Little Town..Full of Little People...
Well first things first...(look at me dropping lyrics left and right from songs lol). Alex and I no longer reside in Colorado. He was transferred to Fort Riley in Kansas. After 7 long years he said good-bye to Fort Carson and finishing up his Army career here. There are a few things that I need to mention about this life changing event. The move, the house, the town, and Fort Riley.
The Move
Super hectic. I gave myself a month to pack everything just in case we weren't able to have the Army move us, which surprise surprise we couldn't. I didn't find that out until two weeks before we were to be out of the apartment. This is where I should have came up with a plan. Me and plans haven't always seen eye to eye. I would plan on packing this room up one day only to be distracted by another room that needed fixing or laundry folded so it could be packed or getting rid of those god awful clothes that I haven't wore in 6 months (only for them to be mixed up with the bags of clothes I actually wear...so they currently are in KS too). The 23rd of November was when we were to be out of our apartment...I started officially packing the Monday prior..so the 17th? My intention was to pack one room up at a time. Then I started thinking....we needed to use most of these things while here for the week, there was no way I was going to open up a packed box for a pot, pan, pair of shoes etc. Yeah, I still ended up doing it. Alex picked the truck up on that Friday (the 21st). I had the hall closet, the pictures, our closet, most of the bathroom, most of the kitchen the laundry room, and the entryway packed....plus cleaning. Alex and I decided that we spend the rest of Friday packing everything that could be packed that night and the rest of it would be done Saturday...breaking apart the bed, entertainment stand, end tables, dresser, dining room table etc. while I cleaned. All went according to plan...and Alex and I ONLY argued like three times. One resulting in me walking out and walking around the apartment complex lol.
We left for Kansas on the 25th a Tuesday. The drive down wasn't too bad. Actually it wasn't bad at all. The weather was fine, the truck cooperated with me driving it and hauling the bike trailer.We arrived there at about 6pm Central Time. Our next step, find a hotel that accepted dogs and wasn't overly expensive. Thank you Holiday Inn Express! After that, shower time. I really hate traveling without showering the night before or the morning of. I don't know why I didn't. Anyway....Alex and I were both exhausted so we went to bed right away, knowing that we needed to spend the next day house hunting if we wanted to accomplish our goal of getting into a house by Friday.
The House
Though it wasn't our first choice, the house we rented was one of the five we narrowed it down to. It was 14. Mind you we started looking in April when he first got word that he could possibly be getting stationed to Fort Riley. I began calling on the houses the Monday prior to our move just to give them all a heads up that we were interested and when was best for them to schedule a walk through. Again, though this house was not our first choice, the realtor renting the home was the most professional. She returned my call, email, answered any questions I had right away within the week before our move. That was the selling point for Alex and I. Being renters we wanted someone who--if we had a problem with the house--would respond to us in a reasonably fast manner. I made sure I let her know that when we were signing the lease.
So this is it. This will be our home for at least the next year. Depending on if we find something else it may be our home until we make our next transition. The inside is nice as well. I haven't taken pictures of it yet because we are taking our time unpacking. We've unpacked all of the essentials but everything else is just when I feel motivated enough to do it. It has three bedrooms and one bathroom. A decent size garage and decent size backyard for Lucky to run around in. She seems to enjoy having her own space. We looked at this house on Wednesday, waited for the realtor to come back from lunch and signed the lease the same day. Its safe to say that we accomplished our goal of wanting to move into a house by Black Friday. Happy Thanksgiving to us (even if all we had for Thanksgiving Dinner was soup lol).
The Town
Now before moving here I heard Junction City was a small town. Okay, I grew up in a small town not a big deal. But then when I realized how spoiled I was living in a town the size of Colorado Springs (equivalent in size to Grand Rapids, for those that have never been) it became really small. The only "franchises" besides hotels in this town are Subway, Wal-Mart, CVS Pharmacy, McDonald's, Church's Chicken, Cracker Barrell, and a Starbucks. Its safe to say that it is pretty small. If I wanted a Target, Pets-mart, Home Depot, Panera Bread, or things of that nature I'd have to drive 30 minutes to Manhattan. Then I think...okay that's like when I lived in Hart, if there was something I couldn't get at the local grocery store there I'd have to drive 30 minutes to get to Muskegon where I could. Once I put that into perspective I didn't feel as lost. Downtown reminds me of driving through Muskegon Heights...and by that I mean the way the buildings are set up.
