Blueberry Vanilla Pumpkin Cookies

Vegan, Gluten-Free, Sugar-Free, Dairy-Free, Oil-Free

Wet Ingredients: 

• 1 1/2 cups canned pumpkin
• 1 cup applesauce (unsweetened) 
• 3/4 cup erythritol (or sweetener of choice)
• 2-3 pinches stevia (depending on how sweet you like them)
• 2 chia/flax seed 'eggs' (mix 2 tbsp. chia seeds, 1 tbsp. ground flax seed, and 4-5 tbsp. water)
• 2 tbsp. vanilla extract
• 1/2 cup unsweetened vanilla almond milk 
• 1 1/2 cups frozen blueberries 

Dry Ingredients:

• 3/4 cup Quinoa Flour or Brown Rice flour
• 1/2 cup coconut flour
• 3 tsp. cinnamon 
• 1 tsp. nutmeg
• 1/2 tsp. cloves
• 1/2 tsp. ginger
• 1/2 tsp. pumpkin pie spice
• pinch sea salt

*As many ingredients as possible should be Organic and trustworthy.

-Mix together the chia seeds, flax seeds, and filtered water in a cup and leave for about 5 minutes in the fridge to set up.

- Stir the wet ingredients together in a bowl (minus the blueberries). 
- Mix the dry ingredients together making sure there are no lumps in the flours. 
- Stir the chia/flax seeds that have set up (formed a thick gel) into the wet ingredients.
- Stir the dry ingredients into the wet, then fold in the blueberries. 
          If the mixture looks a little too wet, then add in extra quinoa flour, and if it's too dry add in pumpkin or applesauce or almond milk. It might look kind of wet, but that is okay and they should still turn out into solid cookies. You might get good results by putting the dough in the fridge for a while to firm up, but it's not really necessary and I didn't do it. 

- Form the cookies into your desired cookie shape on a foil-lined/coconut oil - greased pan. The cookies don't rise much , so form them into the shape you want now - bite-sized, big fluffy pillow-cookies, whatever!

- Bake at 350 degrees for 16-19 minutes, or until golden brown/darker and the inside is mostly cooked through. You can still take them out if they are still pretty soft on the inside, since they will continue to cook on the pan, and they will just be softer and chewier. 
Enjoy!

These cookies have a crisp outside and super soft, chewy inside. The union of blueberries, vanilla and pumpkin is just SO good!
Chocolate is kind of addictive for me, so I wanted to make these bars to have around for breakfast, but without the chocolate to tempt me to have too many. The dark blueberries kind of look like chocolate chips so they're aesthetically pleasing, while being filled with all the amazing nutrients that are in blueberries! 

Just Graduated? How To Check Into Your First Navy Ship As An Ensign

How To Check In To Your First Navy Ship As An Ensign

Welcome Aboard! 
Ok so not quite yet... There is always some apprehension with checking on to your first ship. This is where you are going to spend 2 years of your life living and working. First impressions are key and you really don't want to look stupid. Well the first thing you need to know is that you will. It is inherent to the rank, you may be hot stuff but at the end of the day there is a lot to know and there will be a time where you will look foolish for doing or saying something stupid that no one told you was stupid. Sorry I know, what a great way to start out a blog post, here you were all excited, now all your hopes and dreams are crushed. But not to worry, while you still will make mistakes I will help you not make as many! Here are some basic things you need to know to check aboard your first ship.

Before you even arrive at your ship you should email your Commanding Officer (CO) and your sponsor. Both emails will be provided in your orders. The email to your CO is kind of a big deal but not NEARLY as big of deal as you are going to make it out to be. Yes you want to do it right and not make a first impression that says "Hi I can't even write an email correctly and I am here to drive your 2 billion dollar warship!" So for tips on writing check in letter to your CO check out the section in the Division Officer's Guide or the Naval Writing Guide books. Both have good examples on how to write them.  Some quick notes on the intro letter:

• Be professional and hit the basics as covered in the navy books listed.
• Don't request to be in a certain billet or even ask about which billet you will be assigned, it will probably change half a dozen times before you arrive and may change during check in.
• This is supposed to give the Captain a basic understanding of who you are, but don't stress it because I don't think my CO even read it...

