Another big trip?

This blog began as a place to document the events leading up to, and including a 2,762 mile trip across the United States to start a new life together. We shared the planning, decisions, and emotions that went along with throwing caution to the wind, and starting new, to find the happiness that both of us had been missing all along.

In this spirit, it only seems fitting to carry on with our story, as we look at moving ahead to the next chapter, but first, let's start with an overview of what has happened since our last post. Over the last year and a half, life has been good for us here in Lompoc, CA. I settled nicely into a job as night-shift Charge RN at Lompoc Valley Medical Center. I work with a phenomenal staff at our small community hospital, and have been warmly welcomed from the first time I walked through the door. Tricia is more than a year in to her Associates degree in Psychology at Allan Hancock College. She is doing an amazing job, and has maintained a GPA that many would be jealous of, as she works toward a career as a Special Education Teacher. Aedan just started his school year as a 4th grader, and is reading at a 7th or 8th grade level. Supplying him with a steady supply of books has been a job in itself, and his teachers have had nothing but wonderful things to say. We live in a beautiful mission-style home, that we were extremely lucky to find, and it has been ideal as we have all settled in to our new version of "normal". All-in-all, I guess you could say that life has been pretty perfect, but with all these big changes and moves that have taken place, Newton knows best when he said that an object in motion remains in motion.

While our rented house has been great for our needs so far, we decided that that we wanted to start looking at getting a place that was OURS. We have worked hard to rebuild our credit over the past year and a half, and though we absolutely adore our landlord, we don't necessarily want to rent for the rest of our lives. We wanted something that was actually ours! Since Hancock College will only carry Tricia through an Associates degree, we found ourselves limited to looking at houses in areas that also had Universities. Were these towns places that we could see ourselves living FOREVER, though?! Let's break it down... 1.) We want OUR home... 2.) We need it to be close to a school so Tricia can finish her degree... 3.) It needs to be in an area that offers affordable housing... 4.) We want scenery and things to do that we all enjoy... 5.) We need a good school/neighborhood for Aedan... And 6.) we still want to be able to take our trips. We are adventurous people, and pouring 100% of our income into a "sticks-and bricks" house (usually with a $500,000+ price tag, for any of the places we found in California) for the next 30 years just didn't sound feasible to us. Enter "Plan C"...

FULL-TIME life in an RV!  Yes, I realize that it sounds absolutely CRAZY to some of you, but I assure you that we are doing EVERY bit of possible research possible. Over the past several weeks, research is pretty much ALL we have done, and we have already learned a whole lot more than I ever thought possible. How can you possibly have ocean-front, mountain view, desert, lakeside, property with two bedrooms, two baths, a garage, and a basement, that is affordable and still matches your adventurous lifestyle? Easy... Live in a house on wheels!

We still have a lot of research to do, and we will do our best to "take you along for the ride" over the next few months, but stay tuned, because the Gambakeramps JUST might be coming to a town near you in the near future!

Our Blog v.2.0

Soooo... It's no mystery that we did NOT do a great job of documenting our trip across America, nor our transition into life together here on the West Coast. Oops... Turns out life was pretty busy for a while, and blogging takes a lot of work/time.

SO!! Now, we have decided that since we already HAVE a perfectly good blog, we will turn it into a place where we can write about all our awesome adventures. We are both kind of on the same page in the thought process that life is more about experiences than things, so we find ourselves doing something new and exciting on a pretty regular basis.

If anyone is still out there, stick around!

- Derek, Tricia, and Aedan (He apparently felt that his name should stand out...)

A few hours with my favorite ladies. (Update Part 2 of ????)

I know that there are people whose feelings were hurt when I left, feeling like I had forgotten about them or like they weren't important enough.  I think it is almost an inevitability of new beginnings.  We all want to hold on to some tangible piece of what we leave behind, and fit in that "one last visit" before everything changes.  I can understand it, because I do it myself, but I am able to find some comfort in reminding myself that this isn't Goodbye... It's just See you later. 

There is one woman in my life that I DID have to see, however, and squeeze in those precious few hours.  When you are only a year old, profound changes take place in a matter of weeks, and so much has changed just since the last time I saw Hudson.  She is walking, talking, and is taking on more and more of a personality that is all her own.  She was a little more cautious this time than she usually is, and took a little longer to warm up to us.  Maybe it was because I had an unfamiliar face with me, but it made me realize I have probably been a little neglectful of our FaceTime dates recently.  Note to self: Stop being too busy for the things that matter.

