Laguna Beach

Laguna Beach

On one of our "rest days" while in Orange County, we went to Laguna Beach to get knocked down by the waves, play in the sand, and check out the baby crabs in the tide pools.

The water was chilled, but not uncomfortable. The waves were strong, and it was a bit unnerving to feel the sand give way beneath you when another wave was about to take you on. 

And the sand - oh my - there was so much sand! It's been a loooong while since I've been in water like this that I had forgotten how the water leaves you with the wave but the sand stays. We all were "leaking" sand the rest of the day!

We went exploring in the tide pools to look for baby crabs - once you knew what to spot they were everywhere! Edith loved every moment of "I found another one!" but Ginny was very content to stay on the "clean sand". Walking by the washed-up kelp yielded many "yuck" comments and she avoided them like the plague. While she tans up easy, she is definitely not a beach girl!

As we prepared to leave, Edith found great delight in scattering the pigeons who were nearing the beach:

All in all, a great rest day! We followed our beach adventure with some really great gelato, just a few blocks inland. Our next adventure was the Mission San Juan Capistrano!

The Getty and the La Brea Tar Pits

I feel so satisfied.

Ben and I have a number of favorite movies that we like to watch probably once a year, and The Hammer is one of them. It is a total B-movie but has great one-liners and a lot of witty sarcasm (featuring Adam Carrolla from The Man Show). In the movie, the main character takes his love interest on a day date to the La Brea Tar Pits in Los Angeles. When we decided to make plans for this vacation, I asked our hosts if going to the Tar Pits could be on our agenda and they were only too happy to oblige my request.

It was like I was there with Adam Carrolla as we felt what it was like to be trapped in tar, as we side-stepped the small patches of tar coming up from the ground in the middle of the grassy area, and as we viewed the replicas of wooly mammoths and wolves (so.many.wolves) getting stuck in the tar and their ultimate demise.

I highly recommend 1) watching the movie The Hammer, and 2) going to the La Brea Tar Pits if you're ever in LA!

Our first stop of the day, however, was The Getty. The Getty is an incredible art museum with groomed grounds tended by over 200 gardeners. Apparently, I didn't take any pictures of our time there, but our friend snapped this photo of us as we left (Edith didn't want to be in the picture, and yes, that is a sculpture of a naked boy holding a frog in the background). 

It was such a peaceful setting and had so many beautiful exhibits and plants (and later on our friends - and us! - would get some clips of one of the plants we saw on the grounds, called a "wandering Jew").

We went to an Ethiopian restaurant for supper that evening and ate to our heart's content on this giant platter with veggies, steak bites, and potatoes. You tear off some of the starchy base on the platter and use that to grip the food and eat it. The steak bites and seasonings on everything were sooooo good. After full tummies and a full first day in LA, we headed back to OC in prep for a simple, leisurely Sunday.

A Horizontal Tornado

We began our departure from the LA area and southern California on Friday, June 11. Our destination was a mere 3-hour drive from our host's home in Orange County, hugging the Pacific Ocean and offering us beautiful views of beaches along the way.

About 10 minutes from our campground, we noticed sustained winds picking up, with strong gusts accompanying them. Initially, we thought it was just due to the terrain funnelling the winds and once we got to our spot (which was just 20 yards from the ocean), things would be calmer.

How wrong we were!

The winds only picked up in intensity and there was no respite - it was just windy. We live in North Dakota and we are not strangers to wind but HOLY BUCKETS (as we say up there) this was intense.

We attempted to position the camper so that it was in line with the direction the wind was blowing, and then popped it up, but we were so concerned that the wind would bend the frame and we wouldn't be able to put it back down. The thought also crossed my mind that we could turn into Dorothy from the Wizard of Oz and not know where we would wake up!

Our camper neighbor John came over to introduce himself, "Welcome to California. I'm sorry!" and offer to help, but we thought it would be best to button the camper back up and head for calmer lands. His lovely wife Lisa sent us off with some freshly made guac and chips though, so it made for a nice welcoming/parting gift.

