good morning!

I must say, it felt a little strange to not post a Mettle Maker today. The day before I found a ship I looked at my Auntie Noni and said, 'I swear, I better find a ship soon because I'm really tired of posting Mettle Makers!'...and then here I am feeling all nostalgic. 

I'm snuggled up, reading blogs, scratching puppies and drinking coffee. It feels so nice to relax and know that I can just sit here and feel lucky. I have a few days before hitting the gangway and I'm soaking it up. 

I'm not totally sure what the situation will be onboard - as in:  is it conducive to blogging at sea. Gosh, I really hope so!  If not, we'll have to figure something out... 

Hope you found a few moments to relax this morning! 

 

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Mettle Mission :: I Found a Ship!

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I Found A Ship!

Honestly, the way I found a ship was a bit of a miracle.  I drove across the country on a whim thinking, 'California might have something for me'.  I spent one day sniffing around and then - Boom!  A ship!  I had honestly been expecting to be here for about a month and a half.  I was prepared to pick up some small jobs on the side and then wait for a chance at a deep sea job.

My mind felt blown but mostly, I just felt so blessed.  Here I am, not out of money yet, living with the best kind of family friends, eating yummy salads at candlelit picnic tables, walking dogs and talkin' story, getting so lucky and snagging amazing jobs.  Crazy blessed.

I'm officially in 'whirling dervish' mode.  Running errands, making last minute phone calls, meeting for bubbly with friends, repacking my sea bag and you know....drinking coffee and then instagramming it.

I'll be checking in here and there but, I expect things will be a little quieter than usual...

Since the Mettle Mission is officially over I decided to share a few of my favorites today.  You can browse through all the Mettle Mission Posts here.

I-10

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Confession:  When I left on this road trip taking I-10 from Houston to Los Angeles (and then I-5 from LA to SF) I thought it was going to be the most boring trip ever.  I was so, so, so wrong.  I can't wait to do it again!  

I felt like I just kept seeing beautiful land and sky scape after beautiful land and sky scape.  I saw cloud formations that I've only read about in text books.  I saw plants and flowers that I had never seen before.  The colors of the rock formations.  The blue, blue sky.  Just all of it.

There was a point in Arizona and Southern California where I thought, 'more cacti?!  really?!  give me a green hill!!!!' but, other than that it was gorgeous.  

Next time I plan on making more stops along the way and taking my time.  I did this trip in two days which I majorly do not recommend.  I drove 17 hours the first day and 15 hours the second day (those times include stopping for gas and pee breaks).  I was on a mission!  Realistically, it wasn't very fun and too much to be considered a good idea.  

Somewhere along the way on day one I decided that I was going to stop as many times as I wanted to take photos - I decided that it was going to be an epic photo safari.  I've got tons of photos to share with you!

I'm settling into California and will get some pictures up here soon!

In the meantime...some Arizona Cacti!