5.30.2011

Let the Adventure Begin

This past spring, Bilbo surprised me with a day trip to Lexington, KY. Glamorous, right? The reason for this trip was to scope out the potential for our future home. We are looking for somewhere in the mountains, with a small metropolitan area, an academic community, and climbing area (for Bilbo), which is within a day’s drive from our parents (for Minnie).

While in Lexington, we visited Keeneland; which we have been told is the highest grossing horse track in the world. We bought a ticket for the cheap seats, so we stood in a cluster of large hats and dress coats as everyone crowded around the fence. Personally, I don’t see why you would pay anymore for a stadium seat. All of the fun seemed to be in the chaos on the ground and you could feel the excitement building among your fellow herdsmen. It all starts as the workers, who I am sure have a technical name unknown to the novice, pull the gates around and begin lining up the numbers. Then, a few minutes before the race begins, a bugler plays the well known tune as the hustle and bustle continues around the track. A bit of time elapses, gamblers talk excitedly about their bets, then the second bugle song sounds to announce that the race is about to begin. The announcer introduces the horses, a gun is shot, and they’re off! All of the excitement explodes as the horses shoot out! Cheers, gasps, sighs, and explicative shouts fill the air while the horses make their way around. Then, in what seems to be a millisecond, it’s over.
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This week, the excitement has built for your favorite Bauers, as we began the race toward the finish line—hitting the road. Do you remember the mounds of stuff that we moved last week? Well, we went home to pack up the scraps left behind, and they ended up being much more than scraps.  The entire first floor of our house was turned into a collection site of clothing, electronics, camping supplies, and more, all thrown helter-skelter into a disaster zone.  It looked like we never moved anything out in the first place.  As I continued to work a full-time job, Bilbo worked at the house.  When I came home, we both continued to work.  Monday passed, with a nice farewell outing for me and my Bible study girls.  Tuesday passed.  Wednesday passed, topped of by a farewell cookout with our Bible study group.  At this point we realized that, despite our non-stop efforts, we were in over our heads.  There was no possible way for us to be ready to leave by Saturday, so the reinforcements were called in.  My parents and brother, aka “The Vance Brigade”, came to our rescue.  Thursday night, we finished boxing up all of these “scraps”.  Friday night, Bilbo and I took the cats to the Vance residence and stayed the night to help them acclimate.  Saturday morning, the Vance Brigade returned to the Ramblin’ Bauers house, along with Miss Kitty (the RV).  All of our remaining belongings were loaded up, and Miss Kitty took on her new role as a storage unit.  Finally, we were moved out and the house was ready for our renter to move in!  By that point, we were all exhausted! 
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But, we had to return to the Vance residence, unload the items needed for the first month of our trip, reorganize them, and pack them up into our little Honda.  That’s right, folks!  We are living out of our itsy-bitsy little Honda Civic for the first month of our adventure.  It is a daunting task to try to pack enough clothing, toiletries, medications, and camping gear for a whole month and then fit them in to a 10x5 space, while leaving enough room for two adults to sit.  YIKES!  We managed, though!  So, with the car packed, we went to bed to rest up for the take off—only one day later than planned! Next morning, we got up, loaded into the car, said our goodbyes, and set off of Asheville, NC!
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Now we are chilling with our friends, the Dutchie and the Duchess, and their new little bundle of joy, Baby Van Acht the Grey. 
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After our a month full of craziness, it has been completely WONDERFUL to just relax!  We have ventured into town a few times.  First, we went out to Neo Burrito for lunch.  Coincidentally, there was a clinic beside of the restaurant advertising colon cleansings.  That gave us all a chuckle, except Baby V…he didn’t get it. 
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The burrito place was set up like a Qudoba; pick a general type of burrito then dress it up the way you like.  It was much much better than Qudoba, though!  The atmosphere was nice with very friendly service and an industrial themed decor with mostly recycled building materials. The food was all bought local and fresh and was high quality for a good price.  They also give you a mound of chips on the side and offer a free salsa bar with a variety of fresh made salsas.  My favorite was the sweet and tangy pineapple and Biblo’s the cilantro bean salsa.  With our bellies full, we returned to the van Acht’s to catch up and digest.

