnings of a magical night for MW (the other wife) and I. MW had met before, and she'd even taken me with her to the dog park before, we just both stink at initiating conversations and outings, and assumed the other person would do something if they wanted to see us. We had a good time bowling and after that were not ready to call it quits. So we let the boys lead the adventure onward. We ended up meeting up with more people from E's class, but MW and I sat together and H (one of E's female classmates) sat with us. All three of us were having such a good time that when it was time for people to leave we convinced E to go stay with MW's husband for the night and we had a girls night at our hotel (after we had an adventure with the taxis of course). We baked cookies and cheesy bread and watched movies and talked and talked until 5am!! So crazy.
After that weekend MW and I were super excited to spend more time together. Monday we spent all day together and when the boys came home we made them dinner at my place so we didn't have to say goodbye just yet. Tuesday we took a break and Wednesday...well, Wednesday was a big day. The day started off mellow. MW had to take her car to the shop because her husband said it was making weird noises. Turns out the diagnosis was crazy driver. Then we sat and thought about stuff to do. MW wanted to take me to the pet store. I agreed because I'd seen their website before and didn't think they even had any dogs that I really liked enough to take home. But as soon as we walked through the door my heart melted and I was a gonner. THE cutest puppies. Little Aussie/Hanging Tree puppies. I tried texting E all day, but he was too busy to look at his phone. I wasn't going to go behind his back and get a dog...but I was in love. So I waited not so patiently for him to get home. He said okay. I asked if he was sure a billion times (as I was jumping up and down like a crazy person). I told him he was allowed to say no. He still said it was fine. He was super busy at the end of the week with homework that I could tell he was stressed out. I still feel a little bit guilty for doing this when he his heart and mind weren't really with me. E was working on something with a classmate so he couldn't take me to the pet store, so I called MW up and she raced over. We got our puppy! E was pretty busy all night so we didn't get a chance to talk about names until really late. I rattled off ideas, even looking on the internet for "names that don't end in 'y'" because E didn't like those names. I mentioned Harper and E thought that would be fitting because the cross pistols used as the symbol for the Military Police is called the Harper's Ferry. So the name stuck.
Our first night with Harper we didn't have a bed for her. I had given her a bath earlier in the evening and when she was ready for bed she pulled up a towel to the corner and slept there...all night. E wakes up early for PT and she just watched him from her towel and went back to sleep. When E came back and got ready for class he tried to play with her so I took her outside and she went back to her spot and slept after E left for class. She let me sleep for a long time. We had a play date with Stark (MW's puppy) the next day and she had so much fun. I got her a crate. She freaked out the very first time she went in there and hasn't made a peep about it since. I don't know how we lucked out with this puppy because she is so easy!
Friday MW and I went to Osage beach which was an hour away. She got to pick up her wedding ring after having it re-sized. We went out to lunch, the pet store, and Target to pick out outfits for the next day's social event. We had so much fun.
Friday was a crummy day for both of our husbands. They both didn't do so well on an assignment they thought would be easy. Their ego's were hurt. They were stressed out and embarrassed and upset with themselves. Saturday I took extra care to cheer up E. We went to the banquet and afterward I sent him on a guys night to see ninja turtles with his buddies while MW and I went with H for another girls night. We ended up having a splendid night together once again. E got some much needed sleep.
By Sunday E was a new man. Refreshed from plenty of sleep in the last few days, his outlook became quite a bit brighter. I was happy to see my husband be happy again. As much as he was indifferent to our puppy right away, he sure has warmed up to her and loves playing with her and even talking all cute to her. Now he is gone for training stuff for the next three days...so MW and I will have plenty of sleep overs and puppy play dates this week!
Like I said, it was a busy couple of weeks!
Thursday, August 14, 2014
Sailing
It has been a while, and many things have happened for both me and E since my last post. So I'll start from the beginning.
