We Made It.

Well, we made it. Last Sunday we pulled in to Fort Bliss, TX before dinner time. I haven't updated, frankly because we don't  have much for exciting news. But, I can give you the low down. Our road trip from Alaska to Texas, all 5,092 miles of it, is completed. And I can safely say that we had no mishaps (except for the moose!) Not many people cant say that they completed this road trip without any set backs!

I apologize to any who see this as a rant, or complaining, but I will tell you how it is in our eyes.

This place is huge. We gave the housing market the benefit of the doubt, only to get down here and struggle to find anything that fits what we need. If we lower our "standards" we might as well just live on the border of Mexico. They say El Paso is safe, but to get to the safe side, rent goes up. So, the search continues. If we find a place and call on it, it seems that it has already been taken. We found one place so far that suits what we need, and it is almost to the point where we just get that place.

Luke JUST started inprocessing today. Inprocessing should have begun and finished within a week of getting here. A flaw in the system here. 400 soldiers are inprocessing with him, and an estimated 1000 will be here by the end of the month. The waitlist to housing units is a year wait. But anything off post is hard to come by still because of the overpopulation.

Army lodging decided to give us a check out date of 10 days AFTER our arrival, meaning we are to check out by tomorrow. Down here we are supposed to get 60 days of TLA (temporary lodging assistance). Due to unavailable space, they couldn't book us out any longer than that, leaving us stranded to find another hotel to stay in. Well, our search was difficult, nothing around the El Paso area had any availability to house us. Luckily, when I called the ASYMCA Lodging facility located just off base, they were able to accomodate us after we are "kicked" out of lodging here on base. What a nightmare.

We are still struggling to find a place, as not a lot comes available until beginning of February. So a hotel is what we will live out of. Now the weather, I can't complain. However, it is an adjustment. 70 degrees in January leads me to believe we WILL be melted completely away come this summer. 70 is HOT for us, especially when it is a dry heat, no shade. I forget, we are in the DESERT!

Anyways, it's microwave and crock pot meals for us until we have a home. It would be nice to get our belongings, the jogging stroller would be awesome for days where we can go for a jog.

I guess I need to stay on top of the updating.... maybe I will post a Zoey update here tonight...

Hope everyone is enjoying the new year so far.

<3 Love always.

On the journey south!

Well here we are. "On the road again...." We packed up the Uhaul last night and were headed out of good ol Maple Plain this morning around 10. It's nice to be able to start late... As our drive was only about 9 hours instead of 12 or 14. I have to say... The road from MN to DES Moines, IA does not impress me at all. We had no complications but it was so dull it was annoying. Aside from the high winds that made the drive loud, all was well. We saw more stupid drivers than ever! We didn't stop much we prepared in advance and packed things to make our own lunches and dinner. It makes the trip go faster too! We traveled through Minnesota, Iowa, Missouri, and made it to Junction City, Kansas in 9.5 hours! Tomorrow we will head south in to Oklahoma and then stop in Abilene Texas for our final night before driving to our new "home" in lodging on Fort Bliss. We will soon begin the seriousness of hunting for a place to live.... For now, I will lay my head on this awesome pillow, on this pillow top California king bed and sleep... That is... If Zoey allows us to!