Later that evening, we went on a driving tour of the super hippy downtown and shopped at the nice hippy grocery store with all local and organic foods.  Since we were full on burritos, but skipped the colon cleansing, snack foods were on the menu for the evening.  We got a variety of snack mixes with fun names like “Mocha Nut Crunch” and a mystery “Oriental Rice Snack Mix”.  Then we returned to the house and broke out, what else, a board game.  You see, the Dutchie and the Duchess are our favorite board game companions because they are just as geeky as us.  The game of the evening, which we just opened last night, was “Le Havre”.  It is the sequel, you may say, to our favorite board game “Agricola”.  “Le Havre” is a turn based game revolving around the buying and selling of good in a harbor (which is what havre translates to) all for the purpose of gaining wealth.  This game is greatly influenced by another classic “Caylus” and made by the same designer of the aforementioned Agricola.  As I mentioned before, the game is brand new so we had to learn the set up and the rules.  The inaugural game took us only 6 hours and went as most do.  We left out rules until we discovered them half-way through, we inadvertently cheated, and we forgot some main steps.   All in all…it was great!  Now that we know how to play, we are going to have a real fight to the death tonight.  As a side note, Bilbo won the first game by a small margin, but unsurprisingly was also the player that cheated the most. A final point of importance to our gaming with the van Achts is the fact that we don’t really care who wins as long as Bilbo loses.  So, wish the three of us luck as we take him down. 
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That’s all for now, folks!  There is more to come in a few days as we set our sights towards Raleigh to visit another friend, the Barefoot Physicist. 

5.23.2011

Pre-trip (t-minus 1 week): The Final Stretch


Most everyone knows that a marathon is a long distance running event that is 26 miles and 385 yards.  Fewer people know the origin of this race.  There is a coastal city in Greece called Marathon, where lived a loyal Greek messenger named Pheidippides. During his time, Greece was at war with the Persians—a war which reached the shores of Marathon in August or September of 490 BC and in which Pheidippides fought.  At the battle’s end, Pheidippides was sent to bear the message of victory. He ran the distance from Marathon to Athens (which happens to be 26 miles and 385 yards), announced victory to the assembly, then dropped dead. 

Bilbo on the beach in Marathon

Minnie enjoying the indigenous giant pineapples of Marathon

The view from our resort in Marathon


Bilbo and Minnie at the Acropolis
      
         The reason I’m telling you this story, which Bilbo and I learned while on our honeymoon in Marathon and Athens, is because it is the perfect illustration of our lives this week!  No wars have been involved, but there has been non-stop work to the point of deadly exhaustion.  The source of this labor?  Move out week!  It went a little like this…
Sunday—Drove home from the Elder-Bauers’ (Bilbo’s parents), where we celebrated graduation.  Drove to Marietta, OH (to be explained later).
Monday—Made a game plan and began packing.
Tuesday—More packing for Bilbo and Minnie’s final book club (tear).
Wednesday—More packing and Bible study.
Thursday—Our friends came over to finish packing and start loading the truck (Thanks Jacqueline, Julia, Dave, and Chad!).
Friday—Finished loading the truck (Thanks again Jacqueline!).  We wanted to drive back to the Elder-Bauers’ that day but were to tired, so we watched a movie.
Saturday—Up bright and early, drove the 2.5 hours to the Elder-Bauers’, unloaded the truck on the patio, sorted our belongings, took the majority into the basement and attic, and crashed.
Sunday—Finished sorting our things and storing them, drove home, relaxed.
               Monday through Friday I was still working from 7:30-4:00 each day, so the progress seemed terribly slow and painfully tedious.  You can therefore imagine our surprise when team Bauer (Bilbo, Minnie, the Elder-Bauers, and Bilbo’s sister) unloaded the entire truck in one hour!  It was like magic.  Of course, the sorting and storing phase took a bit longer, but WHEW was that one hour unload a relief! 
The truck arrives
Team Bauer in action

One hour later...
Now we have to sort through this...

