Ready for California!!!

Yay! I got the job in Palo Alto! I will be leaving here in Nome on the 30th of the month, and fly into Memphis!

I will spend a few days there, drive up to St. Louis for my friend Kelly's wedding, spend the weekend there, then drive back down to Memphis.

I will spend some more days in the Memphis, then drive back up to STL with my Mom. Stay a few days, then Mom and I are going to drive to Parker, Colorado to spend a few days with my cousin Andrea and her family. I have never been to Colorado, so I am pretty excited about that.

I will leave Mom there, then I will drive due South to Alamogordo, New Mexico and hang with my good friend Jamie for a few days. I haven't seen Jamie since 2005, so it will be great to hang with an old friend.

Next, a straight shot east through Tuscon, AZ and I think I will stop somewhere passed Yuma, Arizona. I am thinking somewhere as far as I can drive and handle the long hours of lonely one way conversations with my cat. I was thinking about staying a night at Joshua Tree National Park, but logistically that would suck with a house cat.

This is already a logistical nightmare since I have to drive to St. Louis twice in 2 weeks. Sure, I could fly there and borrow a car here and there to get to where I need to go, but that would be too much trouble. I will just suck it up and literally drive on.
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Here's what I have figured out already as to how much money I will be spending:
1)$400 on gasoline
2)$150 for engine prep; ie:engine flush, tranny fluid change, oil change, new air filter.....
3)$20-$40 a day on food, $50 total for snacks (I am hoping to have a cooler full of water bottles and energy drinks. I will try not to eat whole bags of Cooler Ranch Doritos in one sitting as a source of nourishment this time)
4)at least $50 for cigarettes since they help pass the time
5)$5 on cough drops since my throat will be sore from all the smoking
6)$50 per state I drive through for souvenirs (probably t-shirts and thimbles and pens and shot glasses. Stuff I know I don't need, but I am gonna do it anyways or I'll regret it.)
7)$75 on the one hotel stay I have to purchase since I will be staying with peeps the whole way over. (maybe I'll get lucky and be able to take advantage of a military discount or one from my travel agency...)
8)an unknown amount of money for the things I won't have waiting for me in the apartment; ie:dish and laundry soap, plates, flatware, etc...)
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I have no idea where my housing is, what will be provided, and how far away from the hospital I will be living. I will not find any of this out until I finish my paperwork for my FBI background check for the VA. I still haven't gotten my packet yet. Hopefully tomorrow. It takes a full 3 weeks to go through, and the sooner I finish it the better. I hate all the paperwork and the waiting game to see if it has cleared or not. And of course it's federal, so it'll make my head explode before I have a chance to make it stop.

None the less, I am still excited about my new move! I have also been looking up things to do in the area, and I am overwhelmed at the choices I have. I have to try to figure out what I want to do in 8 weeks. That means I will have to figuer out what I will do each weekend, and fun things to do after I get out of work each day.

I plan on going to the gym 3-4 times a week. There is a 24 Hour Fitness very close to the hospital, so I can head there right after work, go home and enjoy the rest of the evening. It'll be nice to have a regular schedule for once.

Ok, this entry is getting hella long do I will sign off here and post more news as it may surface.