On Thursday evening E drove me to Warsaw to meet up with Chris who would be going to Oregon with me. She picked me up and I slept at her house for the night. On Friday morning (Friday was E's birthday! So sad I missed it, but it sounded like he went out with friends and had a good time) we woke up bright and early to get a few things done at her sailing shop before hitting the rode. With her 11 year old son in tow we were off! The morning at the shop was way more interesting than I expected. Chris sold somewhere around four kayaks that morning. One gentleman came in and was very adamant about not wanting the mirage drive (pedals for the kayak so you can use your legs instead of your hands, and they're so so easy to use) because he was going to put in a motor. He argued with Chris over this for a long time, left, then eventually came back and bought the boat, mirage drives and all. The next gentleman came in and was not interested in talking so much, but he wanted a red kayak. The only one Chris had was a demo which she was willing to sell at a discount because it had "demo" stamped on it. I'm telling you, the little words were just as tiny as the font you're reading on this screen. Basically invisible to anyone but someone who knows it's there and where to look. Nonetheless, Flip wanted nothing to do with this discounted Kayak because he said it looked tacky. So he would wait for a new one to come in and pay full price. Finally, there was a couple that came in wanting to buy a new kayak to add to their collection of three already because they were having grandkids over that night. So they bought a kayak and then bought a sail for it on a whim! They didn't even know how to work a sail and just added that $300 extra like it was no big deal!
Anyway, after cleaning up the shop we got on the road toward Des Moines, IA. We stopped at a Burger King on our way out. I have had so many bad experiences with BK's with them getting my order wrong and not having fresh food that before this trip I had vowed to never ever eat at Burger King again. Only with Chris having a hard time finding something that was both on the way out of town and something that her picky eater son would agree to I just shut my mouth. And what do you know? They not only gave me the wrong chicken on my salad, but they forgot to give me my salad dressing. Disappointing. After eating lunch I drove the rest of the way to Iowa so that Chris could work and sleep.
We got to Iowa and picked up my skipper, Jim and Chris' crew Abby along with Jim's hilarious sister Julie. We drove straight through the night and straight through Saturday arriving late Saturday night at our destination. The next morning we set up our boats and registered. We set up a few things that Jim and Chris brought to sell, and sold quite a bit of stuff right away. We thought maybe we would get the boats ready and have a chance to go out and practice a bit, being that it has been two years since I've been on this particular boat, and nearly two years since I've been sailing in general, and it was Abby's first time on this boat ever. However, there was just too much going on. People needed help with their boats and parts, and just wanted to chat in general. So we talked through what the next week would be like on the water and then called it a day.
On Monday we had the skipper's meeting and then were able to go sailing right away. We sailed a total of four races, but one got thrown out because every boat (Including me and Jim) but one rounded the wrong mark. So we had three races which left Jim and I in second place after that day (I think). That night we had the welcome party dinner. Pulled pork sandwiches and the like were on the menu. Then we went home for some rest. That night I found plenty of bruises on my knees that hurt. I get them from kneeling on the ropes on the boat. I was a little bit nervous about the next day sailing and having to kneel all over again.
We woke up bright and early the next morning ready for a day of racing. However, when we got to the beach the wind was blowing pretty strong. This regatta had a cap of 20 knots which meant we wouldn't start a race if it was blowing that hard. So the race committee went out and read the winds. At 9am it was already "blowing like stink" as they say and the locals and the local weather forecast said that it would just keep building throughout the day. So they called off all races for the day. This got mixed reactions. Some, like me, were excited because it meant a day for exploring and hiking. Others wanted us to hang around just in case the wind backed down (which it did...). Anyway, we went out for lunch and then went hiking. We found so many cool water falls! We hiked to a couple and then our group split, with the more adventurous of us continuing on to the top. On our way back down the mountain we found a nice secluded waterfall pool. The water was so cold it hurt my bones! I went in up to my knees, but that was really all I could handle. If I had had a change of clothes, or my bathing suit, or really just a shorter walk to the car once I was done, I would have jumped in like the Canadians did. Someday I'll do it, because it looked like so much fun!
At the end of the hike we had to go get the van to drive everyone home. It was really only a half mile down the road, but Jim and Chris wouldn't stop arguing about who would go get it. Jim didn't want Chris to go because he didn't think it was safe for a woman to walk down the road by herself, and Chris didn't want Jim to go because she wanted him to rest after such a long hike. So as they sat arguing they stopped a car to ask for a ride, and low and behold, it was full of women! So Chris won and left to get the car while the rest of us got ice cream cones.
After that we went to pick up Abby who was with the rest of the Canadians, and got sucked into staying for a little while to chat. We went to the Washington side for dinner at a Mexican restaurant and then went to bed for the night, sure that we would get some sailing in the next day.
