School has started!

Finally!! I am sooo excited! My research is most likely going to be about using rumen bacteria in anaerobic digestion of poop to make methane (and maybe some hydrogen?). Anyway, its going to be engineering, its going to be microbiology, its going to be fabulous ;) We’ll see if I’m still saying that in a couple years :) My classes are going to be interesting as well- I’m taking a renewable bioprocessing class, plant cell walls and research methods for engineers or something like that. One good thing is that I don’t have class on Friday so if I don’t have anything else to do on campus I can stay home and work. Looks like they are going to be a lot of reading and writing/discussing etc. which will be good since I will have 2 hours every day on the train to do just that ;)

I have an office (shared) that has 3 windows! a big change from Weaver which only had like 3 windows in the whole building. I got a new messenger bag to carry my stuff and a hefty bike lock so I am all ready to be a commuter :P I am not the only crazy person who bike/train commutes to Davis. There is a lady to commutes from Auburn (one stop east of roseville) and I think a guy, I’ve only seen him a couple times so I’m not sure if he’s a regular or not.
I am also going to rent a garden plot on campus! For the fall I’m gonig to try to grow brocolli, spinach and maybe peas.. you have to ’shell’ them and I’m not exactly overflowing with spare time to shell peas. I’m not completely sure that I’m overflowing with time to keep a garden but I’m going to give it a shot.

Well, thats about it. If I get time I may try to make the pictures just links so the page doesn’t take 5 years to load… aanyway, everyone (assuming people read this..?) keep me updated on whats going on in NC and otherwise!

I am a Californian!

Well at least according to my drivers license and tags I am :) but then my name is Kelly Caldwell on my drivers license. Sometime in the last 2.5 years we lost the ‘certified’ copy of our marriage license (we just have a photocopy) so they won’t put my updated name on my license until I get one thats sealed or stamped or whatever. I spent basically 3 hours getting everything done.

I am very ready for school to start. Its nice to relax but I am getting antsy! and a little bored and lonely since Derrick is at work all day. It will be here soon enough though.

Sunday night we had dinner with 2 of Derricks coworkers and families. They are both Mormons, but dinner wasn’t weird or anything. I have been doing some research though just in case :)

btw, sorry about the horrendously long loading time of this page. All the pictures take a while..

Pictures!!

Ok, there are pictures in the posts now so if you already read the story go back and look at the pictures!! They are much more interesting than my rambling :)

This is only around 90 of the almost 500 pics we took so let me know if you want to see more of something!

Initial Impressions

Sorry for the delay on pictures.. my hard drive decided that it wanted to die yesterday so I am waiting on Dell to send me a new one. Luckily my pictures are still saved on my camera!I would have been sick if I had lost them.

I am enjoying our apartment and the area! The apartment is pretty and quiet- and full of kids! It seems like the whole city of Roseville has kids or is pregnant. Its fun to have them running around the neighborhood- much better than rude, loud college-age people. There is a key to everything at our apartment- the gate, the pool, the garage, the business center- I feel important with so many keys! Also, the yellow lights are really fast- and there is a $386 (random number!?) fine for running red lights. I think we are not going to get internet since there are computers at the apt center and internet is like $60/mo. and so far we don’t get any channels on our TV w/o cable service.. hopefully when we plug in the VCR we will at least get a few! Otherwise our apartment will be completely free of media influence ;) — which could be a good thing.

I looked into getting my CA drivers license and tags today.. the DMV takes appointments, of which there were none til next tuesday, and you have to bring every piece of documentation known to man. I guess its good for preventing random people from getting licenses and stuff, but kinda annoying too!

Day 10 - Sunday - In Conclusion

In the morning, Derrick called Melissa and she said she would call when she had some free time to come by. We went back to AutoZone to try to find the tool that we needed. Melissa called while we were there so we met her back at Derricks work. She installed the spark plugs and the car started!! She said we should let it run for a while before we moved it and then restart it to take it off the trailer. So we did and it worked and we were happy!

