Cultures Clashing

One of the best things about the Mid-West is that it's location allows you to enjoy the arts and culture of the northern big cities while indulging your inner red-neck with the simplicity of the southern style backwoods. Take this weekend for example, Friday night after work we made the 2.5 hour drive from here to Indianapolis. We went out that night in a great area called Broad Ripple. There are great bars and restaurants scattered across multiple city blocks. It has a new, modern feel and is just a cool place to go out. The next day we were hoping to tour the downtown area, but the weather didn't cooperate. It was cold and rainy, so we didn't get to spend as much time outside exploring as we would have liked. We made the best of it and chose to drive around the city instead. The weather did cooperate enough so we could go for a walk along the canal path though. Did you know that there are only 2 concrete bottom canals in the world, and that one of them is in Indy? Well now you do. Anyway, they have a walkway built along the canal that leads into a state park the resides within the city limits. It's a pretty nifty setup that doesn't make Indianapolis feel like an over-developed big city. It's quite refreshing.

The Canal Path on a rainy day

Before we headed back to Olney, We stopped at this great creamery that's just 20 minutes outside of Indianapolis for some fresh, home made ice cream. If nothing else we are getting all the ice cream we can handle out here, and it's all REALLY good.

Traders Point Creamery, best ice cream in Indy

After returning to Olney, we geared up for one of the finest "sporting" events Southern Illinois has to offer: The Demolition Derby. The Olney Spring Crash, as it's called, is an annual event at the Olney fair grounds which brings out the who's who of Richland County. It got delayed at one point because of severe weather (lightning, hale, wind, etc.) but once that cleared out the smashing commenced. For those who are not familiar with a demolition derby, it is a spectacle where old, beat up cars, seemingly held together by duct tape (not unlike our bed) enter an arena and collide with one another until only one of them can still move. Think bumper cars on steroids, lots of steroids. The lone survivor is the victor and of course, winner takes all ($4,500 if I remember correctly). It was fantastic. It's a completely unnecessary and ridiculous competition that is the absolute antithesis of environmentally sound thinking, but I loved every second of it. There's mud flying, tempers boiling, and cars on fire. What's not to like?

So as you can see, we are getting a good taste of what the Mid-West has to offer. Everything from a night out on the town to an evening in hillbilly paradise. 

Bluegrass and Beef

Many of you know that I'm not much of a  meat eater.  I usually consider myself a vegetarian.  Unfortunately (or fortunately in Charlie's mind), I am becoming someone who salivates at the idea of eating a good piece of meat.  For example, I consumed ground beef, ribs, pulled pork, grilled chicken and bacon all in one weekend.  What is happening!? 

It all began on Friday night at Syd's Place.  A hole in the wall local bar that happens to serve dynamite tacos every Wednesday & Friday.  If you don't get there before 5pm you'll likely be standing for quite some time.  From what we hear people don't give up their seats for anything, even to someone who is 9 months pregnant!  Luckily we got there by 5, had a seat, and enjoyed some very delicious tacos as we gathered tips from locals who could tell we were new to Syd's. 

The next meat encounter occurred on Saturday, accompanied by good music "in the 'Burgh." This Blues and Bluegrass Festival was a 2 day event (Fri-Sat) in Indiana. We had tickets for Saturday and decided we would take advantage of free camping on Saturday night. It wasn't the nicest day - cloudy, windy and cold; however, we stuck it out and really enjoyed the day.  I was loving the musical variety and creativity this genre of music lends to.  They were playing the banjo, ukulele, Weissenborn (a lap slide guitar), string bass, violin, harmonica, various percussion instruments, etc.  But the best was, by far, the upright bass made out of a gas tank from a truck.  See the video & picture below for evidence of this homemade bass, as well as the incredible talent of the band Split Lip Rayfield.

Anyway, back to eating...
In the afternoon they had an amateur backyard BBQ competition where the audience did the tasting and the voting.  Charlie was all about it and how could I turn down that opportunity?  Next thing I know I've eaten 2 ribs and quite a bit of pulled pork!  Luckily my stomach cooperated, I think I tricked it with the grilled chicken I ate earlier in the day. 