Seeing her with Tricia made me smile.  They got along amazingly, and if I had ovaries, they would probably have been thrown into full-on baby fever.  I'm sure there is a male equivalent, but I dunno what they call it, so you get the point!  We stayed up late talking, and it was nice for everyone to get acquainted, since I kinda plan on keeping her.  After the long day we had, we both crashed the minute we hit the pillow, and the following morning was filled with laundry, rearranging, and getting everythign ready to get on the road.  

Lunch was an amazing (as always) meal at the Smoking Pig, and after a tearful goodbye, we were on the road, wiping away the tears and headed for the West coast!.... Or so we thought.  Two exits down, traffic was at a dead stop, but eventually we did get moving again, with Memphis in the GPS, a full tank of gas, and visions of forever in our heads.

To be continued... 

FINALLY taking time to post something (Part 1 of I don't know how many)

So... At this point, it is no secret that we absolutely SUCK at travel blogging.  These last few days have been an absolute whirlwind, but it's been one that I would not trade for the world.  From the moment Tricia got on her plane wednesday afternoon, it finally felt real.  I knew that these were the final moments of life as I knew it, before opening the beginning of a whole new chapter of life, and ever since that moment, things have been so busy that we have hardly had a single moment where it felt like we weren't moving, so this is my attempt to recount the past few days events, to the best of my recollection.

Wednesday was filled with too many feelings to count.  Tricia was on a plane, headed my way, and in the morning she would meet my friends and coworkers, and we would load up the last of my belongings, and begin our journey to the place we will call home together, at least for now.  Add in the fact that my apartment was still half-full of my belongings, and you have the makings for a cocktail of emotion.  Had it not been for the help I receieved from a few amazing friends, and the willingness of my downstairs neighbor to take some stuff off my hands, I probably would have teetered over the edge, into a mental breakdown.

Fast forward 5 hours (Only 3 of which were spent sleeping).  It is Thursday morning, and Tricia is calling from Charlotte.  Her plane is delayed, and people are already making their way to the restaurant to meet us for breakfast.  The apartment is a mess, I am exhausted, breakfast is right around the corner, I'm not sure when my girlfriend's plane is leaving, and I still haven't showered.... Might as well get this party started, so off to the airport we go!  The flight tracker shows them in the air, as I grab a diet Pepsi at the Bojangles drive-thru, and claims they are 10 minutes out.  This should get me to the airport right on time to get her off her flight, and still make it to breakfast (Although I have to text our breakfast order, since they stop serving in 15 minutes... Hope she likes french toast!).  I pull into the airport parking lot.  The flight tracker has veered several miles off the projected course, presumably to avoid weather, but the dots have stopped... In the middle of the Pee-Dee river?  Flight status: Arrived.... They wouldn't say "crashed" would they? Thankfully, 5 minutes later, the plane DID actually arrive, and I could stop worrying that my girlfriend had died in a plane crash on the first day of our life together.  Quick hug and kiss, grab the bags, and out the door we go, cruising across town.  Breakfast is nice, albeit emotional.  The friends I have made in the past few years, are truly amazing, and it will be hard to not see them on a regular basis, but I know that the bonds we have formed, can endure the distance.  Plus both California and South Carolina are LOVELY places to vacation, so it'll be alright!

The apartment is still a mess, but again, with the help of an amazing friend, we made quick work of the disaster (while I assured Tricia that the current disarray was not an indication of what to expect in the future), and we loaded the Kia to the brim.  Just to give you an idea of how packed this car is, I literally had to readjust a few things just to make room for a calender.... a CALENDAR, almost didn't fit in the car! By 4:30 we were on our way to Karla's, and for the last time, I watched the town that I have called home for the past 8 years, disappear in the rearview mirror.  I am not always a huge fan of change, but the hand that I was holding as we drove away, reassured me that there are far better things ahead, and that the life that is waiting for me, is finally the one I have been searching for all along. 

To be continued... 

Finally getting started!