And this...
Bella and Fyodor even helped out!
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               After unloading on Saturday, we introduced the rest of Team Bauer to one of our favorite restaurants in Morgantown, Puglioni’s.  There is a back story which is essential to your understanding of the significance of this dining delight.  You see, Bilbo and I lived in Morgantown for 7 years and only happened upon Puglioni’s within the last month of our residency there.  For the past two years since leaving Morgantown, we have tried to eat at Puglioni’s during every return visit.  Each attempt is met by either the restaurant being closed or some event popping up that prevents our consumption of their good goods…until this time!  Oh was it glorious!  The establishment itself is the small hole-in-the-wall type, only seating around 50 patrons at a time, but it is a treasure.  The pine nut vinaigrette, the tomato sauce, the homemade pasta, and oh the bread!  They bring you a chunk of toasted bread with a dousing of melted butter and fresh chopped butter literally poured over top.  We downed 4 of those babies and all were happy!    If you are ever in Morgantown, you need to look them up. 
               You may be wondering if this was the mini-adventure that we alluded to last week.  Well, it is not.  Last week’s adventure was a bit of a flop…double flop, actually.  The trip was initial planned because Bilbo found a tow dolly at a pretty low price in Marietta, OH.  Close to Marietta is the WV state park, Blennerhassett Island.  It was the home of a wealthy Irish couple that fled their homeland due to Mr. Blennerhassett’s involvement in plotting Ireland’s freedom from England, traveled through the “new world”, and purchased the island in 1798.  The island, with its extravagant mansion, was the center of social life in the Ohio River Valley during the time of Harman and Margaret Blennerhassett; however, they were forced to flee again in 1806 due to Harman’s involvement with Aaron Burr’s conspiracy.  A few  years later, the mansion burned down and a legacy died.  The WV state park organization has rebuilt the mansion and offer a ferry ride from Parkersburg, WV to the island from May-October. 

Like our experience with Puglioni’s, Blennerhassett Island has been an allusive goal for us.  We tried going last November, not realizing that the park was closed at that time.  We had a lovely weekend exploring the town and staying at the Blennerhassett Hotel, but no island.  This time, the island was closed due to excessive rain which makes passage by ferry unsafe.  So, we went to the Blennerhassett Museum instead.  It was a nice museum with history pertaining to Parkersburg, Wood County, and West Virginia as a whole; however, it was not the Blennerhassett experience I was looking forward to.  So, downtrodden and defeated we left the museum and Bilbo call the owner of the tow dolly to meet up.  This is where the double fail comes into play.  The owner informed us that he had already sold it and we went home.  Hope has not been lost, though! Just as we came to our destiny with Puglioni’s, we will one day set foot on Blennehassett Island!  I’m sure that there will be plenty of things to distract me between now and then…like a trip across the country!  Right?
That’s all for now folks!  Wish us luck as we prepare for the first leg of our journey! Today was the first day of my last week of work!  The bus, or Honda in this instance, pulls out this Friday, May 27th!  Oh my goodness…we have a lot to do this week! 
              
Two last remarks:
1.       If you aren’t a follower become one!  We will have games, competitions, polls, and other interactive activities in the future and we would love your input.
2.      If you know anyone that has a tow dolly they would like to rent, sell, or let borrow please make a comment below.


Thanks, The RBs

5.14.2011

T-Minus 2 Weeks: Celebration Time


Coming to you live from Morgantown, WV (close by anyways), I would like to officially present Dr. Bauer!