We had a chilly night in the our tent, but were back to Olney drinking hot coffee and eating a hearty breakfast (including bacon for me, sausage for Charlie) by 9:30 am.  

Overall we are getting a kick out of the Midwest and enjoying our short time here.

Until next time...

The Long Journey to Home and Back Again

Random Illinois sighting of the week: A man, who was dressed like a cowboy with a neon yellow vest, was picking trash off the side of a main road with one hand while he held onto a horse that was walking behind him with the other. Just another day in Olney.

I said to Amanda last night the the more time we spend here in the middle of nowhere, the more I like the idea of eventually living in a small town like this. That being said though, coming home this past weekend made me more aware of how much I do miss everyone back in PA. It was great to see everyone and catch up on everything we have missed. The best part about seeing our friends and family this weekend was hearing all of your positive feedback regarding what we are doing. Your encouraging words just reinforce that we are doing the right thing by embarking on this adventure. So thank you once again for your support. Also, thank you Dave and Emily for driving us around all weekend after we made our 11 hour overnight trip from Olney, IL to Ephrata, PA. Let me tell you though, Amanda was a trooper, she drove over 7 hours of the trip from Olney to just over the border of PA. Amanda O'Malley: Machine.

The main event of the weekend was the Rebel Race. It was supposed to be an intense mud run, but there was one problem: No mud. Leave it to New Jersey to host a mud run without mud. There was more dust than mud and more calisthenics than obstacles. Needless to say we were disappointed by the course, but we are still thankful that Dave Saul organized it (and let us crash at his place the night before). It gave us a good excuse to come home, spend time with people, and get a little dirty in the process. Well worth the trip.

What we expected

What we got

We started the drive back to Olney on Sunday morning with the intention of stopping in Indianapolis to watch the Flyers game. We didn't quite make it that far since I woke up late and delayed us by an hour. Oops. It all worked out though, because our stop in Dayton, OH was the best part of the drive. We found what we thought would be a sports bar just off of Route 70, but it turned out to be more of a biker bar than a sports bar. Just picture Amanda and I waltzing into a biker bar filled with grizzled, burly, and otherwise intimidating looking creatures; we were clearly out of our element. There was no time to turn around though, it was game time and I was willing to risk my well-being to watch the Flyers. I had to ask the bartender to change the channel on one of the TVs, since apparently hockey isn't a must-see sport in Dayton. Thankfully, the game ended up being action packed and filled with fights, so the bikers were getting into it. By the end of the game we were chatting it up with all the locals, and more importantly we left unharmed.

We made it safely back to Olney and are currently working through the week to get to the weekend. This weekend we'll be heading to a Blues and Bluegrass Festival near Evansville, IN. I'm sure it will be an interesting experience with an eclectic crowd. Be sure to check in to see how that all goes.

Happy Easter!

I know I'm 2 days late in wishing everyone a Happy Easter, but so be it. It's busy here in Olney. I mean what with actually working and all. That's right, the great state of Illinois (which is actually pronounced "ELLinoy" if you are from around here) finally issued us PT licenses on Monday April 2. It feels good to be a contributing member of the therapy world again. I know we've said it before, but everyone is so nice here, patients, staff, total strangers. It's fantastic.

Amanda has been doing great picking up their outpatient system, but she can tell you all about that if/when she decides to post again. I'm primarily in the hospital, but also doing homecare. Let me tell you though, doing homecare in the middle of nowhere is an education. If the person lives outside of town I have zero confidence that I'll be able to find them. It took me a half hour today to find out where one of my patients lived, and even after that I still wasn't sure where I was going. See, here people don't use street names. The streets have names, people just ignore them. All directions are done by either giving landmarks, a description of the road surface (paved or gravel), and/or cardinal direction (N, S, E, W). GPS is generally useless since no one outside of town will tell you their actual address. It's not bad though, just adding to the adventure.

