Our New House

So, after eighteen hours on the road, two family pit stops and innumerable potty breaks and gas fillups, Dave and I made it to Eglin AFB in the wonderfully oil-splashed panhandle of Florida. (No, we didn't actually see any oil, but you should check out the spill on Google Maps.)

Checkin: ran into Capt Plourde from my old detachment in Charlottesville--he was teaching at a PDT (Professional Development Training) course.

TLF (Temporary Lodging Facility): Tiny, but two bedrooms. What in the WORLD would I do with two bunkbeds? (Answer: put our suitcases on them.)

After two days in the TLF we got booted because the room was no longer available, but we shored up in the Days Inn at Fort Walton Beach across from a massive hotel that was being built across the street. My first day of inprocessing on Monday was a bunch of briefings and lectures, and was both exhausting and boring but my Captain, Kathy Williams, helped me get through the brunt of all the info with a few hints and explanations. I also got through some of my inprocessing checklist.

After looking & researching a LOT, by a total fluke we drove by a sign that had the militarybyowner.com designation on it. After looking at a few more absolutely terrible properties, we drove by this particular house again and decided to call. We found out that the landlord lived next door, he was prior Air Force and had JUST put up the sign that morning. He happened to own his own lawn service business so he drove back from one of his customers and showed us around the house. After a little more mulling and a couple more properties later, we decided that this was the house for us! We signed the lease today and started our electric and water, so we're definitely well on our way to having (well.....renting) our first house. We put the STUFF that we've been toting around in our cars into the house because it was much safer than in the heat & windowed vehicles, and started taking pictures of our new home!

the view from the front gate

the living room

the dining room

the (beautiful) kitchen

the master bedroom

(with the ceramic tile--notice the difference

between this and the rest of the house!)

the view out the front door, with my

darlin talking to my mom over the phone

The grass is a bit sparse because apparently the previous tenants absolutely TRASHED the place, but the landlord has fixed up a few things and he's putting in new grass & a sprinkler system. Hallelujah. :)

Tomorrow starts more inprocessing, so Dave will have to update you more!