The Fun Is Over

So much for the thrill of living in a small motel room, not having a place to call home, and not having a job to study for because that fun is over! We ended up getting the house that I mentioned last week. We moved in on Monday and Tuesday and I started classes on Wednesday. It was an answer to our prayers that we got a good house in a great location, even though we had to wait a few days on the power.

We had all utilities ready to go on Tuesday, except for power. The power company must of wanted us to live old school style for awhile and see how it used to be back in the day. After taking showers by flashlight (water heater is gas, thank goodness) and living by candle light for two days, we all agreed that we wouldn't have liked to live in the era before electricity in homes.

We finally got power on Wednesday afternoon, just in time to watch the World Series on our new 50" flat screen tv. It is awesome...well worth giving up buying groceries for a month and the four gallons of blood I had to sell for cash. Other than being light headed due to the lack of blood and food, I enjoy watching the larger than life picture box.

As for the house, it is approximately large with three bedrooms and two bathrooms. It was built not that long ago and in a real quiet neighborhood. As you can see I don't know all the details, but it is very nice. It has vaulted ceilings in several rooms and it has nine foot ceilings throughout the whole house. Our address is 4037 Austin Lakes Circle, Sherwood, AR 72120 for those of you who would like to send house warming gifts or birthday presents...such as cookies. You can Google Earth the address and see we are about a quarter mile from a large park and the same distance from a man-made lake. We are the house on the southeast corner where the street turns north. Here are some pictures of the new crib:

The front of our house

The front of our house...a little further away

The backyard...and the dog came with it

The kitchen...thankfully the appliances came with it

The kitchen and dining room...minus the dining

The living room

The living room from the other side...wow, what a photographer

The pride and joy of the house...our new 50 inch devil box

The fireplace

The master bedroom

Our master bathroom. The door on the left is to the throne, then the shower door, and the door in the middle is the walk-in closet

Now that you have had the tour of our home, let me tell you what else is going on in the Presley's world. First, Candi's mom had her kitty scanned this week and they found that the cancerous spot on her liver was completely gone. We are all so excited for Vita and Randy and the family. Vita will continue with the chemo treatment to its end, but this is great news- she's cancer-free!

Second, I started class this past week as I mentioned. It is always like a mule kick to the head when you have to learn a new aircraft with all of its systems. It is no different this time around and they keep adding more engines and more systems, so it isn't getting any easier. They expect us to get up to speed quickly, so I will be spending some time reading the lovely smut novels...the owner's manuals.

Lastly, we are trying to learn how to drive...er...survive the Arkansas drivers and road systems. Peaches (our roommate that followed us here) said it best when talking about the design of the road systems when he said, "they should have sent their engineers to out of state higher learning institutions." The designs here are like they tried three different systems and just put them all together. They are the only state that has roads going the opposite direction on each sides of the major roads, so that you have to cross traffic coming head on just to use an on-ramp. It is hard to describe, but just know that even as bad of a driver as I am...I am scared and often find myself in the fetal position on my floorboard, crying. Arkansas drivers also haven't embraced the idea of merging while driving. We found this out the first day when we tried to get onto the interstate and ended up in the grass on the shoulder of the road. Then one of the first things they said on our in-processing briefs was for us to watch out for the non-merging locals.

Other than that, it has been nice so far. Everyone is very friendly to us Northerners and if the weather isn't horribly nasty, it is very nice. I guess there is no happy medium. The other thing is that everyone and everything has a Razorback on it. The University of Arkansas is in Fayetteville which is three hours northwest of here, but you wouldn't know that you weren't on campus by the looks of it. Everyone (even the girls) refer to periods of time with respect to the U of A Razorbacks football schedule. One lady told us that her husband died the day after the "Hogs" (locals term for the Razorbacks) played Kentucky.

In Hillbillyland

The Presley's and the Atkinson said good bye to the beach and Texas and headed for Arkansas. Of course the two days we had to load our U-Hauls were the two hottest and most humid days in the last three weeks. Despite the loss in water weight we managed to load and leave by Tuesday. We made the trip in two days and even though we thought we had a good short cut, we actually took quite a bit longer than it was supposed to take...then again, if you know me you know that I had to stop a time or twelve to use the bathroom. Candi followed Jamie and I in my truck with her two cats.

