The beginning

Two days ago my husband E and I landed in Ft Leonard Wood, MO.  It is my first experience on an Army base and I have so much to learn and so much to share.

First, we started off our grand adventure at 0200.  The alarm went off and before we could even get out of bed to turn it off I get a text message from my mother saying "she is here!"  My littlest cousin was born just in time! We packed up the last of our things into my sister in law's truck (she graciously switched vehicles with us for the summer so that we could bring enough stuff with us), and headed off to the hospital.  We met the precious little angel in the middle of the night and felt so blessed to be among the first people to see her tiny little fingers and toes.  After saying some final goodbyes we hit the road.

Shortly after leaving the cities we were hit with a downpour.  It seems as though the rain is following us wherever we go.  Just as we were about to pull off the road to wait out the rain, it let up and we were able to keep driving.  It rained on and off the rest of the way.  After stopping for lunch in Iowa we continued to drive straight through to Missouri with only stops for gas.

Sometime after we passed through Kansas City, we came across the scariest road either of us has ever been on.  It went up and down and twisted and turned and the speed limit was 55mph the whole way. It also had no shoulder.  One inch to the side and you were off the road and onto the slippery gravel or grass. Maybe it wouldn't have been so bad had we been able to go at a nice slow pace, but there were angry drivers behind us who clearly had a death wish trying to go 70mph.

We arrived on base at about 1430, a mere 12.5 hours after we started our journey, and about 2 hours too early to check in.  So we did some exploring.  We looked and looked and looked for at least an hour for the store that sells military uniforms and the like with no success.  Later we found out that we were just across the street from it the whole time.

We were able to check into our hotel that we will be living in for four months a little early.  We are going to be spoiled here.  We have a little kitchenette for cooking meals, two rooms, two tv's, free wifi, free laundry, and free continental breakfast five days a week.  On top of all of that, just like any ordinary hotel someone comes in to make our bed and give us new towels on a daily basis.  So spoiled.

After getting settled we went out to dinner with a friend who graciously answered all of our pesky questions and gave us countless pointers and bits of advice.

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Yesterday E thought he'd be spending the whole day in classes, only to wake up early, get dressed, and find out that he really only had to sign a few papers.  We spent the rest of the day together making sure he had everything he needed (USB printer cables were harder to find than we expected) from patches for E to crayons for me.  After all of that we hit the hay early to get a good nights sleep in for E's first day.

E seems to be enjoying his first day, reporting that there are about 30-40 people in his class.  He seems much more relaxed after having met them, getting expectations and the lay of the land.  While he is off learning things I am also learning things of my own.  This week I hope to find a job, or at least start that process.  I have also started making a menu for cooking dinners in our ity-bity kitchen (I have a new-found appreciation for our last kitchen, which we thought was small).  On top of all of that I have been taking note of civilian protocol when it comes to the army and learning what different ranks on uniforms look like.  All in all its enough to keep me busy for the time being.

Did I mention the rain is following us?  It has rained every day on and off since we left!  Feels like God might be preparing us for Washington.
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Okay, I know this post is getting long, but I have one more thing.  I figured I'd explain the title I chose for my blog while we are here.  First, I've never been to a military base before.  For some reason I thought it would be smaller...much smaller.  But with the different shops and restaurants and gas station and pool and mini golf and hotels and hospital and on and on, it is way bigger than I imagined.  Aside from all of that, I kept hearing people call this place (Fort Leonard Wood) "Fort Lost-in-the-woods".  So I assumed that anything remotely civilized would be way far away. Well, as it turns out there is a town surrounding the fort that has even more things like Walmart and hotels and restaurants, etc.  I mean, there's no Target, Best Buy, or even a mall, but I hardly feel lost in the woods.  We have everything we could possibly need, and then some!  Anyway, that's the reason behind my title.

Take care! More posts to come!