A Whole Lotta Iowa (by Cassie)

We started the morning in Bettendorf, Iowa with a trip to the local dog park to play in the snow.

From Move2008

Bettendorf is one of the "Quad Cities" (that include Davenport IA, Moline IL, and Rock Island, IL) that sit on either side of the Mississippi River. For those of you who, like me, were not aware -- John Deere World Headquarters is located in Moline. Also, jazz musician Bix Beiderbecke
is from Davenport.

It turns out that Iowa is not so flat (as I had assumed). The landscape is rolling and pastoral -- and kind of pretty despite its empty fields and monochromatic earth tones. One of the most impressive sights we saw was a huge wind farm off of I-80 near Council Bluffs (the last town before you get to Nebraska).

From Move2008

This whole windmill idea is not a new one to the people of Elk Horn, IA (the largest Dutch settlement in the U.S.) -- who cleverly tricked the nation of Denmark into selling one of its old broken down windmills to them as a way to celebrate the U.S. Bicentennial.

Other notable communities in this part of Iowa are the Amana Colonies and Coralville -- "where some 1300 Mormon immigrants stopped to make camp in their migration of 1856 after having traveled west by rail to Iowa City, which was the westernmost rail terminus at the time. They built handcarts out of native woods during their encampment so that an adult could haul a 600-700 pound load and cover about 15 miles per day on foot in their continuing trek to Salt Lake City."

And, as we made our own trek across Iowa today -- I thought about those first pioneers and sincerely thanked God for U-Pack ReLoCubes.

From Move2008

Two and half states

We crossed two and half states yesterday:


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And it all looked about the same. But some of it was new. We saw Indianapolis (from the car):

From Move2008

From Move2008

We saw Peoria:

From Move2008

But for the most part, it all looks like this:

From Move2008

Wait, that's the picture of Ohio from my previous post. Anyway, the point is that the heartland of this country is vast. In many ways it is the least interesting part of the country through which to drive: it's rather monotonous and boring. But it's called the heartland for a reason. Cities like Indianapolis were the backbone of our industrial economy for many years, and all those farms continue to feed us cheap food, for better or worse. So it was still kind of interesting to see.

I wish we had time to visit some of these towns, especially where we stayed last night--Davenport, Iowa. Davenport is on the Mississippi River, across from Rock Island, Illinois. Both towns are shaped by their location on the river. I'd love to see more.

From Move2008

But we got Iowa and snow to deal with today. But first we'll take the doggies to local park for a little romp in the snow. Look for pictures tonight...

Road Trip.

Every relationship has that place – the place where you and your significant other suddenly recognize deep truths about each other while also discovering irreconcilable differences in your views of the world. For me and Mark, that place is the road trip.

Our most recent philosophical debate is the value of the GPS (global positioning system) Mark bought a few months ago. In Mark's view, the correct pronunciation of this navigation technology is "G-P-Yes!" – based on his use of the gadget for finding routes for bike rides and coffee shops when he is on business trips.

From Move2008

I refer to it as "G-P-I-don't-know" – based on the response I get when I ask "Where are we? Should I turn now?" and Mark informs me that he isn't sure because the GPS (instantly calculating our position using 4 orbiting satellites and complex math calculations) is "confused" about our location. At that point we are forced to go really high tech and get out the map and read road signs – or, as we did tonight, stop in a parking lot and call the hotel to ask a human being for directions.

From Move2008

Mark doesn't like it when I criticize the GPS and insists that I am judging it too harshly. I must admit that my sense of direction is well – really bad. Now that I think of it, I did once drive an entire loop of the Capitol Beltway in search of Ocean City. But how hard could it be to drive to Colorado really? We can follow the sunset.

Goodbye Maryland, Hello...Ohio?

The downside of moving to a great new place is that it means you actually have to move. You have to say goodbye to good friends and your family. You have to go through the hassle of gathering your belongings into some kind of portable container (in our case, "Relo Cubes"). You have to spend money. And if you're moving far, you have to do it in increments. Today, after a week of visiting family in Connecticut and Virginia, we completed the first increment of moving ourselves (and our dogs) to Colorado. That first increment has landed us in a Quality Inn right next to a large Budweiser brewery somewhere outside of Columbus, Ohio (and we're toasting our successful first day with a Sam Adams and Stella Artois).