Fort Riley
Alex and I drove on post yesterday just to check it out. It is completely different that Fort Carson. For those of you that have been on Fort Carson, you know that pretty much all the administrative buildings are lumped together, housing is pretty much all in one area, ranges, airfield etc. Here that is not the case. Military housing is spread throughout the entire post which is fine. I mean we don't leave on post so I don't know how convenient/inconvenient that is. Most of the administrative buildings that I could see were lumped together, but it was like driving all the way through post just to get there. The buildings were older, which I love. And by older I mean, early 1900s/late 1800s. I'm sure everything is up to code or maybe those buildings are fairly new but were just built to look that old. It looked like it would be an army base you'd find on the East Coast.
So that's what's been happening the past few weeks. Don't bother checking for updates...I rarely write on this. Don't believe me look at the gap from this post to my last.
The Move
Super hectic. I gave myself a month to pack everything just in case we weren't able to have the Army move us, which surprise surprise we couldn't. I didn't find that out until two weeks before we were to be out of the apartment. This is where I should have came up with a plan. Me and plans haven't always seen eye to eye. I would plan on packing this room up one day only to be distracted by another room that needed fixing or laundry folded so it could be packed or getting rid of those god awful clothes that I haven't wore in 6 months (only for them to be mixed up with the bags of clothes I actually wear...so they currently are in KS too). The 23rd of November was when we were to be out of our apartment...I started officially packing the Monday prior..so the 17th? My intention was to pack one room up at a time. Then I started thinking....we needed to use most of these things while here for the week, there was no way I was going to open up a packed box for a pot, pan, pair of shoes etc. Yeah, I still ended up doing it. Alex picked the truck up on that Friday (the 21st). I had the hall closet, the pictures, our closet, most of the bathroom, most of the kitchen the laundry room, and the entryway packed....plus cleaning. Alex and I decided that we spend the rest of Friday packing everything that could be packed that night and the rest of it would be done Saturday...breaking apart the bed, entertainment stand, end tables, dresser, dining room table etc. while I cleaned. All went according to plan...and Alex and I ONLY argued like three times. One resulting in me walking out and walking around the apartment complex lol.
We left for Kansas on the 25th a Tuesday. The drive down wasn't too bad. Actually it wasn't bad at all. The weather was fine, the truck cooperated with me driving it and hauling the bike trailer.We arrived there at about 6pm Central Time. Our next step, find a hotel that accepted dogs and wasn't overly expensive. Thank you Holiday Inn Express! After that, shower time. I really hate traveling without showering the night before or the morning of. I don't know why I didn't. Anyway....Alex and I were both exhausted so we went to bed right away, knowing that we needed to spend the next day house hunting if we wanted to accomplish our goal of getting into a house by Friday.
The House
Though it wasn't our first choice, the house we rented was one of the five we narrowed it down to. It was 14. Mind you we started looking in April when he first got word that he could possibly be getting stationed to Fort Riley. I began calling on the houses the Monday prior to our move just to give them all a heads up that we were interested and when was best for them to schedule a walk through. Again, though this house was not our first choice, the realtor renting the home was the most professional. She returned my call, email, answered any questions I had right away within the week before our move. That was the selling point for Alex and I. Being renters we wanted someone who--if we had a problem with the house--would respond to us in a reasonably fast manner. I made sure I let her know that when we were signing the lease.
The Town
Now before moving here I heard Junction City was a small town. Okay, I grew up in a small town not a big deal. But then when I realized how spoiled I was living in a town the size of Colorado Springs (equivalent in size to Grand Rapids, for those that have never been) it became really small. The only "franchises" besides hotels in this town are Subway, Wal-Mart, CVS Pharmacy, McDonald's, Church's Chicken, Cracker Barrell, and a Starbucks. Its safe to say that it is pretty small. If I wanted a Target, Pets-mart, Home Depot, Panera Bread, or things of that nature I'd have to drive 30 minutes to Manhattan. Then I think...okay that's like when I lived in Hart, if there was something I couldn't get at the local grocery store there I'd have to drive 30 minutes to get to Muskegon where I could. Once I put that into perspective I didn't feel as lost. Downtown reminds me of driving through Muskegon Heights...and by that I mean the way the buildings are set up.
Fort Riley
Alex and I drove on post yesterday just to check it out. It is completely different that Fort Carson. For those of you that have been on Fort Carson, you know that pretty much all the administrative buildings are lumped together, housing is pretty much all in one area, ranges, airfield etc. Here that is not the case. Military housing is spread throughout the entire post which is fine. I mean we don't leave on post so I don't know how convenient/inconvenient that is. Most of the administrative buildings that I could see were lumped together, but it was like driving all the way through post just to get there. The buildings were older, which I love. And by older I mean, early 1900s/late 1800s. I'm sure everything is up to code or maybe those buildings are fairly new but were just built to look that old. It looked like it would be an army base you'd find on the East Coast.
So that's what's been happening the past few weeks. Don't bother checking for updates...I rarely write on this. Don't believe me look at the gap from this post to my last.
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