Happenings

Unfortunately this is a text-only post, since we sort of packed our USB cable for our camera to talk with this computer, and we won't be getting another one until, well, probably not until I get my first paycheck. Which brings me to my occupation at the moment: finding an occupation. My minimum is 5 job applications a day. My focus has narrowed a little bit since before.

In lieu of some visual representation, I'll just do this the old fashioned way. Sarah & I are staying at an Extended Stay Hotel, and we'll be here for at least a month, maybe a couple months. We're in a typical urban-sprawl type of commercial area. With 3 blocks of me there is an Applebees, a McDonald's, a Taco Bell, and a Hooters. Oh, and Chick Fil-A (pronounced Chick Fillet), which is a kick-butt chicken fast-food restaurant that they don't have in Omaha.

Besides that, everything is very spread out in this area. We're in Chantilly, Virginia. There are parts that seem similar to Old Towne Bellevue, Nebraska. A very small-town feel, with a main road connecting it with the newer areas. While Sarah & I live in the newer part of town, there are definite eastern feels that are very foreign to the two of us, and as I was telling a friend of mine earlier, it's like stepping into some old European village. It's easy to forget that there are buildings in America older that 150 years of age. And it's really amazing.

Going back a little bit, the drive out here was long, but it actually wasn't bad. We definitely drove the right car for the trip, a 2005 Saturn Vue. While overall quality ratings on those have been less than stellar (just ask two of my friends), ours has held in there pretty well. The seats are comfortable, even for long trips, and it has minimal road noise (thanks to a minor tweak on the front passenger door at the dealership recently).

The trip was uneventful for the most part. We left late Friday, May 30. We had wanted to leave at 1pm, but it ended up being 9pm with all of the stuff we had. We reduced the amount of 'crap' we both owned by about 25%, but we've both vowed to clear out even more when we see our things again. Sarah and I used ABF "Relo-cubes", kind of like the PODS systems you might see ads for, but much more reasonably priced. We got 3 of the units, which figures out to be one 16-foot moving truck. For reference, when Sarah moved to Omaha originally, she used one 16-foot Ryder truck just by herself.

Once loaded and underway, we just aimed at getting out of Huskerville, crossed the border into Iowa, and made it only as far as Des Moines. We used our new toy, the Garmin Nuvi 260w GPS, told it to find us a Marriott or Fairfield hotel (since we have a Marriott rewards card) and phoned them. Unfortunately that hotel was sold to Ramada about 6 years prior. So much for staying up to date. I pulled up the 2nd hotel on the list, and we had a winner.

By the way, continental breakfasts save so much money. I just thought I'd put that out there.

The next day we slept until Noon, both exhausted from the trip before. Finally, we got a big Taco John's meal (since we probably wouldn't be seeing that wonderful fast-food chain out east), and hit the road. Besides a brief stop at a really old Wal-mart (which was kind of entertaining), we drove straight through to Toledo, Ohio. We only got in about 8-9 hours of driving that day, but that was fine. Toledo put us about 1/2 way from Des Moines to our goal, near-Washington DC.

Day 3 we got up earlier, hit the road by 8:30, and started our drive. Originally, we were going to head to the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in Cleveland, Ohio...but we opted to just getting there. Besides, the drive to Cleveland is only about a day from Virginia. We might make it back sometime, who knows.

It was actually the previous day that we experienced our first toll-roads. Yeesh. Now I know why there's an "avoid tollroads" option on the GPS. It cost us $7 to cross Indiana, and $8.50 to cut the corner of Pennsylvania. And the roads SUCK! Where's the logic here?!

We made a short respite in a small town in Pennsylvania. Sarah and I were hungry, and I told the GPS to find something with an interesting sounding name about 3 miles off the highway. Well, it found a Firehouse Cafe...but it was kind of like a Bonanza, which is not what we were expecting. However, next to it was an Eat n' Park, which was split off from the Bob's Big Boy franchise in the mid-1970's. Very good food, and smiley sugar cookies. Just good all around.

We hit the road, finally got down to Maryland, nicked West Virginia, and made it to regular Virginia. It was a very twisty trip, with tunnels and high speeds galore. But it was uneventful weather-wise, which was good.

I'll post some more later. For right now, I'm on the job hunt. Wish me luck!

- Aaron

PS: I'm going to be taking at least 1 picture a day until, well, forever. I'll post them on here when I can. Thanks!