Here is the cake, made by my mom.  Go Mom!
That’s right folks, today was Bilbo’s graduation!  Please, do not be fooled by the outfit.  This was not the Hogwarts Class of 2011 commencement ceremony, but that of the WVU School of Medicine. So -bring to him your sick, weary, and crazy; for Bilbo, after 4 year of excruciatingly hard work, is a really real doctor!  At this time I would like to say WOOOOOOOOOOHOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!!!!!! Now I can begin the plans for my mansion in the hills.

I’d also like to give a shout out to his closest partners in crime, Dr. VanAcht and Dr. Geary. Good job guys!  I’m proud of you!

The week leading up to this monumental event has been, well, better than the weeks you have heard about so far.  We have had time to relax, the house is in tip top shape, and God has given us answers to prayers; all topped off with a long weekend with our family and reunions with friends.  Yes, it is safe to say that this has been a very good week. 
In addition to travelling, one of our favorite hobbies is enjoying a good board game.  This is something we hope to do a bit more with our new found free time.  So, to expatiate on the relaxation we have enjoyed this week, let me introduce you to our new game, “Washington’s War”.  It is a card driven strategy game based on the American Revolution; which is a revision of the creator’s earlier game, “We the People.”
 

This game is the model for many of the best card driven strategy games out there, so we figured it must be amazing.  We purchased it, spent 2 hours learning the basic rules, and then fumbled through an initial game for 2 more hours.  The verdict: WE LOVE IT!  If you like board games, you should definitely check it out!  We have played a second game since, with increased alacrity and efficiency, but still need to polish our strategy and skill.  I know this sounds like excessive work just to play a game, but it was worth it…and we have been through worse.  Poor Bilbo bought a game almost 18 months ago, called “Die Macher”, which is based upon German politics.  One evening we spent 4 hours just setting up the game board!  Then this phrase appeared in the instruction manual, “Now the real instructions begin.”  At that point we went to bed.  It was like when you buy a dress that is too small because you love it and the store is out of your size.  You know what you need to do to be able to wear the dress, but it’s too much work to lose weight.  So, you keep the dress for ages just hoping that, by chance, you will be able to wear it one day.  Eventually, you come to your senses and take that satin masterpiece to Goodwill—because it’s just not going to happen.  That’s exactly what happened with “Die Macher”.  The game board remained set up on the dining room table, desolate and alone, for about a week, until we realized that we were not ready to put the work into learning it.  I mean, the instruction manual was the size of a novel!  Playing and mastering this game is one of our goals for the upcoming year, though.  We’ll let you know how it goes! 
Another goal for our trip is to see as many national parks as possible.  The National Park Service offers a year long pass called “America the Beautiful,” which allows free admission to all national parks and up to 50% off of camping in all national park campgrounds for just $80.  Can you say, “Ka-ching?”  This week the ATB pass arrived and concrete plans have been set for our destinations and campsites over the next two months.  Right now, the park we are most excited to see is Acadia National Park; however, we will not be arriving in that region until mid-summer.  The first leg of our adventure will be…drum roll…a tour of North Carolina!  The hot spots on our list include:
  •  Ashville
  • Smokey Mountain National Park
  • Wilmington
  • The OBX (as all of the cool kids call it)
  • The Raleigh-Durham area
 From NC, we will zig-zag on over to Virginia for vacation with the Minnie side of the family.  This will include Williamsburg, Yorktown, Jamestown, Busch Gardens, and VA Beach.  Then it will be time for a visit with the Bilbo side of the family and a trip to Gettysburg.  I believe that is enough of a preview for now.  After all, I do need to leave a little mystery.  Thank you, faithful reader, for listening to the ramblings of the Bauers! 
TWO MORE WEEKS!!!!!!!!!!!!