As for our lives away from work, we are getting ready to come back to PA this upcoming weekend to run the Rebel Race. It's a 5k mud run in New Jersey. You can check the out the course and all the obstacles we will face here. We've been running and biking a good bit. We ran a 5k this past weekend and did well, although the frosted mini-wheats I ate beforehand weren't the best choice for a pre-race meal. I won't be doing that again. We also started biking with one of the doctors from the hospital and his friend who is a professor at Richland County Community College. During our time here they are planning to show us all the good routes to bike around here. One of the PTs we work with, Shannon, said we've done more in Olney over the past 3 weeks than everyone else has combined. Well, when you don't have TV to keep you entertained, it gives you time to do other stuff.

However, despite our lack of TV I did make a friend who gets all the Flyers games, so I'll be able to watch the Stanley Cup Playoffs! He's originally from South Jersey, but moved out here because his wife, who we work with, is from here. He's a huge Philly sports fan, so clearly he's a friend of mine. It makes me feel right at home knowing even out in the middle of nowhere there are people who appreciate Philly sports the way I do.

LET'S GO FLYERS!

Getting To Know Olney

You know you're in Olney, IL when:

• The local vineyard is right next to the local junkyard
• The beer distributor has a cooler at the checkout counter labeled "Single Service" where for 89 cents you can buy a can of beer for the road
• The bed in your apartment breaks because the frame was held together with duct tape

The last one is my favorite story from the week. So Amanda and I decide to watch a movie in bed on Friday night. By the way, this is after we worked all day, then had to drive 45 minutes to get to the only open FedEx store, then had to drive back in a crazy thunderstorm. Anyway, we have to move the bed to plug in our laptop (we don't have a TV in the bedroom) and we notice that the one side of the mattress and box spring has fallen down. Upon further inspection I see that the bed frame has separated from the headboard because the duct tape that was holding it together had broken. Fantastic. So now we have to take off the mattress and box spring so I can attempt to put it back together. The only thing I have available is JB Weld, which is a metal epoxy. Why I don't have duct tape in my tool kit is a mystery. Luckily, the JB Weld did the trick and as we speak the bed is still holding together. Such is life in Olney, IL.

Honestly though, we couldn't be happier with how things are going. We are more active than we have been in months with running, biking, hiking, and sightseeing. Everyone has been so welcoming and genuinely nice towards us. We've gotten all sorts of information about where to go and what to see, which has been keeping us busy. For instance, we went to Shawnee National Forest this week to see the Garden of the Gods. It was amazing. It consists of all these ridiculous rock formations that came about during a time when what is now the Mid-West was under an ancient sea. The scenery was unbelievable. And with giant hawks flying overhead, you felt as though you were a part of the wilderness. It was definitely one of the highlights of the trip thus far.

Here we are at Garden of the Gods

Who knew such cool stuff was in Southern, IL?

Not bad for farm country

As for work, we did start our orientation this week, although we still don't have our licenses yet. Fingers crossed they'll be in by Monday. It's going to be great working in this clinic because everything is one-to-one treatment and they have a good system in place. The PTs and PTAs really care about providing good therapy, keeping up on the latest research, and taking care of the people in their community. Amanda and I are all about that.

We hope everything is going well with you all back home. We now have internet in our apartment so if anyone wants to Skype, just let us know because we can now make that happen.

• As a side note: A lot of people complained that the email sign-up on the blog wasn't working, so I got rid of that. Sorry for any inconvenience that caused. It seemed like a good idea at the time.

Ready to Roll

As of Wednesday, March 20th at 12:50 (CST), Charlie and I entered our new home of Olney, IL, home of the White Squirrel.  After much anticipation, I'm finally ready to make my first post on our already established blog.

Since Charlie and I made the decision to keep a blog I have been excited, but resistant to blogging until I felt our American journey had begun. Charlie being very much in the moment and out of his normal routine was ready to blog his last day of work in February. Looking back, I'm glad he did because we had quite a few mini adventures on the East coast as we waited to receive our first travel PT placement. It is incredible how difficult it is to spend quality time with those who mean the most to you in our hectic everyday lives. We couldn't ask for better friends and family, so despite our prolonged "vacation" from working, it was amazing to spend our time with all of you.

Now onto my version of our "American Adventure" thus far...

It started with a Ford Escape that was packed to the brim and ready for some action.