After you write your CO letter, email your sponsor if they haven't already gotten in touch with you. He or she is the best point of contact to ask all the questions you would be afraid to ask someone else. They are most likely a junior officer and possibly the person you are going to replace. So ask as many questions as you need to feel comfortable about the check-in process. I asked what to wear on check in, what time to be there, what my job would be, how the command climate was... all the basics. Each ship will be different so it's good to ask your sponsor these things.

Hopefully your sponsor will meet you prior to checking in at the ship, like at the airport to help you out. My sponsor met me and my wife at the airport and he even invited me and the other check-ins to a barbecue that some of the JO's were having that evening. It was a great way to start our time here and helped us feel a lot more comfortable about the check in process.

The day you actually check in, wear the prescribed uniform (for me it was summer whites) and bring your orders. I was told to bring a set of NWU's in a book bag so I could change after so that may be a good idea too. I made the mistake of asking one of the gate guards where the ship was and he gave that look of "Are you a spy?" I realized as soon as the words left my lips how stupid that was. Don't ask the gate guard where the ship is, that's a violation of operation security, instead ask your sponsor and preferably ask him to meet you somewhere right before checking aboard.

When you walk across the brow if it is between 0800 and sunset don't forget to stop half way across the brow, turn towards the back of the ship and salute. You will do this every time you cross the brow between these times to salute the flag. If you are in civilian attire at the time, stop and face that direction at attention for a half second.When you finish crossing present your ID and orders and say "Request Permission to come aboard." (while saluting). If you are in a dress uniform it should be obvious to everyone you are a new check-in. Tell them you are if they don't guess and tell them your sponsor's name. They will call your sponsor up if they aren't already there and he will escort you from there.

The day will consist of paperwork, introductions and feeling overwhelmed and lost. Don't worry it's normal. Most likely you will meet the CO and XO (Executive Officer) individually. These can be kind of nerve racking but just remember they are people too, show respect but don't freak out - you are an Officer in the US Navy, act like it.

After the endless paperwork for admin you will be handed a PQS Binder. This will have all the qualifications you need to get in order to get your pin. You will open it up the binder to see sheet after sheet of line items you need to get signatures for, your eyes will glaze over and you will shut the binder. Worry about those in a few days, for now focus on learning the ship and learning your new job.

You will most likely be introduced to your new division, when one of them extends their hand and gives you their name, don't give them your first name... say Ensign (last name). Keep it professional. I accidentally did this so you can learn the easy way from my mistake, even if it wasn't a huge one.

Another quick note is don't ever wear your cover inside the wardroom or the Galley. It is a navy tradition to remain uncovered in both of these spaces to show respect to the fallen.

Your first day may seem long, especially if you arrived at 4am just to be early enough to find a parking spot on base, but before you know it, it will be over. Don't be afraid to ask for help or directions on the ship. Understand that you are new and don't know much. Be humble and open to knowledge no matter where it comes from. And now...

Welcome Aboard Shipmate.

What Happens After Navy OCS?

You may be reading this post because you are looking into joining the navy through OCS, or maybe you already signed on and are wondering what happens after OCS, or maybe you are just reading this because you clicked random on the top and it brought you here. What ever the case, I am here to tell you that there is no set path after OCS. Blog post over? Well not quite ...

While there is no set path, there are some common stepping stones for people after OCS. Each person will follow their particular orders to where they need to go. This is largely based on what warfare community you joined. I don't know the specifics on everyone but the basic answer to the question is where do I go after OCS is: School!