Wednesday morning came and we all got up nice and early and arrived at the marina where we were greeted with a sign that said "All races postponed until 1500". Nobody was too happy about waking up early just to find out we could have slept in. So we just waited around the marina all day. We went to the cafe and played cards and had lunch while we waited. 1500 came, and the wind wasn't done yet, so we waited another hour. Then they sent us out for a few races. The last race ended and the sun went down. The race committee was about to start another race, but the racers protested. Three was enough, it was about 2000 and everyone was ready to eat and put away their boats for the night. So we went in. We got cleaned up and went to dinner. Only dinner wasn't ready yet. It was a seafood stew, which was good, but we are not convinced it was worth waiting so late for. We got a late bedtime that night.
Thursday morning was again, very windy. So we waited. Only this time they sent us out earlier. I think we were starting races by 1500 if not a little earlier. It was very windy when we were out there. I was pretty scared because I didn't want to flip. At the start of this day I believe we were in first place, but not by much. I didn't want to make a mistake that would cost us our place. Jim kept saying "no mistakes girl, no mistakes". So I decided to tell Jim that I was nervous about tacking and ask for a little more time just so that we didn't flip. That day a lot of boats went in and didn't race because it was so windy. I suspect we were sailing in winds higher than 20 knots. I think we had 4 races and ended the day in a tie for first place. The way that they break ties is to count who has more first places, which we had the same of, so then they count the number of second places, which we luckily had more of. That night dinner wasn't provided and it was very late again. By the time we were ready to eat it was 2100 and nothing in the tiny town of Cascade Locks was open, not even the grocery store. So we had to drive 20 minutes out to Hood River to find a McDonalds. We ate in the car and went right to bed because the racing committee had announced earlier in the day that the first race would start at 0800 the next morning.
We woke up so early and it was so cold, and it was windy...but we raced. I was scared, but not willing to give it up. As it turned out the wind kept getting stronger, so we only raced two races that last day, which was enough for us to secure first place.
We cleaned up and waited for the award dinner. The dinner was delicious!! Lots of good food and good desserts. After the awards were handed out we said our goodbyes and hit the road. We had to be in Salt Lake City in the morning for a trade show. We drove through the night. The trade show was huge and we arrived during it's final hours. So I took Chris' son and Abby and we walked around looking for free stuff while Jim and Chris did business at the Hobie booth. We got some friendly chatty people, and some people that were a little mean and looked at us like we were trying to steal something or spy on them. Either way it was fun because the event was so huge.
After that we drove through the night. Abby and I kept Chris company when she took over and drove until 0100. We jammed out to music for a long time. Then, the gas light came on. Jim's van is notorious for running out of gas. Essentially, if that light comes on, you have two miles (maybe) to find gas. We were not close to gas. Jim woke up in the chaos and told us to keep going when we almost exited to a town we would have had to drive a ways to. So we kept driving. Maybe the poor van was running off our our combined adrenaline, because somehow we made it to the gas station in time. The gas station called Fat Dogs with the slogan "You Are Nowhere" right next to it's name. Jim says it could have said "You Are Now Here".
We kept driving for what seemed like forever. I can't really sleep in Jim's van because whenever I put my head down, it's vibrating so much it makes my cheeks itch. Go ahead and laugh, because that's what everyone else did, but it's true!
Finally we made it to Des Moines! I knew we were taking a boat home with us from Jim's shop, but I didn't realize that the boat was in parts, and would be taking up the ENTIRE BED OF THE TRUCK!! So Chris' son and I were squished in the back of the truck with our luggage all the way to Kansas City. Once there, they loaded my stuff into their little mustang and Chris drove me to Warsaw where E picked me up! It was so so kind of her, seeing as she probably was way more tired than I was because she actually drove some pretty long legs of that journey.
I arrived back on post at 2200 on Sunday night, eager to hear all about what E had been up to all week.
Just for a quick recap for all of you, on Wednesday, I believe, E got tazed. He sent me the video and posted it on FB, and it didn't look like fun. On Friday E got OC sprayed. Hot pepper oil spray in their eyes, then they have to do a little obstacle course where they have to fight, take people down to handcuff them, answer questions, and stuff like that. We had been told that it lasts for a really long time, and that when you shower it reactivates everything and it feels just as bad as when you first got sprayed. However, E said it wasn't that bad after all. He did some volunteer hours this weekend, and generally had a pretty good week.
Well, that about sums up the last week for us!
