.....and the countdown begins........

....but not before the craziness ensues! 

We moved. 

Why oh why would we do such a silly and stressful thing when we're leaving in 6 months?  Well, it's quite simple: one side of our duplex (rental property we own) was going to be available January 1 and we still didn't have any takers by mid-December.  We decided to see what would happen if we tried to rent our house.  Shamalamadingdong!  It rented FAST so once all our holiday visitors cleared out on December 27th, we started packing.....

(Even after all our purging, we still have so much STUFF!!!!!)

.....played at Club DeVille on Jan 2........

(CD Release on Feb 5th at the ND!) 

http://www.candiandthestrangers.com/

.....and moved on Jan 3.   

(Capital Movers was great.  Thanks Capital Movers!)

Our house is rented short term to a nice family who are looking for a house to buy in the neighborhood.  We did a 3-month lease with an option to go month to month for 2 additional months, which means we could be moving again in 3 to 5 months.  But we left the utilities on and didn't even change our address (we'll just go by and check the mail occasionally), so it's a little easier than a full-on move. 

It sure is........empty! 

Man, were we sad to leave our little house!!  It was quite emotional which caught us (well, me anyway) by surprise.   But it will be worth it because a month of vacancy would have gouged our trip money (a BIG no no!).  The sudden move has also been an opportunity to do another major purge and to get the duplex back in shape for new tenants.  2 dudes and a dog have lived there for 2 years so it was quite the "Man Cave".  It wasn't showing well at all, so no surprise it didn't rent.   We're already elbow deep in getting the duplex back in tip top shape and it's lookin' good! 

BTW, Kipper, Slink, and LeTigre are adjusting to the move quite well.  We tried to find a home for Slink before we moved so she wouldn't have to move twice, but to no avail.  She's still looking for another family that will love her as much as her present one does!!

DAYS TO GO:  169

P.S.  Happy birthday Joel!!

Happy New Year!!

Happy 2011 everyone!!

 (We're much more excited about this year than Kipper looks.)

I don't put too much stock in this, but it's interesting to note that 2011 is the Year of the Rabbit, which supposedly is a lucky sign.  

Obviously, this year is going to be full of adventure for us, but I've noticed that there are big changes in store for almost all our friends and family too....everyone's got new jobs, new relationships, new babies, new options.   So, because this is a "lucky year," all these new changes and adventures will be GOOD changes and adventures! 

It's also nice to know that the Year of the Rabbit is best for people born in the Year of the Dog,

which just happens to be Greg.  Yay us!

(Clearly, I choose to believe in astrology when it behooves me.)

We haven't posted in a while, but that doesn't mean we weren't busy!!   And even though we haven't been camping since our Pedernales trip, Le Tigre hasn't been idle.  One of our neighbors borrowed it for his sister and significant other to stay in while they were visiting from Tulsa.  It was pretty funny seeing our future home all popped up and parked down the street, knowing someone was in there!  And of course they all loved it, what's not to love?

The end of 2010 was crazy for us, as I'm sure it was for y'all too.  We had the first of four overnight family visitors the Friday before Christmas and it was non-stop from there. 

But Amy and I still had time to go horseback riding!

 That's Amy.  She's a natural.


That's me on the left, with my freakishly small and honery, but awesome, little horse.

It was great to see all our family over the holidays, plus it gave us of opportunity to show off Le Tigre.  Every time a new person arrived, we all trooped out to our little camper and popped it up and hung out in it.  Everyone was duly impressed, or at least faked it very well!

All of our out-of-town visitors were gone by New Year's Eve, so we spent it with good friends at the SWOOP House. 

Stephen, me, Greg, Ania, Bryan, and Lauren.  Good times!

Mediterranean food.  Yum!

Cheers to a great year!

Greg gettin' his artsy on.

My turn!

We had a great time and rang in the new year with fireworks and champagne a'plenty.  Just in time for.........

Camping Trip #2 - Pedernales State Park

In the interest of testing out the Tiger as much as possible before we go on the "big trip", we went camping again!  This time we went to Pedernales State Park a couple of days before Thanksgiving. 

 

We were hoping it would be cold enough to try out the furnace and the 20 degree rated sleeping bag, but it was HOT!  Typical Texas winter......85 during the day and 65 at night.  Tank tops and shorts weather.  Fortunately, the water was COLD and refreshing, just the way Kipper likes it.

We were there for two nights, and were able to really make ourselves at home. 

So we didn't get to try out out furnace or cold-weather sleeping bag, but we did try out the new bed and layout.  The new layout makes for much more room inside the Tiger.  I'm a big fan of that!  The bed is comfy, but it's still a bed inside of a van and neither of us slept very well either night.  We were SO tired when we got back to Austin.  I took two naps and still went to bed at 9pm!  Kipper was worn out too.  He was out of sorts and kinda disobedient the last day at camp and then slept for about 17 hours when we got back to the house.  The sleeping arrangement will eventually work, but it'll take some time to get used to.  When we go on our real trip, we're going to be sleep deprived and grumpy for the first couple of weeks.  But we'll get over that hump....fingers crossed....

We weren't too tired to enjoy the views!  We used to camp at Pedernales all the time when I was a kid, and one of my favorite spots was the falls.  I remember them being so pretty.  They still are, although apparently deadly......

These two pictures were taken FIVE minutes apart!!!

And these trees are a few miles downstreem.  That current must've been strong!!

Fortunately, we weren't swept away in a flash flood and were able to enjoy the beauty of the river.

The obligatory self portrait

We rode our bikes from the camp site to the falls.  Nice 2-mile ride.  Very easy, until our way back.....

He finally just grabbed on to my shorts and Kipper & I pedalled Greg and his bike back to camp.  And we added "bike repair kit" to our growing list of stuff we need to remember to take with us!

(We were VERY ill-prepared.   I mean, really, who forgets leveling jacks??  And CHAIRS??  Or bug spray?)

After our ride, we hiked a 4-mile trail across the river.  I hate to diss nature, but it was BORING.  It all looked like this:

 Seriously, EVERY step looked exactly the same!  *yawn*

But, one of the park hosts told us about another trail.  So the next morning we hiked that one.  And by "hike", I mean "leisurely walked" because it was only a quarter of a mile and took all of 30 minutes roundtrip.  But it was very beautiful!

Cool branch.

Of course, signs don't apply to us!

Grotto

All in all, I'd say the 2nd Tiger trip was a success.  We layed on a blanket (because we forgot our camp chairs) and watched the stars.  We got lots of exercise (bike ride with broken chain, super boring 4-mile hike, short pretty walk).  We played cards (gin rummy, baby!).  We made a campfire (even though we didn't have anything to cook on it).  I learned that you can save the coals and restart your fire in the morning - very cool.  We figured out that the box works very well and provides lots of extra room inside. 

Btw, here's how you break down the Tiger.....from home to van in 45 seconds!!