We went back to the apt and unloaded most of the boxes and smaller furniture. One of Derrick’s coworkers, Eric (Derrick and Eric hehe) offered to help us but he couldn’t come until 2pm so we went and got some lunch at Quizno’s mmmmm.

Eric came and they had everything up in like 30 minutes. After the truck was empty we went and picked back up the trailer and returned both to the Penske place. We then went to COSTCO for food and TARGET for a shower curtain so that we could eat dinner and bathe ;) We did both of those things and then went to bed.

So all of our stuff is in the apartment but most of it is crowded in the living room. So theres still lots of unpacking but the hard part in definitely done. Overall it was an awesome trip- thanks to all those that prayed for us and please continue to do so- we still have a lot of adjusting to do and stuff to figure out.

Day 9 - Saturday - Welcome to CA!

We crossed Nevada and stopped for lunch in Reno.

We made it to Roseville around 4:30pm, right on schedule! The plan was to drop off the trailer at Derricks work place since parking at our new apt is kinda tight and its easier to unpack without the trailer on the back. The first step was to take the car off the trailer. Derrick in and turned the key and much to our surprise the engine turned but wouldn't start! This was most definitely NOT in the plan.

So our first solution was to put higher octane gas in the car- maybe it needed that extra boost after its long journey. That didn't work. By this time it is after five and we have to meet the apartment people by 6 so we head over there to sign our lease, which had 30 pages!?

After signing our lives away we head back over the Derricks work and call AAA. They come and the lady, Melissa, says that she thinks we need new spark plugs- the changes in altitude, humidity, etc encountered accross the country caused them to burn out, or whatever spark plugs do when they stop working. Melissa says that if we buy some spark plugs she will install them for us tomorrow. Melissa also has a mullet :)

We find an AutoZone, buy some spark plugs and head over to the apartment to unpack and hopefully uncover Derricks tools so he can try to install the spark plugs. We find the tools but we don't have the right thing of course. By this time it is midnight so we take the bed upstairs to the apt and go to bed.

Day 8 - Friday - Mt. Washburn

On Friday we hiked up a mountain, quite literally. We started at 8000-something and hiked up to 10000 something ft above sea level in 3 miles. Mt. Washburn in one of the highest peaks in Yellowstone so you can pretty much see the whole park from the top. The view was awesome but my legs and rear end are still recovering :)

When we finally got down to the bottom a crowd had gathered in the parking lot- there was a bear up the hill across the street.

He was just snoozing away as all these people were trying to snap pictures and see what he was up to. According to one of the guys in the crowd it was a 800 lb grizzly. eek!

After our morning exercise we headed outta town.

We went through SLC and saw the Mormon temple, I think. We went through Salt Lake City where we saw an awesome sunset over the Lake and stopped in Elko, NV to sleep.

Day 7 - Thursday - Yellowstone

We spent most of the morning seeing Old Faithful and the other geysers around there.In the afternoon we went to see the and other hot springs.

The mudpots were really cool. They are formed when the hot water underground melts the rock and turns it into clay- which looks like 'mud'. They bubble and spew and smell really bad- like sulphur. They are also very acidic- the bacteria that live them convert the hydrogen sulfate (I think) that smells really bad to sulphuric acid.

We also stopped by the Grand Canyon of Yellowstone which was spectacular. The canyon was formed by the Yellowstone River.

That night we stayed at the Lake Hotel which is, who would have guessed, on Lake Yellowstone! Our room had an awesome view. It is the oldest lodging place in Yellowstone and the lake is the biggest above 7000ft.

The hotel had a restaraunt in it but it would have been at least $50 for us to eat there so we opted to walk down the road to the Lodge Cafeteria. We had trout (from the lake!) and mac and cheese and corn. It was yummy and much cheaper and we are all about cheap. ;)

Day 6 - Wednesday - Arrive Yellowstone!

We headed up into Montana along I-90 to avoid the high mountains to the east of Yellowstone and came into the park via the north entrance. We saw Mammoth hot springs and a few other things that evening.

