Highlights of September: Carl went fishing at Breach Inlet with our friend Jon one Friday in early September. Additionally, Iris had surgery to biopsy a growth in her bladder we’ve been monitoring as well as remove a lump from her belly and check her teeth. I re-discovered these little fluff toys that Shadow likes to play with only to find out Iris likes them and insists on keeping them away from the cats. NFL season started (no in-person Bears games this year thanks to COVID) and I made a quick trip to IL to check on my mom after she had back surgery and get to see all my siblings and both my parents at the same time which is rare these days.
August 2020
We recently started feeling like we needed a change of scenery since we’re so used to traveling, but haven’t really gotten to this year because of COVID so we booked a last minute trip to Greenville, SC for August 8th through 11th. We were originally supposed to be in Illinois and Wisconsin that weekend so I could compete in the USA Triathlon Age Group Nationals sprint race, but just like everything else, the race got cancelled so we were open. I announced the goal of the trip was the 3 B’s (books, brews, and bikes) as I really wanted down time to read, was looking forward to trying some new beers, and we were taking our bikes since the Swamp Rabbit Trail runs through Greenville. Overall, the trip was quite successful and I have very positive feelings towards Greenville. We did run into an issue when for the first time ever Iris (who we brought with) whined and barked every time we tried to leave her in our Airbnb. Since we had rented an apartment and didn’t want to disturb the other residents, we had to take her everywhere we went for the first two days. Luckily Greenville is very dog friendly and we were really only doing outdoor stuff. Since one of the points of the trip was to try a new bike trail, we had to find a boarding facility nearby for the last two days so we could be on our own without worrying about Iris. Thankfully it worked out and we had a great weekend of laying at the apartment complex pool, hitting up a couple beer spots, walking around downtown Greenville, eating delicious custard, hiking, enjoying the green space they have in the middle of the city, and getting in a nice 20 mile bike ride.
Rocking masks at the Greenville Zoo 
The view from the “Pretty Place”, a chapel in the mountains outside of Greenville 
There’s a waterfall in the middle of downtown Greenville! 
Hiking!
We did it!
The day finally arrived for the move to South Carolina. The drive took 16 1/2 hours including brief stops to get gas, go to the bathroom, and jump up and down to avoid getting sleepy. Our cars were backed to the brim and hangers I had wedged in at the last minute kept poking me. Carl and I were each in our own car with Carl assigned to Shadow since he needed to be drugged due to his anxiety/motion sickness when traveling (so much for cats being low maintenance). I had Allerton who typically meows the entire time she’s not in her own home, but the cats actually did awesome and slept most of the way down. The drive was tough, but we feel fortunate that it went smoothly and we made it safely.
This is starting to feel real
We’ve been in Charleston since Monday to checkout housing options and interview for jobs. We signed a lease and have pending job offers so s&#t is getting real.
To start we are leasing this sweet house on the Isle of Palms from January 1st to April 30th. It’s only 2 blocks from the beach and we are so excited!! We’ll use that time to determine if the IOP is the best area to live in based on our final job situations then find a longer term lease wherever makes sense.
We’re flying home tonight for Christmas and will take next week to pack up a storage pod with most of our things since the house is furnished. Come January 1st we’ll be in our cars with the cats, snakes, and our clothes headed South.
It was 75 degrees on Tuesday and just about 70 degrees today so we’re pretty pumped for the better winter in our near future.
This move has seemed like such a distant thing that we said we were doing for so long that it’s pretty surreal it’s happening now. Nervous, scared, and so excited all at the same time.
Update
We’ve been home for going on 2 weeks and have done a combination of slowly working towards the real world and just hanging out, enjoying our free time. We’ve started doing P90X to get back into working out regularly since we don’t have a gym membership right now, but have access to a pull-up bar and some free weights. We’ve been going through boxes and getting rid of even more things, shoring up resumes, and started to think about jobs.
Thanksgiving went well and involved beer pong in my parents’ foyer on Blackout Wednesday (super fun!). We had a big breakfast on Thursday with my family (the Ritchies) and did a traditional Thanksgiving meal with the Schmidts.
At this point, we’re working towards moving a little bit everyday with the goal of moving in the next few weeks once everything is finalized.
“Home” for Thanksgiving
Well, our eight weeks of travel has come to a close. Although our adventure is not over because we still have to actually move to South Carolina, we can’t help but be a little sad (although we do love our family and friends). When this all started, I wondered if traveling for so long or living out of a suitcase would get annoying and the answer is……no. It turns out we are not those people who say “It was fun, but we were ready to come home” (although Carl did point out that we don’t actually have a home right now so that may be part of it). We are travelers. Everywhere we go just makes me want to travel more, see more, explore more. Seeing the beauty of so many other places does make me even more excited to try living somewhere new which is definitely reassuring.
