RV Adventures

Those that we talk to frequently knew we had another trip coming up this month.  To those of you that didn’t, let me fill you in.  Janelle will be starting a PhD program in Coastal Ecology at Texas A&M at the end of August.  She’ll be in College Station, Texas for 1 year, then be in Galveston, TX for the rest of her doctorate program.  So, she needed to be moved south.  As good parents we said, “Let’s do it!”

After much discussion, we came upon the scheme of the RV pulling a UHaul trailer with all Janelle’s worldly possessions in it.   The Jeep would be pulling a car dolly with Janelle’s car on it.  Hey, it’s only 1555 miles!  So, we packed the trailer and left a week ago.

Our convoy. Jim drove the RV. Janelle and I traded off driving the Jeep.  I took this picture at our first rest stop.

We drove to Louisville, Kentucky the first day. But then took the next day off to rest. It had been a busy week prior to our departure, we needed the downtime.  We spent a pleasant day inside watching the rain come down and relaxing.

Janelle looks mighty comfy in her bunk in the Blue Flame.

Our next goal was Texarkana, Texas. It was another grueling 12 hour day of driving. But we made it.

Following the Blue Flame.

We were going to take another down day, but decided we only had 8 hours worth of driving left. So we pushed on the next day and arrived in College Station last Wednesday. Janelle got the keys to her condo ASAP. The next day was spent cleaning and the following day we unloaded the trailer.  We started early in the day to avoid the intense heat.

We arrived! Unloading the trailer into Janelle’s new home.

Janelle’s new place is a 2 bedroom, 2 1/2 bath condo. Not bad for a grad student! This is one of the places Jim and I found when we were through College Station last April.

Time to unpack the kitchen. Most of Janelle’s boxes contained baking paraphernalia.

The empty living room…a couch is coming this week.

Janelle met another fellow grad student during the recruitment weekend last February. They decided to room together. Megan is in the same program, from New Orleans and arrived on Friday.

Megan and Janelle, outside their front door.

Smile roomies!

Since arriving, we have been helping Janelle get settled in. There has been a lot of supporting the local College Station economy. Can you say “$$$$$?”  There is a bit of culture shock coming from the Northeast to South Texas.

The tortilla making machine in the local grocery store.  Who knew?

The local food has been yummy. We tried the top rated taco place in town. And we also tried a local microbrewery.

Local tacos!

Today we did a tour of campus.  We found where Janelle will have an office.

Janelle in her home department. Unfortunately, no one was home!

Janelle has also discovered the advantages of a large (REALLY LARGE) campus.  The Student Recreation Center is huge and full of fun activities.

The Texas A&M Student Recreation Center has a climbing wall. Janelle checked it out.

The bouldering wall in the Student Rec Center really appeals to Janelle. She did bouldering back in Rochester.

Our time in College Station is winding down. Janelle is mostly moved in. She has to go to Galveston next week for orientation down there. So it’s time for us to move on. Just don’t ask us where we are going. It’s been 100 degrees here everyday. We are looking for somewhere cooler. But the ultimate goal is the West Coast and eventually up to Portland to see Callie. Let our Fall trip begin, albeit a few weeks early.  We should make it home by Halloween.