We made it to Lompoc and got a hotel room for the night - which was admittedly better than sleeping in a windstorm, but not by much (not a room or hotel of great quality - I'll leave it at that).

The next morning was a great first day into this part of our vacation outside of the hustle and bustle of the city. Ben got a barbershop haircut and beard trim from a man named Carlos who had tattoos on every square inch of his face (and most of the rest of his body) while the girls and I walked down an historic street flanked by nearly 100-year old Italian pine trees which created a lovely canopy over the homes. After his haircut, we met up for a very relaxed morning in a local coffee shop where the girls sat on an old van bench as their seats at the table and buckled up to drink their hot chocolate.

Onward to our next stop: Cambria!

Vacation Days 3-5

We have been enjoying southern California since we visited with an advisor friend of Ben's in Los Angeles Friday afternoon, and since then, at our friend's and host's house (we'll be here until Friday morning).

A few pics to share of our travels thus far (and some are out of order, unfortunately, but you'll get the gist!):

We decided to stop at every state line and take a picture!

Edith and Ginny enjoyed "toeing the line" being half in Idaho and half in Montana at this border - they had concrete markers to indicate the line.

Sunny, dry, and HOT HOT HOT California. It was 94 degrees at 8:30am.

When we initially drove across the border in northern Utah, we forgot to stop at the state line, so we decided to take its picture when in southern Utah - so, we drove to Arizona and took that sign's picture, then turned around on an exit pass to head back north and cross Utah's state line and take a picture, and then finally got back on the road to drive through that short 25-mile stretch of northwestern AZ until we hit the California border.

Ben broke in our campfire dutch oven at our campsite in Utah - but we had to use our small grill as the head source instead of a campfire because they didn't have any campfire rings! Ben made a delicious Julia Child-inspired braised beef roast while the girls and I rode bikes around the campground and made some new friends (Don & Kellie from NC and Bill & Debbie from CA).

Sweet, blessed fun. They've napped virtually every day we've been on vacation - signs of a good time :)

The 25-mile stretch in Arizona. Breathtaking at every turn!

Making some coffee for our early morning rise near St. George, UT.

Views from the Stratosphere in Las Vegas, NV (we opted to stay in a hotel versus camping as it was 110 out. We definitely made the right choice!

Before the girls woke up - at our campsite near St. George.

Proof of the awesome roast!!

I'll get another post up here soon with details of all of our happenings in the last few days. We've been busy and having a blast!!

So far so awesome!

As we sit in the air conditioned hotel room we splurged on tonight on account of the 110 degree heat, I am so grateful for an awesome start to our road trip adventure!

We left Monday morning at 7am bright-eyed and ready for fun! 

(imagine a selfie shot of our family, taken from the front seat of our Suburban....I will add the actual photo when my computer cooperates; right now I’m posting with my thumbs from Ben’s phone and uploading photos isn’t so easy! Yes, I know there’s social media for that... ;-))

We decided to take pictures of each “Welcome to {insert state}” sign as we crossed the border so Montana was first up. It reminded me of when my Grandpa, Aunt Esther, and Uncle Herb came out to visit us almost 6 years ago - we got a great shot of the MT sign then too!

Driving through MT was fairly uneventful and we got settled in nicely at the Bozeman Hot Springs Campground. Folks, this place was one of the highest priced campgrounds in our whole trip but worth every penny! I’d give our whole stay a 10/10. The campground adjoins the hot springs, where they have 4 outdoor pools, and multi-separated pools on the inside, the hottest of which was 106! Ben had read that going from the hot pool to a colder pool (65 degrees) acts as a great detoxifier for the body, so we both took the plunge. WOW was it a shock to the body and a literal take-your-breath-away experience. Once was enough for me :-)

We all slept great and enjoyed a brown bag breakfast offered by the campground, then got everything packed up for our next drive of the trip, to Tremonton, UT. We’ve learned pretty quickly what all needs to go where in the camper and in the truck so everything can go as smoothly as possible and it only takes 40 mins or so to break down and button up so we can be on our way. 