That's right, you finished college, you finished OCS and now they are sending you back to school. Almost every warfare community will send you to a specific course or school to teach you the basics of your community. Aviators go down to Pensacola to fly a trainer plane, Surface Warfare Officers (SWO) go to Basic Division Officer Course (BDOC), Sub guys go to nuke school, Civil Engineering Corp go to their class out in California. The Navy doesn't want to send untrained Ensigns out into the field without at least a basic understanding of their warfare area. When I say basic... I mean basic. They do throw a lot of info at you but in the end the best training you will get is hands on at your future job.

Since I am writing this from a Surface Nuke perspective, I will tell you a quick little example of what happened to me and where I went after OCS. As I mentioned in my posts about OCS, just because you enter OCS in a certain community doesn't mean you cant get medically disqualified and leave as another one (most likely SWO). It seems that 50% of the Ensigns I know started in other communities. So there may be a chance you end up on the same path I did.

I received my orders while in student pool of OCS (The closest thing to purgatory on this planet), and like all good government work, they messed it up. It was a good thing I read my orders and asked about it because they had me ordered to go to Nuke school instead of going to BDOC or a ship as you are supposed to as a SWO(n). Well they rewrote my orders which took like 2 weeks and had me going to California for BDOC and then to Hawaii to a ship.

It's a good time to note that not all SWO's will go to BDOC first. Sometimes they will send you to your ship first, then in a couple months later go to BDOC, and then back to your ship. Normally this happens if your ship is home ported in San Diego. For those of us lucky enough to be home ported in Hawaii or Japan, we got a few months of being stashed in San Diego before class started for us. You see, it's cheaper for your Ship to keep you in San Diego for a couple months of doing nothing until you you start class then fly you out. As opposed to flying you to the ship, then flying you back to San Diego, then flying you back to the ship. Once you check aboard the ship, it comes out of their budget to fly you to school, until then its on "Big Navy's Dime."

BDOC is basically a class on all the basics of the Surface fleet. Classes include: Navigation, Engineering fundamentals, Damage Control, and other general stuff. Its supposed to count for all the 100-200 level signatures of your qualification notebook but rarely is it ever used.  I will discuss more about getting qualified in my next blog post, which will be about checking aboard you first ship. Anyways after you finish you BDOC you head to your ship and begin your life as Junior Officer aboard a Navy warship.

All pictures are from either the San Diego BDOC or Officer Training Command Newport's Facebook page

Creamy Super Seed Nut Butter - Sunflower Seeds, Pumpkin Seeds, Walnuts, Almonds, Chia Seeds

Vegan, Gluten Free, Dairy Free, Sugar Free

These are just a few of the ingredients. I took this pic in one of the first trials of this recipe.

Ingredients

• 2 cups raw Sunflower Seeds
• 1 1/2 cups raw Pumpkin Seeds
• 2/3 cup raw Walnuts
• 1/2 cup Almonds

• 1 cup unsweetened vanilla Almond Milk (or other non-dairy milk)
• 1 1/2 cups filtered Water  (or more almond milk -- I added water to make the recipe cheaper, lol!)

• 2-3 tbs. Chia Seeds
• 1/2 scoop Vanilla Protein Powder (optional - I used sprouted brown rice protein powder)
• 3-4 tbs. Cinnamon
• 1 tsp. Sea Salt
• 5-6 pinches Stevia

Steps

1. In a high-powered, reliable blender, blend the sunflower seeds, pumpkin seeds, walnuts and almonds together. This will take a while so just be patient! Pulse it to look like a ground flour, then as you keep blending the natural oils in the nuts/seeds will be released leading it to emulsify into a butter/paste consistency. Keep scraping it down the sides so everything gets rotated into the blades, and with your spoon press it down together before pulsing it each time. After about 20 minutes of blending it should start forming a paste consistency.

