Just a little update

Well not much has been going on the past few days so not much to share as we close in on our first month on the road.

We missed a pretty good thunderstorm Sunday evening. It resulted in Dylan working about 12 hours of storm work Monday evening. We just got a little rain, it looks like the actual storm went south, south east of us. Detroit had a good bit of outages. Dylan and his crew went to Flint, which is about an hour south east of here but he was home around midnight Monday night. So I am happy to say we are going on 50 days of being together. It's like we are married again :)

We were talking about it last night, it feels like we have been on the road longer than 3 1/2 weeks. We decided because this is where we are supposed to be it make settling in easy. It feels like this is the way things have always been because things are going  so easy for us, settling in, his job going so good, great neighbors. Yet even with all that at the same time it feel like we have been away for ever.

Thanks to the family sending pictures it is like we are watching our children (the dogs) grow up. They have discovered the fig tree and from what I hear they love helping mom pick figs :)

Mo finally got to chase something. Yesterday (7/29) while taking his walk we came up on a rabbit in a open area and after it he went. I don't know what he would have done with it if he would have caught it since he was as big as he is but he gave it his best.

We are just making this little trailer home and patiently waiting for some deliveries from home in the form of Zapp's potato chips. Mo is going through with drawls not having his chip every evening. Thanks dad for spoiling him!

We are making things work in this little 17 foot camper. So far my only complaint is Dylan wants to sleep in the middle of the bed. No biggie except we are trying to adjust to a full from a queen. We have found our dream camper (you can see it here) http://www.forestriverinc.com/FifthWheels/Sandpiper/default.aspx?page=floorplandetails&floorplanid=5281
Dad says he sent us the money to buy it, but it looks like his check got lost in the mail so in the mean time we will just keep drooling and saving.

We Survived Our First 2 Weeks In Michigan

Dylan 7/18/14 Hydaker Wheatlake
Carson City, Michigan

Well we have survived our first two weeks in Michigan. It has been very interesting to say the lease. The culture shock hasn't been as bad as I expected. Everyone can still tell we are not from here based on our accents.

For those who know Moses, you know how much he LOVES camping. He is adjusting well, although I believe he still hopes we are going home every time we get in the car. It is a good thing I did not give him that hair cut I had planned before coming here or he would have froze last week. Last Tuesday he sported his cam sweater all day and was still shivering. We have been told by several people not to expect any 100+ degree days; Dylan is loving that! He did sweat once his first week at work. We can stay we survived the summer polar vortex. Although I have to admit it was odd looking fir a heater to buy in the middle of January. We definitely stuck out during the couple of days it was so cold. I was beginning to wonder if we packed the right clothes. We were expecting cooler temps but not quite this cold as we didn't officially plan to be this far north.

One thing I have noticed is that this area in Michigan has a very LARGE deer population. I almost got my first buck in velvet last Friday while n my way to take Dylan his lunch. It seems like every day you can drive down a road and  see a new dead deer on the side of the road. It is sad actually, all that meat gone to waste. I looked into deer tags up here but unfortunately they are on a lottery system so it doesn't look like this will be my prime hunting location. 

I got to spend some time with my camera last week while waiting on Dylan and the crew to finish clipping in the wire on the pole they were working on. My favorite shot of the day is the one I have included with this post. You can tell by the look on Dylan's face he loves his job. The more I used to canon the more I learn about and love it even more. So expect many pictures of our travels to come. I am working on linking a photo album to our blog. 

This week I can tell we are starting to settle into a routine. Monday we officially got our Dish Satellite set up, this helps the days go by so much faster. Fighting with the antenna all day every day was getting old fast. Dylan is getting used to working again after having his longest vacation ever. He even had to sweat at work this week. Monday and Tuesday we his 90 degrees, last night I was in a sweat shirt and sweat pants and we had a fire.

Today (Friday/July 25) Dylan wanted to grill burgers for the crews lunch today. Well, to help out I decided I would grill the burgers and take everything to them so they didn't have to do anything...I am DONE grilling until we have a Holland Grill that is all I have to say. The one we have now almost went into the trash today and the guys almost got fast food burgers. Everyone said they tasted good so maybe they were being honest and not just trying not to hurt my feelings.

One last note::: I have to say Michigan mosquitoes, while do not compare to Louisiana mosquitoes in size, sure do leave a lasting bite. I have bought just about everything to repel mosquitoes but these things are determined. 

Virtual Move

Just a heads up! We made a virtual move! I am more comfortable with how blogger/google works than wordpress so I have made the switch over to blogger until I get more comfortable with wordpress.

How Did We Get Here?

I guess you can say our journey to here started back in 2011 when Dylan went to work at the co-op. After working in the oilfield it was a nice change to having him home every night.

We talked about tramping from time to time while Dylan was working at the co-op but it wasn’t something I took too serious at the time. I mean, we had everything. We had just bought a house, I had graduated college, he worked 15 minutes from home and was home every night except for storm and they did not work storm out of state. From a new wife’s perspective everything was perfect.

Little did I know the urge to tramp was growing inside Dylan, it was something he just had to try and to be honest this was the perfect timing. It is just the two of us, no kids, perfect time to travel and move around constantly.

June 5, 2013 (thats close enough) Dylan comes home, a decision has to be made. Stay at the co-op or leave to go contracting. Staying meant we would be in a financial bind in a just a few short months; leaving meant giving up “our perfect life”. The decision wasn’t easy but it was one that had to be made. Dylan worked his last day at the co-op on June 6, 2013. One June 7, 2013 the application was submitted and drug testing done he was on his way to work for his first contractor, KDM. To make things even better he left for his first job away from home on June 9, 2013, our first wedding anniversary.