We did find out that there were pretty parts of Texas and that trees can grow in that state. I got excited when I saw a thirteen foot raise in the elevation, but it was all spoiled by a nose bleed, after all I haven't been above twenty in elevation in months. The trip went smoothly and I was glad to make it out of the Gulf Coast without experiencing a hurricane. It wasn't about five hours after that though that the radio stated that we were headed straight for a tornado. Luckily all we got was some wind and rain for about fifty miles.

I was not disappointed when the first local I saw after crossing the state line was wearing overalls. The people are, for the most part, very nice around here. Most of them have a pretty noticeable accent, which I am sure is due to the lack of teeth. I know one profession around here that can't pay the bills and that is dentists. Just imagine a good people-watching day at your local Wal-Mart...triple that...and you have Arkansas. Candi seems to think the accent is cute and is trying to duplicate it. I think she should pull her teeth out, rip her sleeves off, and grab three half naked kids to make it complete. I make fun of it to play the part, but it really isn't that bad.

Arkansas itself is beautiful. The weather (other than the day we arrived) has been high 70s and low 80s and not a cloud in the sky. The best part is the humidity is completely gone.

Downtown Little Rock

Arkansas River that runs through Little Rock

Another shot of Arkansas River just outside downtown

Little Rock Central High School (one of the first to desegregate with great opposition, forcing Presidential intervention)

As far as the house hunting goes...well, we haven't had the luck we did in Corpus. We eliminate 75% of the available homes just because we have to have a place that will take pets. We think we have found a place, but we are waiting for the property management company to approve us, which could take a few days...not to mention the person who could approve us was out of the office Friday. The place we found was, of course, the most expensive, but it seems to be in the best location (ten minutes from the base on the north side, fifteen minutes from downtown Little Rock on the south side). Hopefully, we get this house or we just wasted the last few days with this whole process.

Other than that, not a lot going on. We have been getting a little tired of being couped up in a motel room with three animals, but somehow we have survived so far. Candi has been working from the motel room while Jamie and I have been house hunting. She did take a break on Saturday and we all went into Little Rock to see the downtown and all the sites. It takes a lot to put up with me...and three animals in a confined space. I appreciate her patience...something I don't exactly have.

Chillin' in the motel

Ready for Hillbillyland

A week of going insane with nothing to do has me ready for the land of overalls and banjos. I guess taking it easy isn't as easy as I thought. I was bored to tears two days after all my company left. I know you all think I was taking it easy the whole time down here, but it isn't like I didn't have to take my studies to the beach or hurry back to study. Even though I enjoyed the area, I was always grounded in studies and reading. So with none of that "due," I had absolutely nothing to do but pack.

You have to remember that even though we have accumulated some junk here, the majority of our stuff is in Idaho. What that means is that I packed all that I could in two days...just to have Candi ask the next day why I packed everything we needed to live the last week here. I unpacked the bed, clothes, and food so we could live the last week here in some kind of comfort.

I spent the rest of the time harassing Candi. "Can we go to the beach? Please, please, please...how about now? Can we, huh, huh?" Candi got so fed up that she had me pack, unpack, and pack each box just to keep busy. I got under her skin enough to go a few last times.

The rest of the week I tied up loose ends with utilities, reserved moving equipment, and cleaned the house. Yes, you read right, I cleaned.

We are planning to leave for Hillbillyland on Tuesday morning. We are getting the U-Haul Monday morning and then it is up to Candi to load everything. We will pull Candi's Escape on a trailer behind the U-Haul truck and Candi will drive my truck (since it is too heavy for the auto transport). Please keep us in your thoughts and prayers because we are moving WITH two cats and a dog. We plan on making a caravan with the Georgia peach (our roommate) and making it a two day trip.

Then it is living with three pets out of a hotel room until we find a house...so you can bet there will be a little sense of urgency. I will let you all know how the trip goes and if Candi is minus a cat or two. You know how those things can just get lost in the move!

P.S. Big CONGRATS to our roommate Bill Walker for getting 130s to Dyess AFB and for completing the program. All the TARD posse made it through UPT!