2. Once it reaches a thick nut butter consistency, blend in the almond milk.

3. Blend in the chia seeds, cinnamon, sea salt, stevia, sea salt, optional protein powder and water. 

4. Adjust the amount of cinnamon, sea salt and stevia to your taste. 
Enjoy! 
should last in the fridge about 1 week

It really is that easy. Takes a while to blend up those nuts and seeds, but it so worth it in the end! Because of the almond milk and water in the spread, this nut butter recipe has about half the calories and fat of typical full-strength nut butters! For me that is amazing news!
I don't know about you, but I Can.Not. eat only 1 serving (2 tbs.) of any kind of nut butter ever. They're just so addictive, satisfying and yummy! With this healthy homemade recipe you determine exactly what is in it, and can have the peace of mind that you're filling your body with pure life-giving nutrients! (3

Lentil Crust Super Pizza

Vegan, Gluten Free, Dairy Free, Low Fat 

This recipe was inspired by the Gluten-Free Lentil Rice Crust Pizza with Buffalo Mayo Sauce and the Cauliflower Pepita Chia Crust with Herbed White Beans, Peppers and Onions over at VeganRicha.com. She has an AWESOME vegan cooking website with a whole bunch of really creative gluten-free pizza ideas! I really love her recipes/website so look over there for inspiration too! I initially tried to make the Lentil Pizza, but since I didn't have yeast I tweaked it and used the chia and flax seeds and a few spices from the Cauliflower Pizza recipe. 

Health Benefits of Lentils: 

• Excellent Source of Protein! - 26% attributed to protein, making it a great plant source of protein
• Great source of Fiber - helping provide slow-burning energy, stabilizing blood sugar and assisting digestive health. While they are low in calories the high fiber content makes them very satiating
• Great source of Magnesium
• Great source of Iron 
• Great source of Folate (aka Folic Acid or Vitamin B9)- all very important minerals for the body!
• Lowers Cholesterol
• Cheap - (lol, but true!) a bag of dry lentils only costs about $1 even in the uber expensive state of Hawaii. ;)

Basically, lentils offer a powerhouse of nutrition, so if you haven't had them yet try them now!!

Ingredients:
Crust:
1 and 1/3 cup Lentils(dry uncooked, soaked overnight)

3 Tbsp chia seeds

1 Tbsp flaxmeal

1/2 cup water

3/4 tsp italian herb blend
1/2 teaspoon garlic powder
1/2 teaspoon thyme
3/4 teaspoon salt
1 tsp baking powder
1/2 cup water

Cashew Cheese: 
1 cup cashews (soaked overnight)
1/4 cup nutritional yeast
¼ cup filtered water
¼ cup nutritional yeast
2 Tbs. lemon juice
2 cloves garlic
1 Tbs. raw apple cider vinegar
(inspired by the recipe here)

Toppings: 
Organic Marinara Sauce*
Cashew Cheese 
Veggies
Basil
whatever you want! :)


Steps: 
- Soak the Lentils and Cashews in water and leave for 4 hrs or overnight. (There is nothing special about the 4 hr mark, but you want to be sure they are soaked through enough and will be ready for blending. 

Cashew Cheese: 
- Blend the Cashews and other ingredients together. Adjust spices according to taste, then set in the fridge until topping on the pizza.

Crust: 
- Stir the Chia Seeds, Flaxseed meal, and first 1/2 cup of water together and leave in the fridge for about 15 minutes. This mixture will form a gel-like consistency and will hopefully make the crust rise. 

- Blend the Lentils, spices, baking powder, and second 1/2 cup water together in a good blender. Then blend in the chia/flax mixture. 

- Once everything is blended and you've adjusted the spice to your liking, spoon out the Lentil Pizza Dough onto parchment paper (sprayed with coconut oil) at whatever size and thickness you'd like. The thicker they are the longer it will need to cook. 

- Bake at 425 degrees for about 20 minutes, or until slightly golden brown and cooked through. 

Pizza Time!
- Once the crust is cooked through, add on any toppings you would like!
You can go traditional with marinara, cheese, fresh tomatoes and basil, or go crazy with lots of fun veggies! I added zucchini, red pepper, and Kenny tried to make a Thai Peanut pizza (inspired by his favorite kind at the California Pizza Kitchen) using our Thai peanut sauce as the base then adding veggies on top. 
Tip: If using fresh basil or herbs you may want to add it last or after the other veggies cook. I added the basil with everything else, and the got really crisp and almost burnt after the 10 minutes ...