On Thursday evening E drove me to Warsaw to meet up with Chris who would be going to Oregon with me. She picked me up and I slept at her house for the night. On Friday morning (Friday was E's birthday! So sad I missed it, but it sounded like he went out with friends and had a good time) we woke up bright and early to get a few things done at her sailing shop before hitting the rode. With her 11 year old son in tow we were off! The morning at the shop was way more interesting than I expected. Chris sold somewhere around four kayaks that morning. One gentleman came in and was very adamant about not wanting the mirage drive (pedals for the kayak so you can use your legs instead of your hands, and they're so so easy to use) because he was going to put in a motor. He argued with Chris over this for a long time, left, then eventually came back and bought the boat, mirage drives and all. The next gentleman came in and was not interested in talking so much, but he wanted a red kayak. The only one Chris had was a demo which she was willing to sell at a discount because it had "demo" stamped on it. I'm telling you, the little words were just as tiny as the font you're reading on this screen. Basically invisible to anyone but someone who knows it's there and where to look. Nonetheless, Flip wanted nothing to do with this discounted Kayak because he said it looked tacky. So he would wait for a new one to come in and pay full price. Finally, there was a couple that came in wanting to buy a new kayak to add to their collection of three already because they were having grandkids over that night. So they bought a kayak and then bought a sail for it on a whim! They didn't even know how to work a sail and just added that $300 extra like it was no big deal!
Anyway, after cleaning up the shop we got on the road toward Des Moines, IA. We stopped at a Burger King on our way out. I have had so many bad experiences with BK's with them getting my order wrong and not having fresh food that before this trip I had vowed to never ever eat at Burger King again. Only with Chris having a hard time finding something that was both on the way out of town and something that her picky eater son would agree to I just shut my mouth. And what do you know? They not only gave me the wrong chicken on my salad, but they forgot to give me my salad dressing. Disappointing. After eating lunch I drove the rest of the way to Iowa so that Chris could work and sleep.
We got to Iowa and picked up my skipper, Jim and Chris' crew Abby along with Jim's hilarious sister Julie. We drove straight through the night and straight through Saturday arriving late Saturday night at our destination. The next morning we set up our boats and registered. We set up a few things that Jim and Chris brought to sell, and sold quite a bit of stuff right away. We thought maybe we would get the boats ready and have a chance to go out and practice a bit, being that it has been two years since I've been on this particular boat, and nearly two years since I've been sailing in general, and it was Abby's first time on this boat ever. However, there was just too much going on. People needed help with their boats and parts, and just wanted to chat in general. So we talked through what the next week would be like on the water and then called it a day.
On Monday we had the skipper's meeting and then were able to go sailing right away. We sailed a total of four races, but one got thrown out because every boat (Including me and Jim) but one rounded the wrong mark. So we had three races which left Jim and I in second place after that day (I think). That night we had the welcome party dinner. Pulled pork sandwiches and the like were on the menu. Then we went home for some rest. That night I found plenty of bruises on my knees that hurt. I get them from kneeling on the ropes on the boat. I was a little bit nervous about the next day sailing and having to kneel all over again.
We woke up bright and early the next morning ready for a day of racing. However, when we got to the beach the wind was blowing pretty strong. This regatta had a cap of 20 knots which meant we wouldn't start a race if it was blowing that hard. So the race committee went out and read the winds. At 9am it was already "blowing like stink" as they say and the locals and the local weather forecast said that it would just keep building throughout the day. So they called off all races for the day. This got mixed reactions. Some, like me, were excited because it meant a day for exploring and hiking. Others wanted us to hang around just in case the wind backed down (which it did...). Anyway, we went out for lunch and then went hiking. We found so many cool water falls! We hiked to a couple and then our group split, with the more adventurous of us continuing on to the top. On our way back down the mountain we found a nice secluded waterfall pool. The water was so cold it hurt my bones! I went in up to my knees, but that was really all I could handle. If I had had a change of clothes, or my bathing suit, or really just a shorter walk to the car once I was done, I would have jumped in like the Canadians did. Someday I'll do it, because it looked like so much fun!
At the end of the hike we had to go get the van to drive everyone home. It was really only a half mile down the road, but Jim and Chris wouldn't stop arguing about who would go get it. Jim didn't want Chris to go because he didn't think it was safe for a woman to walk down the road by herself, and Chris didn't want Jim to go because she wanted him to rest after such a long hike. So as they sat arguing they stopped a car to ask for a ride, and low and behold, it was full of women! So Chris won and left to get the car while the rest of us got ice cream cones.
After that we went to pick up Abby who was with the rest of the Canadians, and got sucked into staying for a little while to chat. We went to the Washington side for dinner at a Mexican restaurant and then went to bed for the night, sure that we would get some sailing in the next day.
