Moving away thoughts for Stacysix.

Stacysix left me a comment for my last posting,she asked me if I missed Portland and my friends there.
The city and friends is something Chance and I talked a lot about before we made our choice to leave.

We both realized that by staying there were many important things to us that we would have give up because of the housing market in Portland. Finding housing with a yard and a garage was slim chances. We would also have to give up full time homesteading life.

We could have given up a yard fairly easily.Many friends offered if we ended up close to them places to garden so we could still grow our own food.We had been thinking about taking a break from having hens so they could have been re-homed.

But the no garage was not a choice we could make.Chance uses so many of his tools either for work at his job or for side jobs,we would loose income.Replacing a life times collection of tools would be hard to do and expensive.

There were also the scooters.Yes,a luxury to some degree but Chance had been riding his full time for transportation.Leaving scooters parked on the street,in a driveway or a parking lot is a high risk to theft.

As far as the city itself went,take it or leave it. We are not consumer type people so much of the city we didn't even use. Eating out is not a big deal to us so that we wouldn't miss.We can watch for special events we may want to go to and plan to come up for them.

When it came down to our friends that had and still has it's moments. Yes,we have friends but we didn't live in each others pockets so seeing them sporadically was the norm. We are only a little under 3 hours from Portland,that's an easy enough hop over to see people. There were moments before we left that where tough but we knew by making this choice we were keeping on the path we had set ourselves on. We may be off grid but we still have phones and the internet to stay connected too.

We also made a deal with ourselves and each other,once a month we would come up to Portland. Just so we could keep relationships with people going and that way if we were really missing something we could get a fix of whatever it may be.

So far for me the most frustrating thing has been not knowing where anything is in Bend.I had lived in Portland my whole life,the city is mapped on an easy to follow grid  unlike Bend. I now do know where some places I will use are and when I look up an address I can kind of tell which end of town and which side of the highway it is,sort of,maybe....sigh. I will get it! I said to Chance "If Debbie and her family can move to Hong Kong I can do this!" Good thing I love maps.

We do have our close friends here so we are not totally alone.They have been very helpful when we have had questions.And the people in Sisters are a friendly community,all you have to do is say hello and then ask for their help and they are willing if able.It is funny though,Sisters is small,everyone at least knows you by face, I have lost count of how many times we've been asked "are you guys new in town?" It's never said rudely but with curiosity,so far people have been welcoming. I don't know,it could be our love of head to black clothing that gives us away,what do you think?

The hardest part to leaving though was leaving Issac.Yes,he made the choice to stay in Portland to move towards his own  adventures but I still really struggle with him newly out on his own just as we move across the state. He's doing great and calls weekly which helps but I still miss his face and smile.

I hope this answers your question Stacysix. It's a mixed box for sure but so far so good with no need to spit any chocolates out.

Ok next post I will have figured out our new computer so I can post pictures.This dang thing is just different enough and I still have things to load onto it that my eyes are poppping out over it.Until then imagine waking up to the wind in the trees and a view of a magnificent mountain range right out your window.

Rois