You say potato

So, in the adventures of the Marcum family, we have now come to July. When I last left you, it was May.

May seems forever ago, but it brought so many changes.

After house hunting, we came home to pack up all our worldly belongings and attempt to come up with a moving strategy. It basically came down to packing everything in a Budget truck (the largest they offer) - including a boat! - and have it tow our Jeep while someone else drives the Neon and follows behind.

But, before we drove away from our beloved home and Virginia, we all watched my wonderful husband become a doctor. All the book knowledge he absorbed and training he tirelessly endured all came to one moment as he walked across the stage in Norfolk's Scope arena and accepted his diploma and hood. For all those years and years of work, he now gets to sign a little 'M.D.' behind his name. It also requires three more years of hands-on training as a medical resident - hence the move to Pocatello.





So, graduation was wonderful and we had a fabulous post-graduation lunch with our amazing friends and families. We we suppose to also have an amazing doctor-themed cake, but the local bakery I contracted with decided to forgo making said cake and produced NOTHING for us. Thank heavens my friend went to pick up the cake that afternoon because if it had been me landing on the lady's doorstep and her telling me they didn't make it, I probably would have killed her, which would not have made for the great celebration we did get to have. Thankfully, our friends (once again) came to the rescue and got a cake made by the local grocery store in time for us all to enjoy after our meal. It might not had a stethoscope on it, but it was wonderful.


And that was Saturday. Sunday was our last Sunday with our friends and family at First Baptist Norfolk. Heart-wrenching is all I can think of to describe it, but remember it fondly. We love our family there and miss it so very much. Still brings tears to my eyes as I write.

Moving on. Sunday evening was more packing and we had many of our friends and even our family (who traveled all the way from Texas) helping. Not a soul was lounging around. Monday was more packing and loading, with a break for one last dinner with our neighbors and East Coast family. As more of our belongings went onto the truck, we shared more hugs and shed more tears and we said our goodbyes.

And so, on Tuesday, May 19, we loaded the final odds and ends, and with my Dad, good friend Ryan, two dogs and a drugged-up cat, we saddled up and started our adventure west.

For those who care to, click here to see the map of our 2,400 mile trip across the U.S.A.

I'd have to say the most enjoyable part of the move was spending lots and lots of quality time with one another, but also documenting the trip for Ryan's two girls with their little stuffed animals Ryan brought along. Pinky and Kitty were quite the hit, and adventures can still be seen on Facebook by clicking here.




We finally made it to Idaho on Saturday, May 23. We ended up unloading all our stuff into our realtor's garage (because our mortgage hadn't been completely ironed out). We didn't want to risk moving our stuff into the garage of the new house and us heading off to Texas for two weeks if we weren't 100 percent sure we'd be moving it into the house when we got back.


So, we put everything in the garage and had one last dinner with Ryan and dad that evening. Ryan left us the next morning, getting home in time to spend Memorial Day with his family, and dad left Monday to get home for my sister's wedding the following Saturday.

So that gets us to Idaho. We ended up leaving out the following Wednesday morning to drive back to Texas for my sister's wedding, my brothers' graduation and some time with the in-laws up in the Panhandle. That'll be another post, but I did want to catch up anyone that might be wondering if we ever made it to Idaho. We did. 

And, yes, there are a lot of potatoes here. The plants are about a foot tall and in bloom. I know all this because there's a farming report on the local radio station every day at lunch. And in case you were wondering, wheat's not doing so great right now.