Wednesday morning came and we all got up nice and early and arrived at the marina where we were greeted with a sign that said "All races postponed until 1500". Nobody was too happy about waking up early just to find out we could have slept in. So we just waited around the marina all day. We went to the cafe and played cards and had lunch while we waited. 1500 came, and the wind wasn't done yet, so we waited another hour. Then they sent us out for a few races. The last race ended and the sun went down. The race committee was about to start another race, but the racers protested. Three was enough, it was about 2000 and everyone was ready to eat and put away their boats for the night. So we went in. We got cleaned up and went to dinner. Only dinner wasn't ready yet. It was a seafood stew, which was good, but we are not convinced it was worth waiting so late for. We got a late bedtime that night.
Thursday morning was again, very windy. So we waited. Only this time they sent us out earlier. I think we were starting races by 1500 if not a little earlier. It was very windy when we were out there. I was pretty scared because I didn't want to flip. At the start of this day I believe we were in first place, but not by much. I didn't want to make a mistake that would cost us our place. Jim kept saying "no mistakes girl, no mistakes". So I decided to tell Jim that I was nervous about tacking and ask for a little more time just so that we didn't flip. That day a lot of boats went in and didn't race because it was so windy. I suspect we were sailing in winds higher than 20 knots. I think we had 4 races and ended the day in a tie for first place. The way that they break ties is to count who has more first places, which we had the same of, so then they count the number of second places, which we luckily had more of. That night dinner wasn't provided and it was very late again. By the time we were ready to eat it was 2100 and nothing in the tiny town of Cascade Locks was open, not even the grocery store. So we had to drive 20 minutes out to Hood River to find a McDonalds. We ate in the car and went right to bed because the racing committee had announced earlier in the day that the first race would start at 0800 the next morning.
We woke up so early and it was so cold, and it was windy...but we raced. I was scared, but not willing to give it up. As it turned out the wind kept getting stronger, so we only raced two races that last day, which was enough for us to secure first place.
We cleaned up and waited for the award dinner. The dinner was delicious!! Lots of good food and good desserts. After the awards were handed out we said our goodbyes and hit the road. We had to be in Salt Lake City in the morning for a trade show. We drove through the night. The trade show was huge and we arrived during it's final hours. So I took Chris' son and Abby and we walked around looking for free stuff while Jim and Chris did business at the Hobie booth. We got some friendly chatty people, and some people that were a little mean and looked at us like we were trying to steal something or spy on them. Either way it was fun because the event was so huge.
After that we drove through the night. Abby and I kept Chris company when she took over and drove until 0100. We jammed out to music for a long time. Then, the gas light came on. Jim's van is notorious for running out of gas. Essentially, if that light comes on, you have two miles (maybe) to find gas. We were not close to gas. Jim woke up in the chaos and told us to keep going when we almost exited to a town we would have had to drive a ways to. So we kept driving. Maybe the poor van was running off our our combined adrenaline, because somehow we made it to the gas station in time. The gas station called Fat Dogs with the slogan "You Are Nowhere" right next to it's name. Jim says it could have said "You Are Now Here".
We kept driving for what seemed like forever. I can't really sleep in Jim's van because whenever I put my head down, it's vibrating so much it makes my cheeks itch. Go ahead and laugh, because that's what everyone else did, but it's true!
Finally we made it to Des Moines! I knew we were taking a boat home with us from Jim's shop, but I didn't realize that the boat was in parts, and would be taking up the ENTIRE BED OF THE TRUCK!! So Chris' son and I were squished in the back of the truck with our luggage all the way to Kansas City. Once there, they loaded my stuff into their little mustang and Chris drove me to Warsaw where E picked me up! It was so so kind of her, seeing as she probably was way more tired than I was because she actually drove some pretty long legs of that journey.
I arrived back on post at 2200 on Sunday night, eager to hear all about what E had been up to all week.
Just for a quick recap for all of you, on Wednesday, I believe, E got tazed. He sent me the video and posted it on FB, and it didn't look like fun. On Friday E got OC sprayed. Hot pepper oil spray in their eyes, then they have to do a little obstacle course where they have to fight, take people down to handcuff them, answer questions, and stuff like that. We had been told that it lasts for a really long time, and that when you shower it reactivates everything and it feels just as bad as when you first got sprayed. However, E said it wasn't that bad after all. He did some volunteer hours this weekend, and generally had a pretty good week.
Well, that about sums up the last week for us!
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