- Bake for about 10 more minutes, or until the veggies are cooked through to your liking. 
Once the toppings are cooked enough, take out of the oven and let cool for a few minutes, then Serve!


[I baked the dough on regular parchment paper, and I had a hard time getting the pizzas off the paper! Maybe it was just defective parchment paper, or maybe I should have greased it beforehand - either way it's probably safer to spray with coconut oil beforehand so they don't stick!]

 * (watch the sugar content on these store-bought sauces though - even tomato sauces or "healthy" looking brands can actually be packed with sugar, and whatever you do, stay away from high fructose corn syrup!!! Safer to just make if yourself, but I was short on time)


Resources: 
http://healthyeating.sfgate.com/benefits-eating-lentils-4547.html
http://www.mindbodygreen.com/0-5488/7-Health-Benefits-of-Lentils.html
http://www.whfoods.com/genpage.php?tname=foodspice&dbid=52

Easy Vegan Zucchini Lasagna

Vegan, Gluten Free, Dairy Free, Low Fat

Ingredients: 

3 large zucchinis
Quinoa Layer: 
3/4 cup dry Quinoa
1/2 cup water or vegetable broth
1 24 oz. jar organic Marinara Sauce*
2 tsp. dried oregano
1 tsp. dried basil
1 tsp. crushed garlic
1/3 cup fresh basil


Sauteed Veggie Layer:
1 red onion (diced)
1 large tomato (diced)
16 oz. package organic frozen spinach (or fresh spinach)
2 tsp. dried oregano
1 tsp. dried basil
2 tsp. crushed garlic
*feel free to add any other veggies you'd like! (peppers, mushrooms? I just used what I had)

Classic Cashew Cheese:
1 cup raw cashews (soaked overnight)
¼ cup filtered water
¼ cup nutritional yeast
2 Tbs. lemon juice
2 cloves garlic
1 Tbs. raw apple cider vinegar
sea salt and pepper to taste

• [adapted from recipe here]

Steps:
Preheat the oven to 410 degrees.
- Slice the zucchini lengthwise into thin strips. Sprinkle with sea salt and wrap in paper towels to let most of the moisture come out while the quinoa is cooking. 

Quinoa
- Cook the quinoa in the water or vegetable broth and 3/4 cup of the marinara sauce in a medium saucepan. Bring to a boil, then let simmer for 25 minutes until all the liquid is absorbed. Remove from heat and stir in the spices, garlic and fresh basil. 

Veggies
- While the quinoa is cooking, saute the diced red onions, diced tomato, oregano, basil and garlic until the onions become translucent, about 8 minutes. Add in the defrosted spinach and adjust seasonings to taste.  

Assembly

- Spread 1/3 cup of Marinara on the bottom of an 8x8 inch dish. Lay the first layer of zucchini slices down. Spoon the sauteed veggies over top. Then spread about 1/3 of the marinara quinoa over top. Then place your second layer of zucchini slices on top. Spoon Marinara Sauce over top, then dollop and swirl the cashew cheese over. Top with sauteed veggies then quinoa and repeat until all the filling are gone. For the final layer, end with zucchini slices topped with marinara and swirled cashew cheese. 


- Bake at 410 degrees for 30-35 minutes, or until the zucchini is cooked through and the top is bubbly. Let cool for a few minutes, and enjoy! :)


I adapted this from the recipe here.


*bonus points if you make your own Marinara Sauce! When purchasing a sauce, make sure it is organic, and also watch the sugar content!!! Many pre-made sauces can have more sugar than desserts even, and as always look for the different hidden names for sugar (malto-dextrin, aspartame, agave nectar..). Even healthier ingredients like olive oil and agave nectar can be harmful if the quantity is too high. 