Oh, okay…one last pearl.  We are going on a one day mini-vacation before I have to be back to work; but that is a story for another day.  See!  I’m keeping you on the edge of your seat.  Don’t fall off!
                                                                                                                                       

5.05.2011

Pre-trip (t-minus 3 weeks): Insanity


In the weeks preceding Bilbo’s final day of medical school he began to dream of what he would do with his free time…
Rock climbing!
Reading!
Cycling!
Sleeping in!
Sweet, loving Bilbo was even feeling a few pangs of guilt over all of the fun he would be having while Minnie still had to work.  Little did he know that, while visions of sugar plums danced in his head, an alternate reality lurked in the shadows.  No creepy uncles or giant rats will make an appearance in this tale, but something even more frightening, daunting, and life threatening…
THE HOME SALER’S DO-TO LIST!
 In the past week we have interviewed multiple realtors, in search of a new model.  Our house has been off of the market for almost two weeks, but do not fear…We have found the droid, or realtor, we were looking for!  Bilbo finished taking updated pictures of the property today and our Knight in Shining Armor will have our house back on the market in the morning.  This Knight in Shining Armor (we’ll call him KSA for short) also gave us a list of things to do.  Prior to this new list Bilbo had already, in the course of one week, painted the basement, patched up chipped paint inside of the house, packed up our unused belongings, finished a large majority of the items on a 2-year long honey-do list, done the hokey pokey and turned himself around.  On top of this we have been liquidating our assets (aka:  items with free signs on the curb.  We take bets on how long they will last, which provides quite a bit of fun), preparing for a yard sale, and planning details of our trip.  With the time we have left—right—we will attack this new list.  LET THE CHAOS BEGIN! 
To help us in our endeavors, I found a cute little friend in the hospital gift shop.
Meet St. Joseph!

Apparently, you bury this little guy in your yard and he will petition to God to sale your house.  I am not Catholic, so I did not pay the $8 to take him home.  I don’t know that many people would, either.  Besides,  I am a place all of your trust in God kind of girl.
That’s enough about the old home for now, so let’s shift our attention to the new home.  Here’s our RV!

And from the front…

She is a 1995 Coachmen Catalina, bought at a steal.  We have a living room, dining area, kitchen, bedroom, and bathroom.  All trimmed in that unforgettable 1990’s teal color.  That’s right!  This baby came with all of the amenities:  busted tires, fried battery, questionable generator, and a few things we haven’t even discovered yet. 
My cousin’s wonderful fiancĂ©, Jason, has been trying terribly hard to get new tires on Miss Kitty here.  The obstacle has not been finding the right tires for the right price.  No!  That was the easy part.  The thoughtful Jason got roped into this mess by having the right connection to the right place with the right deal—a deal that would save us $800!  Go Jason!  The problem has been getting Miss Kitty (“Cat”alia, yes I know a lot of feline references here) off of my grandfather’s lot and onward to her destiny.  The first two attempts were not that eventful or noteworthy—scheduling conflicts really. The last attempt, though…the last attempt deserves a narrative. 
The day before this last attempt was the fateful discovery of the completely fried battery.  A new battery was promptly purchased; however, the weekend’s festivities (celebrating my brother’s birthday) did not allot the time to change it out before we had to return home.  I know that sounds like a cop-out, but you don’t understand my family.  We are a large family, all living in the same town, with the majority on the same street (except Bilbo and me, of course).  The roll call includes my parents, my brother, both sets of grandparents, my aunt and uncle, my great aunts and uncles, all of my cousins, their spouses, and their kids.  A visit to see my family involves constant activity! 
Determined and persevering Bilbo did not let the circumstances come between him and new set of tires, though.  He got up early, dropped me off at work, then drove the hour back to my home town to get Miss Kitty purring for her trip to the salon.  After he successfully had her running, Bilbo hit the road.  Enter Jason.  Just as planned, he picked up Miss Kitty and started out on the 40 minute drive to the RV shop.  He abruptly ended his trip when two of the tires began to split before he reached city limits.  Now, we are waiting for the tires to be shipped to another store closer to my grandparents’ house.
This has been the insanity in the Bauer world this week.  I hope you were able to laugh at our expense and find joy in our tribulations.  The good news is…
ONLY 3 MORE WEEKS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!