Quick Update

I really don't have anything that can out-do the graduation and excitement of getting my wings...so I am going to have to start making things up. This week NASA called and wanted me for some program called asteroids...or astronaut...or something, but I told them I was busy.

Ok, well I won't make stuff up, but it could happen. Ok, you're right, it couldn't, but they put a monkey in space. You have to believe that I am not that much behind the monkey in the smarts department. In real life, this week I had a flight physical, checked out of the Naval Air Station, and took it easy. The flight physical was pretty in-depth because I am coming up on my 30th birthday this month. I guess they think you start falling apart at that age, so they have to be pretty thorough (and every 5 year increment hereafter). I passed, but I found out that my hearing is at the lower limits of where it needs to be. I am ok for now, but I guess I shouldn't rock out with my radio full blast in my truck anymore.

Other than that, Candi and I have started packing for Little Rock. I start on the 24th of this month and it looks like we will leave the beach around the 16th. Speaking of the beach here, we have been trying to take full advantage of it because there isn't suppose to be an ocean or beach in Little Rock. The weather has been fabulous here since the family left. The best part is the humidity is down quite a bit.

In preparation for the banjos and hillbillies, we got to know some of the local rednecks here on our last trip to the beach. Who says you can't have it all? A nice...er...a trailer and check it out...a satellite dish! Got to be able to catch the big game at the beach. And nothing says redneck like a busted old trailer and a nice Ford Mustang.

Lastly, I would like to thank those who sent cards. A very big thank you Randy & Vita Brown, Betty Gardner, Herb & Joy Lewis, Bob & Betty Gardner, and Candi for the cards and countless others for their e-mails. Thank you all for your support...but keep it up because I still have one more school to go to in Hillbillyland!

p.s. There were a few of you that wanted to see video of what it was like flying in training. On "youtube.com" there is a video called Rocking the Rio that shows you what it was like when I was in Phase II at Laughlin AFB. You can also search "T-6 Texan II" or "UPT" on that site and see some other cool videos of the whole process.

WINGS...Done With UPT

Not much has happened around here in the last few weeks...wait there was something...what was it...um-m-m-m...oh yeah, I graduated from UPT and now I am an official pilot. "Winging" or graduation is probably the single biggest highlight in a pilot's career since without this moment, you wouldn't be a pilot. Long story short, it was kind of a big deal.

I lured my family down to Corpus so they could be with me for this big deal, but they were more excited about the vacation they were getting. They enjoyed the beach, dolphins, scenery, and even made time for a graduation since they were already here and were running out of things to do.

My dad (John) and stepmother (Sharla) came into town via San Antonio and a rental car on Thursday morning. My mom (Judene) came into town Thursday afternoon via San Antonio and my vehicle, navigated by Candi and myself, going up there to pick her up. My unit also sent a representative that we welcomed into the gaggle. Friday was the big day and I showed the family around the base, facilities, and aircraft. The ceremony was Friday afternoon and it was short and sweet. The event went smoothly and celebrated with a big feast at a local steakhouse.

Saturday the weather was a bit sketchy, but Candi and I were tour guides for the South Texas Expedition. We showed the family the area and ate out. On Sunday, parts of the family went to church and then we all ate. Later we went to the beach and then ate.

Monday we all went to San Antonio to remember the Alamo, walk along the river, and eat. The Riverwalk was nice and it wasn't too hot to enjoy the sites of the town. Tuesday we ate, went to the botanical garden, ate, and then sent the family packing back home.

It was great for the all of the family to be here for me at this time. I really appreciated everyone making it to my graduation, although it has also been nice to have some time to myself and not feel like I have to entertain and eat so much. If you haven't noticed, we did a little eating over the celebratory weekend. I think it was a combination of Candi and I don't cook and we wanted to get a square meal...whatever it was, all we did was eat big meals.

Notice the new, shinny wings on my bulging left chest

If you haven't fallen asleep and are still reading this or you just read the first and last paragraph (how I made it through school), I would like to end by saying thank you to everyone for their support and prayers. Without them and Candi by my side, I know I wouldn't have made it. I still have a long way to go, but at least now I can say that I am an Air Force pilot.