Oregon Move

Hello family and friends.

We are happy to report that our move last week went very smoothly!

On Monday we got to have dinner at one of our favorite restaurants in Camarillo (Wood Ranch - they also catered our wedding back in November) with our good friends Stephanie and Joseph Crisostomo from Bakersfield. It had been several months since we had seen them and it was wonderful to get to spend some time with them before our move.

On Tuesday morning we picked up our 16 foot Budget rental truck and car trailer. We took it to be weighed empty (per Navy requirements to be reimbursed for the move) and then took it back to our apartment to start loading it. We were lucky to have a little help from a friend for a bit in the middle of the day. It's amazing how much stuff two people can accumulate! I didn't think there was any way we would fill the 16 foot truck, but we almost did. Tuesday evening we got the chance to see various friends who came to send us off and spend one more evening with us. They helped load Dan's truck onto the tow trailer and helped load the last minute items into the moving truck. That night Dan and I camped on our apartment floor out for our last night in Camarillo.

Wednesday started early - we got up at 5am and hit the road at 6am. Dan drove the rental truck towing his truck and I drove my SUV with our one backpack of clothing, our ferrets in their cage, and a few of our taxidermy animals. It was SLOW going up the grapevine. We were both glad to have that portion of the drive over with. The drive that first day went well and in the middle of the day we were surprised with the temperature (not as hot as we thought it would be) and our distance. The drive from Camarillo, CA to Albany, OR is usually 13.5 hours in a normal car. With the rental truck towing Dan's truck we figured it would take between 16 and 18 hours. We were pleased to make it to our goal of Medford, OR to stay the night. We made it to Medford around 7:30pm. Our ferrets LOVED the hotel room (they love anything new) and especially enjoyed the shower, which was a handicap walk-in shower that they could run in and out of freely. It felt wonderful to sleep in a bed. We took advantage of the free Internet and free breakfast before hitting the road again on Thursday.

Thursday morning we got to sleep in and left the hotel around 9am. We needed to be in Albany to sign our lease at 2pm and we gave ourselves a time buffer. There were a few more large hills, but the truck and my SUV made it through. We pulled up to our house in Albany at about 1pm. We took the truck off the trailer and the trailer off the rental truck, then got lunch and went to sign our lease. It took about 30 minutes in the leasing office and then we did a walk-through. The manager decided he wanted to clean our carpets in the living room one more time, which was a bit disappointing (that meant we couldn't move our furniture into the living room for a few days). It was pretty warm (about 90 degrees) and we unloaded about half the rental truck. We decided to take a break for dinner and then we finished unloading the truck completely in the evening while it was cooler. All our living room stuff got put into the garage.

On Friday we returned the rental truck and trailer and ran random errands. The Cable/Internet guy came and installed service in the early afternoon, which was wonderful (in CA it would take a week for Verizon to come out!). The carpet cleaner came and didn't clean the whole carpets - just sprayed a few spots. My SUV started making an awful noise, so we stopped driving it (of course the noise started at 4:45pm on Friday afternoon - no time to get it to a mechanic before the weekend). Dan's Mom (Loren) and younger brother (Aaron) came on Friday evening and stayed with us until Sunday evening. Aaron was entered in the Oregon State Shooting Competition up in Brooks, which is about a half hour north of us. It was nice to see them and great to have Aaron help move the couch and TV into the house with Dan.

We spent Saturday and Sunday in Brooks at Aaron's shooting competition. It was fun to get out and walk around and not do anything related to moving. They also brought our boat up for us (it was being stored with them in Klamath Falls, OR since we didn't have a place for it at our apartment in Camarillo) so we took it out on the Willamette River, which is right behind our house.

We took my car in on Monday to a mechanic that was recommended both on the AAA website and by one of our very friendly neighbors. We heard back this morning that it needs a new engine. We're trying to decide what to do about that right now - we're not putting a new engine in it. We should be fine with one vehicle for a few months - Dan is taking his placement testing for school right now and doesn't start classes until the end of September. Hopefully by then I will be eligible to apply for jobs. In August we'll be going on a rafting trip on the Snake River (boarder of Idaho and Oregon) with Dan's family. They do it every year and we're excited to join them this time.

Our new address is:

Dan and Jen Ketcham
120 Chicago St. NE
Albany, OR 97321

Wishing you all the best! Enjoy the rest of your summer!

~Jen and Dan