The next leg brought us through a tiny slice of Wyoming (but no “welcome to WY” sign) and then Idaho, on a stretch of interstate Ben and I have actually never driven before, which was fun to experience some “new road”! When we crossed into Utah, it was getting late so we opted not to take the picture of the sign (but don’t worry! We rectified that today in a UT to AZ back to UT and back to AZ again) so we could just get set up at our campsite - we wanted to break in our campfire Dutch oven and cook up a rump roast we dug out of the freezer before we left! Pictures to come soon- it was fantastic, even if we did eat at 9:30pm!

The chilly night woke us up early where Ben and I enjoyed some French press coffee while watching the sun rise over the mountains. What a beautiful country we live in!!

I’ll leave it at that for now - I’ll post soon about the rest of our UT drive and hanging out with my cousin Isaac in St. George for a few hours!

Mileage to date: approximately 1400 miles

Reprise!

In effort to keep a digital log of our upcoming life-on-the-road adventure, I am resurrecting the blog. We are not on social media, so this page will be a nice way have record of all of our happenings. I hope to give updates every other day or so, and will include photos taken by our resident 3 and 5 year olds.

We are leaving tomorrow, May 31, for a 5-week road trip adventure featuring our vintage 90s pop-up camper and 4500 driving miles. We will visit Montana, Utah, Nevada, Arizona, California, Oregon, Washington, and Idaho. Along the way we'll visit my cousin, some of Ben's financial planning buddies and clients, work our way up the California coast, spend several days with my mom and brother Andy, and see our old stomping grounds and friends in central Oregon. 

It will be epic.

Stay tuned for some highlights!

The Things We Miss...

...about trucking. Ben and I spent a good deal of time last night reminiscing. Here's a short list, in no particular order, of what we miss the most from our life on the road:

• fresh authentic Mexican food (especially in Laredo and Albuquerque)
• having the entire country in our back pocket at any given time
• breathtaking vistas
• going to sleep in the likes of Iowa and waking up in the likes of Wyoming
• visiting with family and friends on a somewhat regular basis
• El Gallo Giro, Pollard Flat, Seven Feathers, R's Place, Jubitz
• the paychecks
• driving through New England in the fall
• Boise
• the cute little Thai restaurant in Kent, WA that we frequented no less than 6 times (totally worth the 2 mile walk!)
• Colin Cowherd, Dave Ramsey, Lino Rulli
• coming home to Bend for a few days each month of R&R
• regular episodes of Ben sleepwalking...that never gets old!

 We wouldn't trade what we have now, but there are certainly times when we miss what we had then. We are so grateful for the experience.

The Life We Used to Live

A few weeks ago, our friend Russ passed through Bismarck on a weekend. We met Russ through truck school, back in the day, months before we ever started on the long-haul. He started as an owner-operator (bought his truck for less than $10K!) about a year after school and got set up on some loads throughout the Northwest and down to Arizona. We ran into him twice on the road, once in the Denver area and once in Salt Lake City. It was always nice to see a familiar face!

For the last couple of years, Russ has kept pretty much to the Northwest, but this recent once-in-a-blue-moon load brought him through our neck of the woods. We had a great visit (and gave Ben an excuse to explore more around Bismarck since I'm always working at the Olive Garden during opportune times) and shared many a trucker story. It brought back memories of our time on the road that I had completely forgotten about!

Ben can still recall what we hauled with what load with what trailer from what city to what city and on which route we traveled. I recall not much of that information, instead sharing in the memories of sunrises, sunsets, beautiful landscapes, local food, friendly encounters, and the occasional road-raged driver or bad dock experience. I prefer not to recall our time spent in New Jersey or the east coast of Florida, rather focusing on the adventure lying in wait for where we would go next.