*bonus points if you make your own Marinara Sauce! When purchasing a sauce, make sure it is organic, and also watch the sugar content!!! Many pre-made sauces can have more sugar than desserts even, and as always look for the different hidden names for sugar (malto-dextrin, aspartame, agave nectar..). Even healthier ingredients like olive oil and agave nectar can be harmful if the quantity is too high. 

Pad Thai with Spaghetti Squash ~ Vegan

Vegan, Gluten-Free, Sugar-Free, Dairy-Free

The Navy has the hubs stationed in Hawaii for his very first duty station. We really didn't know what to expect, and we've definitely learned a TON going through our first PCS (permanent change of station) move. When you first get here you need to stay in a hotel until you can meet with the housing department (which takes forever. literally. Forever) and be assigned a place in military housing or find a place to live off-base (muy expensivo!). Anyway, while we were holed up in a hotel room with no kitchenette we got to explore the many different food options here! There's lots of unhealthy stuff and it's really hard to find vegan food, so I was a lot less strict on it during those 3 months. There is a really big Asian influence in the islands, and I absolutely fell in love with the Thai food here! For the first month we would just try out different Thai restaurants to find the best one in Oahu, and I finally settled on Olay's Thai food. They set up in different farmer's markets around the island each week, and I tried to get most of my food/produce from farmer's markets near Waikiki. Now that we are finally settled in a home (YAY) and I have to cook for us, I really wanted to re-create the yummy Thai taste without all the gluten/sugar/meat/fat that I knew was lurking in it. I happened upon a recipe at popsugar.com, and modified it to produce the recipe below. It's not exactly like Olay's, but it's vegan and still has that yummy Thai taste! This was my first time making this recipe, so we'll need to keep on experimenting with it. 

According to renowned Thai chef Jet Tila, who is featured on the food network and this video here, Thai food is summed up by YUM - hot, sour, salty, sweet. When those flavors are perfectly balanced you get a true Thai dish. Thai food often uses fish sauce (which is basically the Thai version of soy sauce, so you can sub Braggs Liquid Aminos here) for the salty flavor, limes for the sour, chilies or a curry paste for the hot, and sugar for the sweet (obviously, sub with stevia or erithrytol). I tweaked the recipe below just a bit to incorporate a few more of these flavors, and the first thing Kenny said when he tasted the sauce was, "It tastes like Pad Thai" - SCORE!! I was so happy! Pad Thai is definitely an Asian comfort food, and I hope you enjoy this healthified version!

Recipe inspired by the Paleo Pad Thai recipe from Elana's Pantry featured on FitSugar.com

INGREDIENTS

• 1 medium spaghetti squash, seeds removed and cut into quarters (about 4 cups)
• 1 tablespoon coconut oil
• 1 medium red onion, finely chopped (about 1 cup)
• 1 head broccoli, chopped (about 2 cups)
• 2 heads baby bok choy, sliced crosswise into 1-inch strips (about 1 1/2 cups)
• squeeze of lime
• 1 tsp. each garlic powder and organic herb seasoning
• 1 tbsp. Braggs Liquid Aminos (or fish sauce)
• 6 scallions, white and green parts thinly sliced (about 3/4 cup)
• 1/2 cup mung bean sprouts
• 1/4 teaspoon red pepper flakes
• 1/2 cup pad thai peanut dressing, recipe below

Pad Thai peanut sauce:

• 2 tablespoons lime juice
• 1 tablespoon fresh ginger, peeled and minced
• 1 teaspoon fresh garlic, minced
• 1 teaspoon rice vinegar
• 1/4 cup PB2 (cuts down on fat/calories in recipe)
• 1/2 cup lite coconut milk
• 4 tbsp. warm filtered water
• 2 tsp. Braggs Liquid Amino Acids (or fish or soy sauce)
• 2-3 pinches stevia

DIRECTIONS

- Spaghetti Squash: 

Steam the spaghetti squash in a metal steamer basket over a large pot filled with 3 inches of boiling water. Make sure the lid over the spaghetti squash is closed, and steam for about 20 minutes or until you can easily pierce it with a fork and the inside is tender. Instead of steaming the squash you could also cook it in the oven or microwave. Once it is tender and cooked through, let it cool (or put it in the fridge to cool it faster), so you can scrape out the noodles. 