Followed by 7 hrs of driving (Charlie driving, Amanda sleeping/keeping the driver entertained with music, podcasts, and trivia) to Columbus, Ohio. No matter what Mom Funk says about The Red Roof Inn, I recommend this hotel located in downtown Columbus to anyone looking for affordable, convenient, and comfortable lodging that is within walking distance to various hot spots (e.g. food, sport, history) and includes a nice continental breakfast.

Scioto River & the Santa Maria replica in Columbus, OH

Well rested, we continued our drive from Columbus, OH to Olney, IL which opened our eyes to the Midwest's vast farmland. With no hills in sight I am finally excited to ride my new road bike! We couldn't have asked for better weather to drive the 5 hours to Olney and arrived to this quaint town right on time.

We received a warm welcome from our landlord, a spunky 85-year old woman, who owns the local appliance store we're living above. She and her daughter have been very helpful thus far and pointed us in the right direction as we've begun exploring the surrounding area (state park, lakes, local library, movie theater, coffee shop, etc). We are getting a kick out of the truly small town life we've stumbled upon and are really looking forward to working and playing here. 

One more thing before I sign out for today...

We had the pleasure of meeting our soon to be co-workers yesterday and were informed where to find the best ice cream around. Intrigued, we drove the 20 miles to Sumner, IL where we experienced Dairy Dee's ice cream where they have the slogan, "World famous ice cream (in this part of the world)." The main street of this town had mostly empty store fronts, however, Dairy Dee's is intact, well maintained and appears to be thriving! Charlie enjoyed their staple strawberry cheesecake flavor, whereas I went for a weekly special of vanilla and orange (mmmm...creamsicle!).

Welcome to Illinois!

Wow, lots of updating to be done, but I'll try not to be wordy so this post doesn't drag on and on (though it probably will anyway).

First off, we made it safely to Olney, IL. It was a long, but relatively uneventful drive. Our only stop was in Columbus OH on Tuesday night. I think that Columbus is a very underrated city. I kept hearing that there is nothing in Columbus, but man, that is an incredibly clean city, with a very new feel to it. Great restaurants/breweries. We enjoyed it a lot. And we got to see a life-size replica of Christopher Columbus' ship, the Santa Maria. That alone was worth the trip.

Amanda and her buddy Chris Columbus

The "most accurate" Santa Maria replica in the world

We were back on the road first thing Wednesday morning, where we passed through Indianapolis on our way to Olney. I'm pretty sure I didn't see a single hill in Indiana. It's ridiculous how it's nothing but flat farmland, And Olney is no different. It is surrounded by expansive farmlands, and all of the towns here are spread out anywhere from 35-50 miles apart. You are literally in the middle of nowhere.

I'm pretty sure this is 100% accurate

I don't mean to say this is a bad thing, we really do like how different this is from what we are used to and how everyone knows everyone else in this small town. People are so friendly and we know this is a nice, safe place to be.

Our apartment is perfect for what we need, small but simple. Our landlord, Edith, is fantastic as well. She's this funny and energetic 85 year old woman who would do anything for you and genuinely wants us to feel welcomed. We really couldn't ask for a better living situation. We even met one of our neighbors, Rusty, the other night. His claim to fame is that he owns a gigantic aquarium in his room, which apparently for Olney is a big deal. All in all we are happy where we are and this seems like a great town to experience and explore.

Yesterday, we had lunch with the rehab staff from Richland Memorial Hospital. Again, everyone was very welcoming and we can't wait to get started working with them. However, I get the feeling that they think because we come from the East Coast that we are "fancy" people. They kept trying to give us information about other towns that have "nicer" places to eat. Of course when they say "nicer" they are referring to Applebees. And no, I'm not exaggerating. Little do they know we are looking forward to all the hole in the wall places around here. Even Amanda is excited to go to the local dirt racetrack once the racing season gets started.

Overall, there is a lot to see and explore around here. We are looking forward to going to the the lakes and parks around here in the summer, visiting the nearby cities and towns, and just seeing what the Mid-West has to offer.

And for those of you wondering, we have spotted the elusive white squirrel. Unfortunately we didn't have our camera, so I took a pic with my phone. I promise you more, and better, photos in time.