It seems like light-years ago that we lived an "asphalt cowboy" life, but we handed in our keys only five months ago. No longer does our life revolve around truckstops for showers and bathrooms, Denny's for a decent meal, coffee every twelve hours, irregular sleep schedules, home visits once a month or city traffic. Sometimes I think back to those two-and-a-half years spent racking up over 500,000 miles and wonder, "Wow, did we really do all that?" I admit that I haven't missed it much, until yesterday.

We found a buyer for our Dodge Ram pick-up truck, and after the meet-and-greet and agreement to sell, we had to wait a couple of weeks for the couple to have enough money saved for purchasing. We set forth to drive up to Minot (pronounced MY-not), a little over 100 miles north of Bismarck, to make the exchange. Mind you now, this is the first time I've been out of Bismarck at all in the 5 months we've lived here. Ben has traveled around twice (once to Jamestown and once up to "oil country" in the northwest part of the state), but overall, not much. Let me just tell you, North Dakota is beautiful! So, so, beautiful!

Our friend Pat (whose family roots are in rural ND) liked to joke with us when we decided to make the move from Oregon to Bismarck, that is was flatter-than-a-pancake and we'd miss the mountains in no time.Well, we certainly miss the mountains, but Bismarck (and much of the western half of the state) is hardly flat. There is great variation in the landscape and once you break into the "wide open", you can really get a sense for the beauty of the prairie, which is what we experienced yesterday.

It reminded me of Iowa and central California, simultaneously. Iowa with the rolling hills and lush greenery, and California with the wide open space and hills as well. Those were the scenes from my trucker days playing out as we zipped through the green, producing fields. It made me long for the time on the road again, just driving. Just driving and going wherever the load/road would take us. Just driving.

My dad was known to have said, "I've got diesel in my blood Deb, I just need to be on the road." I thought I understood that when I became a trucker. But, I don't' think it really hit me until yesterday, what he meant. Technically I was driving a diesel (gotta love that German Jetta), but my "rig" only had four wheels, not eighteen. I commented to Ben on the way back to Bismarck that my legs just want to shift through the gears on a big rig. That's my body and mind's response to the exposure of the road again. Part of me also wanted to climb into the back to lay down, as I was getting tired on the way home. With life in the truck, that's just what you would do; the sleeper cab is there for a reason!

But, that life we used to live is no longer. The life we live now is so full and rich, which probably makes up for the mind's potential to be occupied by the past. I do not regret for a moment the time we spent out there, but I do not regret either the time we got off the road and have since spent in "normalcy" of life. I've mentioned before, but I can't help but reiterate, Bismarck has blessed us more than we ever thought possible. This is the life we are so privileged to live now: life in Christ in communion daily with a beautifully faithful community, in a landscape that breeds wonder and awe of creation, and doing the work of the Lord in the North Dakota vineyard. The good Lord is molding us ever carefully with His hands, challenging us to grow outside of ourselves and embrace the sufferings along with the blessings.

Praise God, from whom all blessings flow!

Roads Less Traveled

I noted in my post called "Settled" that we realized soon after moving here to Bismarck that it was the longest we have been in one place in two and a half years. As I was driving home from daily Mass the other day, I happened to look down at the odometer on our Jetta, and the fuel tank mileage read something like 245.3 miles. Add that to the 64 miles we've driven on the Dodge Ram, and our total mileage in about a month's time has equaled what we would sometimes drive in a single stretch while in the semi!

We recently began using Progressive Insurance's Snapshot Discount devices, in effort to reduce our premiums by safe driving. At any time of day, we can log in and view the tracking the device is taking in; there have been days when we haven't driven either vehicle (Ben is able to work/study from home if he doesn't want to go into the office), or when we have, it's been less than 10 miles (usually just going to Mass or to the office!). The Olive Garden is just a mile away from our apartment, so not much is going on with the pick-up truck.

It just struck me how little we thought sometimes of all the mileage we undertook in the semi, and after all that driving, how little we drive now. I guess it is partly influenced by our current income reduction and not being able to afford to go anywhere but Mass or work!

All in all, it is pleasant to have this be our new routine of life, one that is not dictated by dispatch, interstates and truck stops. We like life at home, and that's all right with us!