For now, we are in Illinois to spend Thanksgiving with our families. Once the festivities die down, it’s time to reorganize our belongings for the move. Since we clearly survived just fine living out of a suitcase for two months, we’ve realized we don’t need a whole lot and are planning to downsize even more before we head to SC. Although I sense this part will be annoying, it should make things easier in the long run so I’m hoping for the best.
I plan to keep posting so, no worries, you can still follow how our moving progress is going! (I also plan to keep inserting posts about past things so keep checking on that if you’re curious.)
Happy Thanksgiving and we love you all!
Oregon!
We finally made it to Oregon!
We loved California so much, we weren’t sure this was going to happen, but here we are.
We awoke today at an Airbnb property that was right on the Smith River in Crescent City, California. We poked around the river bank then got invited in for coffee by our Airbnb hosts, Don and Martha.
After spending some time with them, we headed out to Stout Grove in Jedediah Smith Redwoods State Park. We did a quick trail there as our final scheduled redwood visit then continued toward the Oregon border.
Our next stop for the day was West Coast Game Park Safari where we got to pet a baby Bengal Tiger, a baby Siberian Lynx, and a Bobcat!!!! So so cool!!! We also got to hold ferrets and an opossum (they are so creepy looking, but when were we going to get the chance to do that again?!?!?!).
Once the animal petting was over, we stopped to eat at a tiny local seafood shack for some chowder (we’ve eaten chowder everyday on this trip), salmon fish & chips, and a dungeness crab sandwich. I’m basically made of seafood and chowder these days.
We just made it to our destination for this evening in Yachats, Oregon. Our room opens to the beach (which I’m sure will be a cool view in the morning when you can actually see).
We’re going to stay here two nights to actually try and have some time to relax since we’ve been on the go so much. Carl already mentioned several fun things to do around here so we’ll see if relaxation or activities win. There are just too many fun things to do!!! (That’s a ridiculous “complaint”, I know.)
I started making updates!
I finally started posting again AND started filling in the gaps with some posts about past stuff so be sure to scroll down and check out what I’ve added if you’re interested!
A day full of wine!
For today we detoured a little inland to checkout some wineries in the Napa valley. Our day stated with a fantastic breakfast at Butter Cream Bakery & Diner in Napa (we haven’t been eating actual breakfasts much on this trip, but figured it’d be a good idea pre-wine tasting) then on to the Welcome Center for a map and some recommendations.
Our first winery was Robert Sinskey which was recommended to us by our waiter at Zuzu (where we had dinner last night). The building had a grand rustic feel and we loved it considering what our house in Warrenville looked like. We had a lovely chat with the tasting room attendant, Jackson, and got to try a few extra wines just because he liked us (or maybe he does that for everyone, but I’m going with he liked us).
Next we went to Mumm Napa which was especially exciting because we had recently toured the Mumm champagne house in Reims, France, as part of our Europe trip.
Our third wine stop of the day was V. Sattui which was recommended by the lady we talked to at the Napa Welcome Center because of it’s full deli (other wineries here aren’t allowed to sell food). After our tasting we shared delicious Italian sandwiches in the picnic area.
Last we stopped at Castello Di Amorosa because the tasting room is in a medieval castle. That was reason enough for us to stop there. (Although built in 2007, most materials used were shipped in from Europe so the castle is authentically old.).
Post wine tastings (no worries, we were very smart and safe about our consumption and having to drive), we drove to Mendocino, California, which was a ridiculous route up and down narrow, windy mountain roads.
So glad we decided to check out wine country today as every property is absolutely beautiful and it was a perfect sunny day for it!
Alcatraz and Muir Woods
This morning we got to tour Alcatraz (the famous jail on an island near San Francisco where Al Capone resided for a while) which was hauntingly cool. You actually get to walk through the cellhouse and hear real life stories of things that happened in some of the cells.
After Alcatraz we got lunch at Pier 23 Cafe (Carl got the best fish and chips ever!) and headed to Muir Woods to see some giant redwood trees. Carl says we’ll see bigger ones further north, but man are these things tall and have huge trunks! It was a bit rainy and cloudy during our walk through the woods, but it kind of added to the fantastical feel of the place.
From there we drove to Napa which was not part of our original “plan”, but we thought more about it and couldn’t pass up checking out some wineries so that’s on the schedule for tomorrow.
In Napa we had dinner at Zuzu, a tapas place that turned out to be a bit nicer than what we were looking for, but the place that was recommended to us had a 40 minute wait and that was not going to happen. Regardless of the fact that I was wearing a long sleeve t-shirt with a giant block “I” on it and clearly wasn’t dressed for a nice sit-down dinner, the food was delicious and I want more of it!