We settled in to a routine the best we could, Dylan was working 8 days on 6 days off in Paris, Tx. so he was only 5 hours from home. On the weekends he worked I would pack up and drive out there. Our amazing friends and family would make sure our dogs at home were taken care of.

This routine lasted until September 19, 2013, the day after my birthday. Dylan was fired from KDM. He had signed off on a transformer that was leaking. The co-op they were contracted to found it before they did and since he signed for it they wanted him fired, a blessing in disguise I call it.

For serval days Dylan called around to different companies to find a job. The first opportunity came through a linewife (praise God for them), but it wouldn’t work for our family at the time. On September 30th Dylan called the IBEW 995 in Baton Rouge just to see if they could do anything for him and they did! He was told to be at the hall first thing Tuesday morning. October 1, 2013 Dylan joined the union, this has been our biggest blessing so far. With the years of experience he had he was able to test in and got his Journeyman Lineman Card (the yellow ticket).

His first union job was for Ca-Par Electric in South Louisiana, working 4/10’s in Walker, La. Perfect! Three hours from home and home every weekend. With Ca-Par and the union I felt a sense of security that I had not felt since Dylan had left the co-op.

Dylan had many great experience with Ca-Par, which was a great relief since this was the first company he had went to work for without knowing anyone there. He meshed well with his crew and even got a long with a foreman everyone told him he wouldn’t like.

In February Dylan finally got his chance to go on his first storm. Ironically he had given me my valentines day present the weekend before. Ice Storm Pax was Dylan’s first major storm to work and his first time ever to travel out of state for work. This took a lot of adjusting for me but thanks to an amazing family and equally supportive friends I made it.

Right after the ice storm things began going south with Ca-Par. With in a few weeks they made the announcement they were going non union. Time for yet another hard decision. Dylan loved working with his crew, they meshed so well that it was hard to just decide on the spot to leave. Again the word finances comes into play. Financially we couldn’t afford to stay, insurance for us was going to be extremely expensive. Not including the fact that we had not had to pay insurance or retirement in the last 8 months.

This time there was a sense of security while Dylan was looking for a job, maybe it was because he began looking before ever leaving Ca-Par or maybe it was because of the union. I have to say so far Cliff at 995 has worked his butt off keeping Dylan informed of job possibilities and which halls to call.

The transition to his next job was easy. On Friday (March ?) we drove to El Dorado, Ar. to fill out his paper work for his new job. This seemed to be an even better place to be, only 2 hours from home yay! That next Monday he started working and fell right in to place. Dylan left on Monday mornings and came home Thursday afternoons , it was great; but we both were not 100% happy. Something was missing and we both knew what it was.

This is when we tramping as a family came back into the picture. Everything was going good. I credit Ryan Huntington with putting tramping back in Dylan’s mind. The guys seemed to talk about it all the time and therefore Dylan talked about it every week. We talked about it for serval months and the decision was made March 2015 after the big thaw up north we were headed out.

June 11, 2014 – with out going into all the details of the day; Dylan call’s he is headed home they care no longer allowed at Entergy therefore they have no work. Along with some other events in life it seemed like God was pushing us out the door saying that our time for tramping was now, now March.— ALOT of prayer went into making this decision. —There were jobs posted everywhere, great except they all require a Class A CDL, bummer. Well, thanks to another awesome linewife we get a tip that some halls would possibly take him with only having his Class B. So on the phone he gets again. IBEW 71, Columbus Ohio is who we set our sites on. Word on the street it there were to be hiring 41 linemen. Dylan does everything right, he calls the hall verifies the info and gets the ok for his CLD and the decision is made we are hitting the road July 5 in order the be at the hall for the call on July 7th. So we pack up everything we think we might need in a 4 months time span, including the Tony Chachere’s, into our tiny 17 foot camper and hit the road.

We sit in Ohio from Monday until Wednesday. Everyday Dylan and two other linemen he had met at the hall are on the phone trying to figure out if there is going to be a call at 71 or not and if not what are our options. Wednesday afternoon we make the decision to move to Michigan. The hall in Grand Rapids has open calls. Wednesday afternoon Dylan gets a call for storm work but turned it down, he said he couldn’t leave me in the position we were in and that turned out to be the right decision. So Thursday morning we head out. Half way to Michigan Dylan finds out the storm crew he would have went with was turned around. Yes, the 4 hours of pay would have been nice but it would have put us farther behind in getting to Michigan.

Thursday at 1 pm eastern time Dylan signs at IBEW 876 and gets a referral to go to work. In order for him to be able to work Friday we have to be at the companies office by 2 . No biggie except the office is one hour from the hall. We arrive at the office at 2 pm on the dot, 3 and a half hours later we leave.

After a roller coaster of 3 weeks we are finally settled in at the Red Pines Campground in Carson City Michigan. Dylan is working 5/12’s for Hydaker Wheatlake and the best part is his job is just a few miles from our campground.

Missing home is tough but we both still feel like we have made the right decision. We both no longer feel like something is missing. As a wife it is great knowing I get to see my husband every morning before work and every evening when he gets off. I miss my family and my 4 big fur babies but in 4 short months we will be back home again. Thats not saying we will be here all that time, we are tramping now, and plus it gets way to cold up here! We have to say thank you to our amazing family, with out your support this would not be possible.