Settled

It has been a great month in life off the road for the Martinek Family; we have officially been out of the truck for a month, and it is glorious! It took a little bit of time for me to really know that "I'm not getting back in the semi", as our routine has been just that for the past two and a half years: drive for a month. Have 4-6 days off. Get back in the truck. Do it again. I think that moving from Bend to Bismarck has helped this factor, as Bismarck is an entirely new environment that wasn't "tainted" by our previous schedule.

Adjusting to this new way of life has been so wonderful it is hard to put into words, but I like words and I like to blog, so you're going to witness my attempts to describe the transition.

We realized about a week and a half after we moved in that that was the longest we had ever stayed in one place since we've been truckers. Our prior record would have been 7 days at Christmas in Bend, but before that, I think we had a max of 5 full days off in one city. It's really nice to be stationary, we've discovered!

Once settled, at first, going to the grocery store wasn't a "what can I buy that I will use up in just a few days time?" kind of trip. We purchased a chest freezer for bulk items and meal storage (I love love love this thing!), so once we got our Sam's Club membership (someday I will describe my hate/like relationship with Mr. Sam Walton and his enterprise...but as Bismarck doesn't have a Costco, Sam's has to do), we loaded up on bulk meat and reduced sale items from the meat department. Buying food in bulk just makes so much more sense economically! It just wasn't something we were able to do while living on asphalt. We've broken down the costs of several meals we've made in the last few weeks, and it comes down to usually $4 or less for Andy, Ben and myself. I can actually meal plan too, which has been so fun to do! And, I love to cook/bake, so being able to really spend time in the kitchen has been great. Speaking of the kitchen, we *finally* opened up our Cuisinart Food Processor and have started using our KitchenAid mixer and oh, what more could a girl ask for? Oh yes--a bread machine, ice cream machine, coffee grinder, cast iron. I've got those too. I have way too much fun in my kitchen!

My health has improved in a way I was hopeful for but wasn't expecting; I feel SO much better not being jostled around in a truck 24/7. I'm continuing with my vitamin and supplement intake, as well as avoiding wheat/gluten (finally found the perfect GF pizza dough recipe!), and am able to move around on a regular basis with just walking and running errands (we've got a great walking path, aka "Bismarck Trails" just a half mile from our apartment). My last period only caused me to get sick once and I generally felt better over-all during that time. I'm very pleased with that aspect of this life change.

The work that we had lined up to do when we arrived was here waiting for Ben, but the position I was hopeful for was not going to be open for at least another month, maybe more. But fear not! Bismarck has a ridiculous amount of job opportunities for entry level or advanced in many lines of work. Because of the oil field boom in the northwest part of the state, there has been a vacuum of workers leaving Bismarck to work the same job for at least twice (sometimes 3x more!) the amount of pay near the oil fields (you can make $15/hr working McDonald's drive-thru, or $20-25/hr for washing out trailers). Once we really saw what was available, and once we really realized how much we loved being out of a semi, we decided to look elsewhere.

Ben was offered a position to work for a non-profit Christian financial advising firm; this is something he has been interested in learning more about and pursuing even before we got focused on paying off all of our debt. An inquiry conversation with an agent at this organization led to a more-in-depth interview and then offer. The process to get on board has been a little long and tedious, but it is something that Ben is very excited about and I know he will do very well with it. It is a line of work that suits his determination and drive and ability to achieve.

I have applied for a recently-posted position that is open for the Director of Religious Education for the Cathedral Parish here in town. The search committee and selection process/interviews are slated to take place this month, so I am excited about the possibility of really diving in to parish life and catechesis. In the meantime, I just completed my training week of being a server at the Olive Garden. I love hospitality and serving and making sure people's needs are taken care of, so this is a great fit for the time being. Plus, the tips to be expected are well worth wearing men's oxford shirts and now knowing how to tie a half-windsor around my neck.

