Life Update

We went to Oregon for 2 weeks at the beginning of June. We spent the first week in Klamath Falls with Dan’s family. We had lots of fun taking our boat out on Klamath Lake and fishing in the Williamson River. The second week we went to Albany, OR to look for a house and set up Dan’s school stuff. We got the school stuff squared away pretty easily. He’s all signed up and once we move up he’ll have to take placement testing and register for classes. It took nearly the entire week to find a house for us, though. We were kind of picky - we’ve got the boat which requires space to park and the ferrets. There were lots of apartments for rent (which didn’t have room to park a car, let alone a boat) and lots of houses for sale. We finally found a house we really liked, but another lady had an application in on it already. We were pretty discouraged and were ready to just rent a duplex month-to-month, leave the boat with Dan’s parents, move up, and continue looking for something more suitable for us once we were up there for good. Luckily, when we called back the next day the lady had backed out of the house, so we snatched it up. It’s a cute little 2-bedroom house with a nice sized detached garage and a nice size yard (large yard by California standards). The boat will easily fit in the garage and there’s plenty of room for a pen for Fred (my turtle) in the backyard. There’s even the Willamette River a few blocks away with a boat launch just down the road. Now we just need to get a washer, dryer, and lawnmower. It was great to finally get the house hunting out of the way. While we were up in Northern OR we got to visit some of Dan’s family that I’d never met before. We also got to see Dan’s best friend and his wife - it’s always fun to spend time with them. We went back down to Klamath Falls and spent the weekend with Dan’s parents before driving back down to Camarillo.

Since being back in Camarillo we’ve been hanging out, not doing a whole lot. I’ve packed a few boxes and we’ve set up the moving van. It’s been a bit tricky to figure out the Navy moving stuff (they’ll be reimbursing us for the move), but I think we’ve finally gotten it figured out. We’re picking up the moving van the morning of July 13th and plan to pack it up that day. We’re driving the moving van and my SUV and we’ll be towing Dan’s truck behind the moving van. We’ll officially be hitting the road for Albany, OR on July 14th. We’ll stay overnight somewhere in Northern CA (it’s a 14-hour drive in regular cars from Camarillo to Albany) and continue on the next day, arriving in Albany at our house in the 15th of July.

At the beginning of August we’ll be going on a rafting trip with Dan’s parents, brother, and brother’s friend. The 6 of us will be rafting the Snake River, which boarders Idaho and Oregon. It’ll be a 6 day trip with 4 days rafting on the water. His family has done it almost every summer for years and years. We’ll be fishing throughout the day and Dan and his brother are planning on going Bear hunting part of the time. We’ve been having fun gathering different supplies for the trip. Dan has just about everything he needs for himself, but I get to get my own life vest and water shoes.

Dan’s school starts up at the very end of September. He’s going to the local community college and plans to transfer to Oregon State University (go Beavers!) to complete a bachelor’s degree in Fisheries and Wildlife. OSU is in Corvallis, which is about 10 minutes from Albany (which is why we’re moving there - figured it was better to just move once, especially since the Navy is paying for it).

As for me, I’ve had more hiccups with school. Due to some paperwork, I won’t be able to sit for my Respiratory Therapy Board Exam until the beginning of September. This was a big disappointment - I’ve been out of school since the end of March. For now I’m focusing on the move and tying up loose ends here in CA. Once we get to Oregon I’ll begin my marathon studying for the boards. We’re not sure yet if I’ll need to come all the way back to Ventura County to take my exam, or if I’ll be able to drive down to a location in Northern CA (I have to take my test in CA to get the CA license. A CA license transfers to any state, but an OR license does not. If we ever moved to another state and I only had an OR license I’d have to do school and the exams all over again).

We’re spending our last few weeks here visiting friends and family and packing up our stuff. I’ll be sending another email out in a few weeks with our new address and contact information.

~Jen & Dan