Dispatch from Carthage #1: My new life

As anyone who reads this blog regularly knows, I am marrying my fellow blogger Nicole Davis this October 21st. The wedding is to be held in Carthage, Missouri, which is where Nicole is from. Therefore, I needed to move there in order to, you know, marry her and be her husband. (I've heard it's easier to be zero miles apart than 1,956.)

So I stored a bunch of my stuff, gave away a bunch more, and yesterday, I took the rest with me on a plane to Missouri. And that's where I am.

Since I've already made two week-long visits here this year, this trip hasn't felt different at all. I probably won't start feeling homesick for my beloved Oregon for a few weeks or so. Believe it or not, I don't even miss my friends and family yet. After all, I've only been here for 30 hours or so.

Moving away is a new experience for me, as I lived in the Portland area for all of my nearly 34 years. In many ways, Missouri isn't that much different: there are the usual signs of American civilization all around me, albeit a bit further spread apart. But I know that there will be some interesting new things to observe in my new home town, and because you already know that I like to present odd things to you here, I'll definitely be sharing these new things here on the blog. I debated whether to start a separate blog for my Dispatches from Carthage, but because I already have so many blogs, I felt I should just use my main one.

I can't tell you how detailed my Carthage-related posts will be—I imagine that sometimes they'll be short, and some will be novels—but I hope to be able to blog more about my life than I have been lately, if for no other reason than the fact that I can't hang out with my friends and family now like I used to (many of whom are reading this right now. Hi!)

So I hope you'll indulge me as I talk about learning to get used to a sales tax (Oregon has none), pumping my own gas (which, by the way, is $2.19/gallon as opposed to the $2.60-ish prices in Portland) and general life in this small, quiet Missouri town.