Less than 2 months to go!

After a crazy week of work, I was very happy to be able to spend the day relaxing and planning today. Jared and I sat down and decided we're going to take the southern route. He talked it over with a few of the guys from the shop, one of which has done the California to Carolina trip twice, and he said south is definitely the way to go. We're very excited about it, because neither of us has seen the desert!

Here is our prospective route! :)

Day 1 - Monday, March 17th

Greenville, SC to Little Rock, AR: 690 miles, approx. 10 ½ hours

Day 2 - Tuesday, March 18th

Little Rock, AR to Amarillo, TX: 597 miles, approx. 8 hours 40 min.

- Dinner at the Big Texan Steakhouse!

Day 3 - Wednesday, March 19th

Amarillo, TX to Gallup, NM: 423 miles, approx. 6 hours

Day 4 - Thursday, March 20th

Gallup, NM to Las Vegas, NV: 435 miles, approx. 6 hours 15 min.

Day 5 - Friday, March 21st

Las Vegas, NV to Reno, NV: 451 miles, approx. 7 hours

Day 6 - Saturday, March 22nd

Reno, NV to Portland, OR: 534 miles, approx. 9 hours

We were originally planning on leaving March 18th, but after working out the plan, it would end up getting us in to Vegas on a Friday.. not exactly the best idea. So now, we're leaving a day earlier, and we'll actually be able to get a hotel on the strip at a decent price!

Our next thing to tackle is deciding on what we're going to be bringing with us in my little car. Most of our stuff will be coming with my grandparents in a trailer about a week after we move in, but Jared wants to bring some of his more valuable things with us.

Stay tuned! :)

Route Decisions

As of today, we're officially 2 months and 1 day away from beginning our journey across the US!

One of the things that we've been looking at for a while now is what route is going to be the best to take. We know that March can mean freak snowstorms, thunderstorms, or bright sunny spring weather. And since we're going to be going across the entire nation, we're probably going to end up hitting at least 2 out of the 3.

When I typed our locations into google maps, this is what they said would be our best route to take:

Neither of us has ever driven cross country before, so we were a bit wary about going across the Rockies in March based on what friends have told us. But after keeping an eye on the weather for the cities we'll be going across, everything looks pretty safe! Then again.. there could be another polar vortex. Ugh.

It was suggested to us that we should take a southern route instead, and this is the one that I was able to tweak to what I think would be the best:

Neither Jared or I have ever seen the desert, so both think that it would be an interesting route, but it is a bit longer and out of the way.

We're both pretty sure that we're just going to have to wait til about a week before we leave to make the choice based on the weather.

Has anyone made this kind of trip? What route would you suggest?

The Bucket List

Jared and I have been saying ever since we started dating that we needed to actually write down bucket lists. So last night at work, when we were absolutely dead, I started one for myself.

Chelsea's Bucket List

1. Go to an NHL/NFL/MBA game.

2. See the desert.

3. Skydive.

4. Drive cross country.

5. Go to the Space Needle.

6. Gamble (and win!) in Las Vegas.

7. Go to Disneyland.

8. Go to Knott's Berry Farm.

9. Ride every roller coaster at Ceder Point.

10. Go tubing on the Sandy River.

11. Snowboard at Mt. Hood.

12. Get a flash tattoo.

13. See Rocky Horror live.

14. Visit the Redwoods.

15. Go to San Francisco via the Pacific Coast Highway.

16. Go surfing in Hawaii.

17. Take a cruise to Alaska.

18. Go to Italy.

19. Graduate college.

20. Go camping on the beach.

This is just a starter batch, so I'll continue to add to it as things come to mind.

67 days to go!

We'll start off with specifics. 

My name is Chelsea. I'm a 22 (almost 23) year old ASL interpreting student living in Upstate, SC. I was born in Connecticut and grew up down here, but don't you dare call me a southerner. I'm dating the most awesome guy on the planet. His name is Jared, he's an amazing freelance artist, and a huge gamer like me. We met on Match.com and have been going strong for almost 3 years. This past March, we decided that we're going to be moving across the country to Portland, Oregon, and we couldn't be more excited.

The first question that everyone always asks us is, "Why Portland?" This time last year, we were a week away from closing on a house in our area. After waiting on it for 7 months, the bank called and told Jared that he never should've been approved for the loan in the first place, and it fell through. This was the 3rd house to have something make it fall through in a year. We decided that was a big enough sign that we weren't supposed to lay down roots here yet, and started looking at different plans of action.

Jared fell in love with the Pacific Northwest when he went out there a few years ago with his friends, and talked about it from the time we started dating. He'd also shown me a few episodes of Portlandia, and I loved them. After a lot of discussions, we made the choice to pack up and move out to the city of roses. Our families weren't exactly thrilled at first, just because we're all so close. My mom in particular still wishes we'd move to Asheville, NC instead. But now they're all behind us and encouraging us to follow our dream.

We knew that it would take a number of months before we could leave, mainly because I needed to save money for a nest egg. Also, we didn't want to leave before the holidays due to family and weather. Driving in snow is not exactly on my list of things I love.

It wasn't until we actually bought our plane tickets to go out and visit in September that it began to seem real. Our visit was absolutely amazing. We got to see everything we wanted, visited all the neighborhoods, got a feel for the city, and ate tons of fantastic food. Jared has a friend who lives in Southeast Portland, and we really fell in love with the area known as Laurelhurst. It's just far enough from center city that I would feel comfortable walking home alone at night, but close enough that we could take the bus or walk to the Saturday Market if we wanted to. It's young, quirky, and vibrant, and exactly what we were looking for.

Now, it's 2014. We've decided that March 18th, two days after my birthday, is going to be our departure day. We'll be driving the whole way in my 2012 Civic. The route is still undecided, because we think we're going to have to wait until the week before for weather. Polar vortex anyone? We're planning on taking about 5-6 days to make the drive out.

This blog is really being made for my family and friends in SC that might be interested in our prep and journey, and then seeing Portland through my eyes once we're there. If it gets any views at all, I'll be impressed.

Unfortunately, there's not a lot we can do right now but wait for another month or so before starting to tackle the big stuff, like apartment hunting. But I'll definitely be sure to post updates when we do!

Until then,
- Chelsea.