As far as other opportunities, while not the most glamorous of positions, the Bismarck Airport/TSA is hiring for Transportation Security Officers (aka the people who check the x-ray images, go through your carry-0n bag and possibly do a pat-down). The pay scale and benefits offered are very agreeable, so that is another paid position I am applying for. Ultimately, if it is not in God's plan for me to work directly with parish religious education, our plan is for me to just work as much as possible for the highest pay so we can continue paying off our debt as well as prepare for parenthood (no announcements yet, folks).

I'll use that as a segue to other opportunities in ministry; the parishes here have so much to offer for getting involved. Whether you want to be a sub on the lector list, a trained EMHC, a member of the choir, active in the young adult group (or young at heart, for those over 40), a volunteer catechist, a couple presenter for engaged couples, etc., the opportunities are endless there too. The parish is very prayerful, very involved and very welcoming. Families here go generations back though, so we're anticipating being "outsiders" for a while. That part reminds me a lot of good ol' Mercer County, Ohio. If your family didn't settle in the area in the mid-to-late 1800's, your roots aren't very deep. Around Bismarck, while Germans were a prominent group to settle, they are the "Germans from Russia", and we've learned not to confuse the two.

Oh, right, back to the segue...one of the opportunities for ministry is to become a certified NFP practitioner. This is something that I have wanted to do since Ben and I learned the method (Creighton Model) 4 years ago. Presently, the Bismarck area has couples on a waiting list to learn Creighton because the 3-4 women practitioners that are already teaching are overbooked with clients and cannot reach all of the interested parties. It is such a needed ministry, and I am so thankful for the opportunity to pursue certification. It's a 13-month program with two separate week-long educational/training immersions in Omaha, NE. The diocese and parishes are great sources of support for this invested endeavor, which is a great blessing! Please pray for all couples seeking out NFP for their marriages, and for the practitioners teaching them the truths about their bodies.

I mentioned Andy's name above; my younger brother Andy is living with us! Our plan (before we knew what our plan was) was for him to move in with us in Bend, find work and start school. Then our plans changed to Bismarck, so he stayed in Bend for the duration of our last month out on the road, then moved with us to "The Bis" (I just think it's fun to call Bismarck that! Ha!). In less than a week of us living here, he landed two jobs in the restaurants (Ruby Tuesday and Paradiso Mexican Restaurant), so he has been very busy between them. It has been really nice having him here with us, as it is giving him opportunity outside of Mercer County. There is a Catholic University of Mary south of town that he plans to start attending in the fall, to make the most of his GI Bill and get a degree under his belt.

Bismarck seems to be a great fit for all of us so far; we feel very blessed and fortunate to be here. We miss life back in Bend and all of our friends/family there, but things just really do seem to fit. Making friends has been a great adventure too--I don't think I've ever met friendlier people than in this town! That makes it pretty easy at church; attending the young adult Bible Timeline event introduced us to Adina, who then invited us to dinner one night to meet her husband and another couple they're friends with. And, small world: Adina's husband is cousins with someone Ben went to seminary with. Oh, and--the associate pastor at our parish is also someone Ben went to seminary with (they were a few years apart and in different studies though). I love the connections.

And being settled, apartment-wise: we scored a 3-bedroom, 2-bathroom apartment on the third floor of a recently built apartment complex (Ben and Andy will never forget moving all that stuff up two flights of stairs). It is set up in a way that feels much more like a home than an apartment; it has a kind of a ranch-like floorplan. The only disappointment we have is that the entryway/dining-room area is a really awkward space that doesn't lend itself well to having a dining table, so we have to keep that in storage in the garage. Yep, that's right; we have a 2-car garage! And a laundry room (that's in the apartment though, not the garage). It is so nice to have those extra spaces and to be able to use them well!

The weather so far has been fantastic too; we have it on good authority though that a winter this mild hasn't happened in over 75 years, so technically it's not a good one to cut our teeth on. We had a few pending blizzards that didn't end up producing, and we've also had 50 degree gorgeous sunny days.

Do you have any settled questions? Curious what it's like in Bismarck? Just ask and I'll answer to the best of my ability!