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I made it to Portland yesterday, but I couldn’t write because I didn’t have Internet access. I went from Idaho to Oregon. The last leg of the trip was a lot shorter than the previous three. There were some boring parts, but the scenery was beautiful for the most part. I got to drive through more mountains. I was thankful, though, when we started to drop in elevation and I started to see trees. During the last 30 minutes of the trip, I started feeling a little doubt the decision I made to move. I’m sure everything will be alright though.

I got to my new place around 4 or 5 yesterday. It’s okay. I made a decision on it without ever getting to see it, so I was taking a risk. It was always meant to be temporary. It didn’t have a washer and dryer as advertised, but they’re working on getting me one. My biggest issue is that there’s a busy street 2 streets over. I didn’t anticipate the traffic being as loud as it is. I’ve lived on busy streets before. When I lived in my grandmother growing up, there was always traffic coming through, even 18-wheelers that woke me up in the middle of the night. The noise here is more constant thought. I’ll just have to keep reminded myself that it’s only temporary. Don’t get me started on how hard it’s been to deal with the property’s management.

Hopefully, the movers will get here before it’s time to move again. I’ll never use this company again. I did get an email from them this morning saying that my stuff is only 160 lbs over weight and not 1300 lbs like the driver said. That’s some good news, at least.

Man, I enjoyed today. What a difference a day makes. Other than a little bit of worry at the beginning that the roads might be slick, I was fine. I went from Wyoming to Utah to Idaho. Today was the best scenery day so far. I saw lots and lots of mountains. They were beautiful and breathtaking.  It was weird being at such a high elevation.  At one point my GPS said that I was around 7000 ft, but by the end of the day I was around 2800 ft. I saw a part of the Great Salt Lake. Maybe I’ll come back another time for a proper visit.

It was a long day, but I enjoyed it. I shouldn’t have to do nearly as much driving tomorrow. Almost there.

Today I went from Missouri to Kansas to Missouri to Iowa to Nebraska to Wyoming. I’m spending the night in Cheyenne, Wyoming. Today wasn’t exactly a good day. I blame it all on the snow. I’m not used to driving in the snow. When it snowed in Mississippi, everything shut down and I didn’t have to leave the house. When I left the hotel in Kansas City it took about an hour to go 30 miles. I was stressed out because I was worried about having an accident. After a while, conditions started to improve. Right when I started to get comfortable, a car ahead of me started sliding back and forth across the road. Finally, after about 2.5 hours I got to the point where I could pick up the speed a bit. I saw so much snow today even though the streets were fine for most of the trip. After seeing hours and hours of snow-covered fields, I’m tired of snow.

The scenery did get better at the end of the day’s drive. Driving through western Nebraska and eastern Wyoming just felt different. It was too dark for me to take pictures. I saw a truck stop on a hill that kind of reminded me of Edoras from the Lord of Rings movies.

Super 8 was much more pet-friendly. Reese was really good today.

I am worn out. I hope to get off the road earlier tomorrow so I can have more time to decompress before bed tomorrow night.

I never really thought of this as a vacation trip.  I’m basically trying to get to Portland as fast as I can and hopefully see some cool scenery along the way.  I wanted to spread it out so I didn’t have to drive day and night. I don’t have any fun events planned.  Having the dog makes it a little bit harder to do.

I got about 4 hours of sleep last night.  Today I went from Mississippi to Tennessee to Arkansas to Missouri.  I’m spending the night in Kansas City.  Mississippi, Tennessee, and Arkansas are pretty boring to drive through.   Once I got close to Missouri, it got more interesting.  I ended up taking my GPS system’s route instead of the Google Maps route and that took me through the heart of Arkansas and Missouri.  Both set of directions agree for tomorrow route.  I should be on the interstate a lot more, which I think will be better.

Reese was uncomfortable in the car at first.  After a while he got comfortable and went to sleep and I would forget that he was there until he farted or something.  There was a little bit of a hassle over Reese staying here at the hotel.  They claim to be pet friendly on their website, but when I get here they say that pets aren’t allowed.  I’m trying a different chain tomorrow.

The weather was pretty cold today.  I hate that the South got hit with cold weather right when it was time for me to leave.

I probably won’t have time to do much tomorrow.  It’s snowing tomorrow morning in KC, so I’ll be getting off to a later start.

More pics are on Facebook and I’m sure I’ll add them to every other social network later.

Here’s my list for 2012. Hopefully I’ll have an even better success rate than I did in 2011.

• Listen to music more. I want to try to get back into music like I used to be.
• Read 20 books. I read 17 this year according to Goodreads. 20 should be doable.
• Go to a Halloween party. I’ve never been to one or even dressed up for Halloween. That needs to change.
• Go to a Christmas party. I’ve never been to one of these either.
• Buy new clothes. I shouldn’t have any excuses not to this year. I want to buy a few nice things while I’m at it.
• Meet new people. I should meet plenty of new people in Portland.
• Do social gaming. Whether it’s board games or online video games, I want to game more with other people. Playing with by myself gets old after a while.
• Start buying collectibles. I want to grow my collection of geeky items. I have Star Trek, Doctor Who, and Dexter-related items, but I want more.

In case you haven’t heard, I have a new job! I’ve done a bad job of spreading the word, but hey, I have been talking about it since I found out less than 2 weeks ago. My last day at Mississippi State University is Friday, December 16, which 3 days from now and 1 day before my birthday.

The name of the company that I’ll be working for is Tactel US. They’re based in San Diego, but they have offices in Portland and Sweden. I think they even have some positions in the San Francisco Bay area. I’ll be working in the Portland office. The interview process was pretty painless and they made me an offer the week after Thanksgiving. I’m thankful to them for giving me this opportunity. I don’t already know everything I’ll need to know, but I will have a chance to learn.

I’ll be starting on December 19th and working remotely from Starkville at first. Then I’ll take some time off and I suppose that’s when I’ll move. I’m looking forward to it. I’m a little nervous about starting with a new company, working with new people, and moving so far away from my family, but change is good.

I’m sure I’ll be talking about my new job a lot in the coming months.