This little guy put Olney on the map

Finally, here's the white squirrel fun fact of the day. In Olney, the law states that cats are not allowed outside unless they are on a leash. This is to protect the white squirrel from attack. Previously, if cats were outside they had to wear a bell at all times so they could not sneak up on the squirrels. However, they discovered that squirrels were still being killed by cats, thus the leash law was passed. Welcome to Olney, IL.

Correction

In order to decrease the ridiculousness of packing our car with everything we need for the next 2 years and to finish all our pre-employment paperwork, we are now leaving for IL on Tuesday, March 20th. This means we get to spend another day in the pardise that is Ephrata, PA, and experience yet another delay in the travel process. Luckily this is a much shorter delay than our previous ones. Thanks Mom and Pop Funk for the free rent!

It's Official

After weeks and months of planning, we are officially heading out to Illinois. I know you are all thinking it's about time we got back to work, and trust me, we agree with you. We will be leaving on March 19th. It's hard to believe this is finally happening. It's taken a little longer to get going than originally thought, but we enjoyed it. It has given us the opportunity to see a great deal of our friends and family, spend time at the beach, play lots of disc golf, and even spend a day at the spa. I know, a spa trip is incredibly unmanly, but I don't care. It was pure relaxation. Nothing wrong with that.

Before we leave next week, we do have a few more stops to make, most notably to visit our newest niece, Anna. She was born on last Tuesday and both her and Amanda's sister Betsy are doing great. We can't wait to go see them, along with Anthony and Ellie of course. 



Our newest niece, Anna

















Ellie is the proudest big sister EVER.

Now that the finality of this whole process is setting in and we know for sure that we are leaving on the 19th, I would like to take the chance to thank everyone, especially our parents, for their support during this whole process. Amanda and I are so fortunate to be surrounded by a great group of friends and family who have had nothing but a positive response from the moment we started talking about the possibility of travelling. All of you have encouraged us every step of the way and we can't possibly express how much that means to us. It has made some very difficult decisions easier to make and allowed us to fully appreciate this opportunity we have been given.

There is no doubt we will miss you all, but we hope to keep in touch via Skype, text, email, and of course this blog. Skype is my new favorite, I'm pretty much obsessed with that, so feel free to Skype me at any time. Thank you again for all of the support and stay tuned for the next update, which will happen after we arrive in Olney, IL. Hopefully we'll get to meet one of the famous white squirrels we keep telling you all about.

First Placement

WE FINALLY HAVE A JOB!

It's been a long, ridiculous, and frustrating road, but we finally have our first travel placement. Unfortunately our recruiter was unable to find 2 placements in either southern Delaware (near the Funk's beach house) or in the Poconos. We thought we had one in the Poconos, but it fell through due to multiple absurd circumstances. It's too long of a story to post here, but trust me, it was a nightmare dealing with these people and we're glad it didn't work out. With all of our options in PA and DE being exhausted, we settled on what looks to be a great, but unexpected, placement in Illinois.

Yep, Illinois. Olney, Illinois to be exact. It's not very glamorous, but we do feel really good about it. It's a small community hospital where we'll shuffle between outpatient, acute care, and home care. So, if nothing else, we'll always have something new to look forward to. Also, if you look up Olney, IL, you will find out it is the White Squirrel Capital of the World. How could that not be a great place to be?

The famous white squirrel. Don't call them albino though!

True story: In Olney, the white squirrel has the right of way in all intersections and there is a $500 fine for killing one or running one over with your car. The white squirrel is quite a big deal out there. Who knew? You can read all about it HERE.

Olney is in a good location though. Only 2.5 hours from St. Louis, 3 hours from Indianapolis, and 4 hours from Chicago. So we'll get to travel around and see a good bit of the Mid-West. I'm already planning to go watch my Phillies play in St. Louis during Memorial Day weekend. That's my priority. Amanda is worried about trivial issues such as housing and getting a PT license.

The budding metropolis that is Olney, IL.

We don't know when we will be leaving yet for Illinois, because we still have to get licensed there before we can start. We are hoping to leave during the week of March 19th (and start working March 26th), but we'll have to wait and see if our paperwork goes through that quickly. As soon as we know when we are leaving, we will let all of you know. The sooner we can start, the better. We are more than ready to get this adventure going.