- Pad Thai Peanut Sauce:

While the squash is cooking and cooling, prepare the Pad Thai peanut sauce. You can puree the lime juice, ginger, garlic and vinegar, then blend in the coconut milk, PB2, water and Braggs Liquid Aminos. (I just stirred everything in the measuring cup). You will have extra sauce which you can store in the fridge for up to 3 days. 

- Scoop out the spaghetti squash once it is cool enough to handle. 

- Veggies: 

In a wok or large skillet, heat 1 tbs. coconut oil over medium high heat. Add in the onions and saute for 8-10 minutes until soft/translucent. Add the broccoli and saute for ~8 minutes until bright and tender. Stir in the bok choy and saute for about 4 minutes until tender. Stir in the spaghetti squash noodles and saute further. (I was trying to get them a little crisper, but that didn't really happen the longer I kept them on high heat...) Season the veggies with lime juice, herb seasoning and Braggs Liquid Aminos. 

- Serve Hot:

Top the veggies with your sauce (however much you prefer), cilantro, scallions, chopped nuts (optional, we didn't), and a heap of mung bean sprouts. 

Enjoy! :)

Substitutions: To make this Paleo you can sub the PB2 for Almond Butter.

Cross Country Road Trip// Drive from Rhode Island to San Diego

 California or Bust!

PCS'ing (Permanent Change of Station): an adventure paid for by the navy!
After graduating OCS you are given orders assigning you to your first command.
On my preference list of where I'd like to be stationed, we put:
1. Virginia (close to Kim's family/friends)
2. California (heard it was a really good base, and it's warm!)
3. Florida (Kim loves Florida)
4. Washington (close to my parents)

To our tremendous surprise I was assigned to a ship in Hawaii!! [Another guy getting orders at the same time actually put Hawaii as his first choice, and he got Washington ... so yea, preference lists are just for fun - ha!] My orders were a little convoluted and said I had to make an I-stop (intermediate stop) in San Diego for a school. Thankfully the navy will pay for your travel costs to relocate to the new duty station. This meant a paid trip to both Hawaii and San Diego, starting in Newport. I say "all expense paid" because the navy gives you a travel stipend depending on how far you are traveling and if you travel by car or plane. They also give you "travel days" which is basically free leave to use between PCS stations. So in my case I was allowed 9 days of travel by car or 1 day by plane to San Diego. Some of you may just want to buy the plane ticket and get it over with, not me! A 9 day road trip across the country, heck yes!

According to the info I found online to travel by car you get paid $0.19 per mile as well as $123 for meals (plus $92.25 per dependent over 12 and $61.50 for dependents under 12). Once you arrive at your final destination you will fill out a travel claim with help from your admin department. So keep all toll fees and anything you think you might be able to get reimbursed on, better to try and ask for more reimbursements then you will get then not ask for what you deserve. I am not sure exactly how much I got paid for the trip but it was a nice chunk of change. Keep in mind though most of the time it takes a while to complete the travel claim so make sure you have enough money on hand to do without it at first.  I will link the website for the rates I found at the bottom of the page for your continence.

Anyways, after we got my orders, I went down to check out with the admin department of OCS and then called ahead to the Basic Division Officer Course to let them know I was going to take a few extra days of leave during travel. They were fine with it since my orders allowed me to check in anytime in December.