Much of the route today was through familiar territory. I've driven out to Western Maryland probably about 10-15 times over the last 2 years, because of my work in the Potomac River Basin. It's a pretty drive, but, "been there, done that." We left Fairfax, VA around 9:30 a.m., so we were ready for lunch by the time we got to Frostburg, MD. We stopped at a familiar cafe there for lunch and took the dogs for a quick walk. Then it was back in the care to finish the trip to Columbus.

From Move2008

We decided to take a slightly scenic route (which became longer than we had planned--see completely exaggerated blog post by Cassie regarding my beloved GPS). The scenic route took us through the Laurel Highlands of Pennsylvania. This is a beautiful area with many parks and typical eastern mountains. There was snow!

Funny story, when our Cassie's inability to grasp the wonder of GPS reached it's pinnacle, we decided to stop at a McDonalds to use the bathrooms. A bunch of old men were sitting a table in the restaraunt having a grand old time. As I walked by, one of them yelled to me, "hey buddy, you wanna eat?". "Huh," I said. He pointed to dozens of buy-one-get-one-free coupons they had. I laughed and said, "Uh, we already had lunch." He urged me to take some for breakfast tomorrow. As much as I like Egg McMuffins, I declined.

Anyway, we eventually made our way to Ohio.

From Move2008

From Move2008

This is what Ohio looks like (this may be a picture of Pennsylvania, or even Maryland, but I think it's Ohio).

As a water professional, the most interesting things were seeing the back end of Yougheniny Lake, the Ohio River (which I had never seen before) and the Muskingum River (also a first for me). Unfortunately, we didn't have time to explore these places at all. Maybe next time.

The dogs were mostly unfazed by the long drive and they've made themselves at home in the hotel room.

From Move2008

From Move2008

From Move2008

Animal farm and memory lane

(by mark)

We've been in Seymour, Connecticut for the last few days, staying with my parents and visiting with the whole family. It was the first time in a while that we were all together and it was a very enjoyable visit.

Probably the most prominent feature of the visit has been the animals. We brought our dogs along, and my parents have a miniature poodle and a kitten. The kitten, Mini, is a cutie:

From Move2008

Betty, our hound, is in heaven here because there are no furniture restrictions and my mother feeds her pounds of left over turkey. Here she after a turkey feasts and before a nap on the couch:

From Move2008

George, our mystery mutt, is in heaven because he loves cats. He has yet to eat one but he is obsessed with cats whenever they are around. This is pretty much how he has spent his weekend:

From Move2008

From Move2008

From Move2008

I've been back to my hometown many times since moving away. But this visit has felt more poignant since we're on the verge of moving really far away. I will almost certainly visit Seymour and the area again, since my parents are not likely to move away any time soon. But it has felt significant this time around. The house is next to a wooded park:

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I spent many hours roaming around those woods as a kid--playing hide and seek, riding bikes, lighting things on fire...you know, good ol' fashioned boy games. We took several hikes in the woods and it was quite nice to revisit my old stomping grounds. And I was glad to see the old land marks out in that park appropriately designated by the locals:

From Move2008

We also ran some errands to neighboring Ansonia, where we lived until I was nine years old. Ansonia is kind of a sad working class town, with all the industry long gone. It's strikingly similar to our former neighborhood in Baltimore, actually. We drove by our old house in Ansonia, which I hadn't seen in years, and visited a few memorable spots from my frist nine years of life. I'm glad I don't live here anymore, but, nevertheless, there's something inviting about the area. It still feels like, well, home.

And we had lunch at Pepe's, the best pizza anywhere. Period. Legend has it that pizza was invented here, but a lot of old pizza places lay claim to that distinction. But there's no doubt that they serve fabulous pizza. It's worth a visit if you're ever in New Haven, but get there early or prepare to wait an hour for a table.

Tomorrow we leave Connecticut and head down to Virginia to spend turkey day with Cassie's family. Baltimore really feels like a distant memory now. And I need to finish planning the drive to CO.

Life's a voyage that's homeward bound.
-Herman Melville

So we actually left

(by mark)

On Wednesday, some good friends helped us pack up our stuff and joined us for one last good meal at one of Baltimore's many good restaurants, Woodberry Kitchen. (Thanks for a lovely last day in Baltimore, guys!). Then Cassie and I began the final stages of moving out of the house--cleaning, gathering up all those stupid little items that you don't really want anymore but you don't really want to throw away. All the while, I was worrying about the house, the repairs, the costs (Oh, the cost!!), and, of course, which new bike I should buy when we finally get to Colorado (talk about cost!).