It's 5:29 on Friday night and we are just getting on the road. Yesterday I arrived in  South Carolina after working all day and flying all night! -exhausted! Derek picked me up after freaking out and trying to figure out if "arrived" was the same thing as crashed after getting a flight notification that I had landed...and the website showing the plane stopped in some swampy location. We had breakfast with some pretty awesome people and said a sad goodbye, went back to the apartment and finished packing the car. Laura came and helped us, thank God...but it was another super emotional goodbye. We headed to Karlas around 4pm and arrived around 8pm. We hit a little rain storm, but really enjoyed having our best friend right by our side! -lots of drum solos and screaming to post hard core. We stayed up way to late hanging out and playing with this super cute baby we found(totally going back to steal her).  I think we finally went to bed around 1am...I dont know how either of us managed to do this! We had every intention of leaving first thing, but all 3 of us just sat around trying to prolong the inevitable...all day. As the day progressed Karlas offer of staying another day or 5 began to look better and better. Finally around 4 we decided we should probably grab lunch...we went to the smoking pig and now I feel like the blue berry girl from Willy wonka. Soooooo than we had to leave....super depressing. It's kind of amazing how Derek has made such a positive impact on so many peoples lives and I know he will be missed....BUT we'll be back!
So here we sit about 2 exits from Karlas in traffic....wishing we had just another day of travel time so we could spend just a little more time with them.

It's almost here!!!

Lately, the days seem to fly by in the blink of an eye, so it's been a few days since I have posted anything on here.  Between trips to the dumpster, trips to goodwill, trips to get boxes, and trips to Starbucks, there hasn't really been an abundance of free time... Also, I may or may not have lost my iPad for a minute behind a pile of boxes/bags in my bedroom... Don't judge!

It is hard to believe that it is REALLY almost here!  What started off as a "wishful joke" months ago, has culminated into the most amazing thing that has ever happened to me.  I typically get a little rattled when it comes to change, but it is different this time.  The "old me" would have surely been at least moderately anxious, surrounded by boxes, piles of clothes to sort through, and not a piece of furniture in sight.  While there are a lot of different feelings that I have been processing this week, Anxiety has not been one of them.  Never in my life have I looked forward to forever like I do now.

I am sure that most people feel this way about their own relationship (while the world mutters a collective *gag* or "get a room"), but I feel like I got lucky... like WE got lucky.  I don't know how many people are really fortunate enough to find the one person that was made just for them.  The one that truly sees and understands every crack and scuff that makes them the person that they are, and instead sees those "flaws" as the glimmering facets that make them beautiful. 

What I DO know, is that for the first time in a long time, I wake up smiling every single day, I never spend one moment feeling alone (despite the 2,762 miles that have been between us) or uncared for, I look forward to doing little things together that I used to consider tedious, and that in just a few days I will get to wake up every morning to the most beautiful face I have ever seen.  I'm not going to lie... I kinda feel like the luckiest guy in the world. 

Now that I have mushily tested everyones upchuck-reflex, there are still things to do before I get ready for work tonight. It's my next-to-last day!!  Hope everyones day is awesome!

3 Days, 17 hours, and 49 minutes!

- Derek

Ain't no rest for the wicked!

You ever wish that someone had taken all those naps you refused as a kid and put them into an interest-earning savings account that you could withdraw from when you hit your 30's, or is it just me?  I am so sleepy! Turns out getting ready to move across America is a lot of work. Who would have thunk?! 

Lots going on at 1419 Valparaiso the past few days, hence my lack of posts here. Allow me to take a moment to update you... 

1.) The Grocery-getter got a bath and is completely cleaned out in preparation for being loaded with all my worldly possessions. 

2.) My sofa, chair, computer desk, bookshelf, urn, entertainment stand, and TV are all sold, and have a lovely new home! I spent Sunday morning taking everything apart and getting it ready to be picked up, and we had all of it gone by around 4:30. Not too bad if I say so myself! 

3.) I had a super nice "farewell dinner" with some of the awesome ladies (and ex-ladies) of South Tower (and almost stole Amber's beautiful baby)! 

4.) I got the title/registration to my car switched over to my name, now that it's all paid off (which, for the record, is an amazing feeling!). 

5.) LOTS and lots of packing/sorting, with LOTS and lots of trips to the dumpster. 

6.) And now I am at work... with somewhat droopy eyes, an excess of caffeine in my blood, and the sound of my bed in my ears, yelling my name! 

So, things are moving along, but I'm not gonna lie. I am ready for this part to be over. I really miss my partner in crime, and I am ready for her to be here so we can get to get to the fun part!

Hope all is well with everyone, and hoping to see a few more of you before its time to go! Behave yourselves, and stay tuned! 

 9 days, 4 hours, and 6 minutes!!! 😮