We have made it to Oregon.

It was a pretty uneventful trek across the country. We made the drive in 5 nights and 6 days. Back in our youth, we could have made it quicker. At our ages, 8-9 hours in a car with a dog was more than enough.

Blanche handled the trip like a trooper. It was a concern because she had never really spent long periods of time in a car and we really didn’t know what to expect.

We rented the SUV because we thought we could put down seats and she could have lots of space.

She wouldn’t get into the back.

Plan Two was to lay her bed on the back seat, propping it up to give her lots of space.

She couldn’t really maneuver around.

Plan Three was to shove the bed into the area in front of the back seat to level off the area and let her have free rein of the back seat.

This, she liked.

All learning experiences.

We were really pleased to see that almost everyone, everywhere wore masks in stores, gas stations, etc. The lone exception was a Truck Stop in Sydney, Nebraska next to the huge Cabela’s store. I don’t think 20% of the folks there had masks.  Lots of swagger.

The most difficult thing about crossing the country in the time of covid was meals. Neither of us were going into a restaurant to sit down and eat, so most of what we ate was drive-thru. And that stuff gets old after Day One. But… ya do what ya have to do.

And that’s what we’re going to be doing with our Extended Stay kitchen. You’ll notice the lack of oven, for starters. Two burners. A skillet, a saucepan, and a baby refrigerator. Primitive doesn’t begin to describe it – but we shall prevail.

We’ve already made a really good risotto…

This was just mushrooms and a grilled chicken breast. Simple but delicious! With our limited cooking facilities, we took over my sister’s kitchen and cooked up a storm – sauce, meatballs, grilled chicken and flank steak… We’re lucky we have a real kitchen to invade now and again. Everything is doable…

It’s been great seeing family and spending time with them. – the reason we moved here in the first place.

We got to celebrate my SILs birthday and their anniversary on our second night back here.

It’s good to be back.

Furniture arrived and went into storage. Our car arrived and we turned in the SUV. We now know for certain we don’t want a standard SUV. Too damned big. We will probably remain a one car family for a while. Maybe a smaller SUV in the future. We’ll see…

In the meantime, we found a house!

It’s in Beaverton, minutes from my sister, and in the exact area we wanted to live. The housing gods smiled down upon us. We probably won’t be moving in until mid-December… The paperwork involved with buying a house is unbelievable. The financing aspect is actually pretty good because it is all done online. But then it’s the inspections, insurance… Oy… I was 20 years younger the last time we did this!

The new place is a downsize from the house in Pennsylvania. It’s the perfect size for us and Blanche.

And it has a deck and a great backyard.

Puppydog has her outdoor space – all fenced in. We have options for seating, grilling, and gardening. It’s perfect.

While we wait for closing, it’s finding Doctors, getting a new Vet for Blanche, car insurance, drivers licenses, car registration… and then it will be setting up utilities, cable, trash pickup… learning a new recycling system…

And figuring out a new kitchen! We’ve been cooking on autopilot for years, now… It’s going to be interesting…

And fun.