And with the heavy eastern winds of Newport at our backs, we drove west! It was about time too, as 2 months of student-pool during the frigid winter in Newport gets quite tiresome. The first stop on our epic Road trip was Philadelphia to spend Thanksgiving with Kim's parents. Perfect timing as we left 2 days before Thanksgiving. We had a good time catching up with her family and enjoying some of their holiday traditions but we had to continue west. Our next stop was at our little apartment in Ohio. I had really only spent a couple months here before I went to OCS so it was a little strange coming back to it, still almost exactly how I left it. We packed the car with anything we thought we could take on a plane with us to Hawaii at a later date. Things like a skillet, silverware, a pot, and other odds and ends we made due with. We only spent the night in our apartment before I paid 6 months of rent and locked the door to continue our journey. Now some of you are probably wondering why I didn't just pack up the apartment before heading to San Diego. Well we did try, we looked desperately to see if we could do it in a week but the soonest we could get the movers to come was 2 weeks out, so decided that we would fly back at a later date to pack everything up to send to Hawaii. It worked out perfectly because because we still had an apartment in Ohio and were still receiving BAH which was far more than the rent on our apartment. Also we found out later that the moving company would hold our stuff in Hawaii for 3 months at no cost, so it worked out that I flew out before my 2 month class to have it shipped.


Back to the adventure. The first night we didn't really have a planned stop picked so we just drove as long as we could bare and stopped in some Motel 8 on the way. Not the most luxurious of locations but a bed was all we needed. The great American Plains came and dragged on endlessly but eventually we reached the promised land: Colorado! Having grown up in Colorado it was good to be back even though we came on apparently the coldest day in recent memory. It was negative 10 degrees with the sun shining. But since it was a dry cold it wasn't as bad as the cold wet wind of the east, well at least in my opinion. We spent 2 nights in Colorado catching up with old friends. I also accidentally forgot to tell my brother who was in the northern part of Colorado in school that I was in the state... oops. Sorry Austin! A friend of mine owns a motel in Colorado he was nice enough to save the best room for us. They also offered to give it to us for free, but I felt that if the navy was paying me specifically for this kind of thing that I should just pass the money along.

We were warned the night before we were scheduled to head over the mountains that a big storm was blowing into the mountains and it could give us some problems on the road. I didn't want to spend more leave then I had to waiting for a storm to blow through, winter storms are very common in the mountains so I figured we would just plow through it. That may not have been the wisest decision but I had grown up driving on ice and snow, in fact I got banned from my high school parking lot for doing donuts in the morning on the fresh ice... But that is a story for another time. Our goal for that day was to reach my grandparents in Utah, normally a 10 hour drive. But when the snow started to fall it slowed us quite a bit. By the time darkness fell we were on a road that didn't have stops for 120 miles, and we didn't see a single other car for 3 hours. Yea ... 3 hours on a major cross country freeway without a single car. The snow was coming down enough to cover the lines and the plows weren't running yet.  No cell service, no lines on the road, no radio stations, no cars. It wasn't looking good, but we stayed on the road and I kept the car at a safe speed of 25 the whole way and we eventually emerged from the mountains in a valley with a 2 gas stations and a few motels that had numbers in their names. We chose the motel with the largest number on its sign (motel 8) and stayed the night after telling my grandma we would be coming the next day.

The next morning the sun emerged revealing beautiful snow capped mountains cradling the road to Utah. The roads were being plowed as we drove down the roads making for a much easier drive. We arrived to the relieved hugs of a grandma who worried we would roll off the road in the snow. Having arrived pretty early in the day we had time to go to Zion National Park with them and see such a beautiful national park that I had only ever seen in the hot Utah summer, now under the largest snow pack in 100 years.

We spent the night in my grandparents guest bedroom which was weird in the fact that every stay up to this point my brothers and  I had always had the floor in the little house's living room while my parents would stay in the guest bedroom. This was the first time Kim and I had visited as a married couple and had earned the guest bedroom.

The final stretch to California was enjoyable just for the beauty of the mountains in the west, but as we approached San Diego the width of the roads steadily increased to a point of having 7 lanes on each side... ridiculous!  Our long journey ends with us checking in for a 7 month stay at the Navy Lodge in the always sunny San Diego.

3,132 miles. Driving through 2 snowstorms in the mountains. 5 days in the car. 
Successful Cross-Country Road Trip. 



Per Diem Page linked here.