So now we're vagabonds, essentially homeless. We drove away from our house, the place we called home for three and half years, for the last time. For me, the whole thing has been quite surreal, like somehow it's not really true. I've dreamed of living in a place like Fort Collins CO for years but was never sure if we'd actually get a chance to do it. Why? I guess other things in life are slightly more important than being able to bike in the mountains. But it's getting harder for me to refute the evidence that this is actually happening. Our car is loaded up and now I sit in a coffee shop outside Harrisburg PA to check my email.

We spent the night in PA at Cassie's parents apartment. One of our cars is going to be shipped to Colorado and we've arranged to have it picked up here. We had a nice dinner and crashed. We were both very tired from a week of running around and lifting heavy objects.

From Move2008

(Someone tell me why it's so hard to move old couches in and out of old houses? In the old days, did they bring the couches in before they built the doors?)

This morning, we were greeted with a pleasant surprise. It snowed a bit here in central PA. Snow always warms my heart. Good thing we brought our bikes.

From Move2008

Baltimore. The Greatest City in America.

(by Cassie)

I remember chuckling at those words – emblazoned so boldly on city park benches -- -- when I moved to Baltimore in 2001. After a few months as a newcomer to ‘Balmer city life, I viewed the statement as down right deluded and sad. What kind of city – especially a city with a nationally ranked murder rate and violent drug crime – would dare to declare itself the greatest city in America?

From Move2008

I was no fan of Baltimore in the beginning. “Isn’t this a great neighborhood?” Mark asked as he drove me around Hampden. “Nope.” I responded – sure that this was definitely not a great neighborhood as we passed an abandoned school (which later Mark informed me was not abandoned but closed for the summer and not funded by a rich taxbase like the suburban Fairfax county schools I was used to attending).

After 7 years of living in the “Greatest City in America”, I can tell you that I love Baltimore. I can also tell you that I now understand why those words are true. Living in Baltimore, for me, has been about beginning and building the greatest friendships in my life. It has also been about learning that life can be ugly but still beautiful, people can be flawed but still worthy, you can be poor but still rich in the things that matter, and any city can be the greatest … if you open your eyes to look.

This old house...

(by mark)

...is the bane of my existence. One thing I've learned living here is that, contrary to my original expectations, I hate home improvement work. It's not good to own a very old house if you don't like home improvement work (unless you enjoy writing very large checks). I've tried my best, but lesson learned: we will not buy another old house, no matter how charming.

As going away gift, this old bugger is taking one more chunk out of my soul. Given the market, we've been unable to sell the house, so we're going to rent it out and we have a tenant. Great. Maryland regulations require lead testing before a tenant can move in. The regulations are evidently quite ambiguous (two cheers for good government), and so I've gotten several answers about our basement (see photo). It turns out they won't even do the lead test until all paint is "intact." We're leaving tomorrow, so now we have to pay someone to scrape and paint our basement before our tenant moves in. Ca-ching. This place is like a giant albatross, but with a charming interior.

From Move2008

The beginning, the ending

And so it begins. Or ends.

We've lived in Baltimore for over 7 years (actually, over 8 years for me). I thought we'd be here a year or two, until I finished grad school. But if you're not careful, life has a way of rolling on. Our life here has been pretty good. But opportunities presented themselves, and the fatigue of old routines drove us to seize those opportunities. In other words, we're gettin' the hell out of here.

We're moving from our home in Baltimore all the way to Fort Collins, CO. We decided to be ultra-hip and cool (can you actually decide to be such things??) and keep a blog of our move and transition to Colorado life. We'll update this daily as we pack up, visit family, drive across country and set up life in Colorado.

And it'll be a true blog--useless musings and reflections of two people who have no business broadcasting their thoughts to the world. But we figure it'll be a nice way to let our families and close friends see what it is like for us as we embark on this adventure. And we may try to translate the useless musings and reflections of our two dogs, George and Betty.

For weeks we've been putting the stuff of life (literally) in boxes.

From Move2008

And now, we can begin loading the boxes of life into bigger boxes.

From Move2008