We got a hotel in West Yellowstone, Montana and ate dinner at ... some place with bears in the name- a local place. I got a salad- probably my only vegetable since our trip started... Lets just say I was little plugged up. Aaanyway, the meal was good :)

Day 5 - Tuesday - Badlands and Rushmore

We woke up bright and early to a yummy breakfast and set off for Badlands, SD.

The pictures do a much better job of explaining this place so you will have to wait for those, but even the pictures don't completely do it justice.

After Badlands, we headed down to Mt. Rushmore. I was a little worried that our truck wouldn't make it up the mountain, but it did! Mt. Rushmore was awesome. We had a great tour guide who told us the history and made you think some about the significance of each of the presidents in Mt. Rushmore.

After Rushmore, we stopped in Wall, SD to visit the infamous Wall drug store where we got "Ridin' the West" t-shirts then crossed into Wyoming and stopped in Sheridan for the night.

Day 4 - Monday - South Dakota

We left Kansas City and headed up towards South Dakota. We snuck over into Kansas just to say we had.

Welcome to Kansas!

Kansas Countryside

Welcome back to Missouri ;)

Derrick was bored while riding :)

Welcome to Iowa!

Some kind of production plant I assume? It was neat looking so I took a picture :)

Nebraska.. the good life!

Nebraska Countryside- reminds me of the Windows XP desktop.

Welcome to South Dakota!

We stopped for gas in South Dakota where they had 10% ethanol blend gas which was very exciting for me :)

Lots of Sunflowers!

Snakes!? Where!?

South Dakota Countryside!

South Dakota Sunset

We stopped at the visitors center on our way into SD and found info for a Bed and Breakfast right on the way. It was only about 8 miles off the highway, but it took about 30 minutes to go those eight miles since the road was gravel and through the middle of nowhere. I was amazed at how much nothing there is up there. It is beautiful though. The b&b owners turn out to be Christians which was cool. I was sad that we didn't have more time to spend there.

Day 3 - Sunday - St. Louis

We resumed our journey around 8:30 am. We drove through Nashville, TN and up to St. Louis.

We were going to try to visit the arch but never found a parking place for our monstrous vehicle. I got some good pictures as we were driving by, but we got lost and ended up in what looked like a kinda sketchy part of town. We were also low on gas so that made it even more fun ;)

We found our way out of town eventually and to a gas station. From there we continued to Kansas City where we stayed the night.

Day 2 - Saturday - Pack the Truck, again

We woke up at the insanely early time of 5am and started our journey. It is at this time that Derrick (and eventually I) decided that this truck is way to big and we are not comfortable driving it. We also had about 6 ft of extra space in the back. We met Derrick's parents in Greensboro for breakfast as planned and we called to see if the Penske place in Gboro had a smaller truck- they did!

Sooo we drove over there with Derrick's wonderful family to take all of our stuff out of one truck and put it in another. It didn't take as long as I thought it would and it turned out to be the best thing- especially when driving through the mountains out west!

We made it to Knoxville, TN and stayed in a way overpriced hotel room. Apparently the University of TN had a football game and everyone and there brother was in town to see it. The room we got was about the last thing available in town. We did find time to buzz Derrick's hair :) no more flat top- Yay!!

Day 1 - Friday - Pack Up the Truck

Derrick worked and I finished packing until around noon. Then I went and picked him up and we went to pick up our Penske truck and trailer. We got it home, but it was really big.. perhaps too big- more on that later. We start loading as the rain was stopping, but noticed that there was water leaking from the top. Derrick went to exchange the truck which took another hour or so. I went to run some last minute errands. On my way home I noticed that my car was running really hot so I pull over and it just so happens that my dad (who came to help us move) had some anti-freeze. He brought it and we poured almost all of it into my car. Apparently I have a very slow anti-freeze leak.

Aaanyway, everyone got back to the apartment and loaded all big stuff into the truck. Derrick and I finished the smaller stuff and by that time it was around midnight so we slept on the floor of our empty apartment.

We made it!!

We arrive Saturday afternoon in Roseville, CA! We had some pretty interesting adventures so I am going to go through day by day and tell you all about them I will post pictures whenever we get internet in our apartment (now I am in the ‘business center’) since all my pics are on my laptop.