The Hub City - More About Wendell

Photo courtesy of: www.intermountainmotorhomes.com

In my last post I briefly told you a little bit about Wendell, the place I now call home. In the words of Dorothy Ann from The Magic School Bus "According to my research. . ." Wendell was first referred to as "The Hub City" by Fred R. Reed back in the early 1900s. For those of you that don't know, Reed was the mayor of Gooding County, a cowboy, foreman, and a lot of other important things. Soooo. . . in other words, he was kind of a big deal. Apparently, Wendell was more advanced than the surrounding areas of the time and was a main point to redirect traffic routes.  Anyway, he decided to call Wendell home and said that it was “The most promising town in Southern Idaho,” (magicvalley.com) 

Well. . . I'm not saying Reed was wrong (say that 3 times fast), but. . . I kind of have a sneaky suspicion that Wendell stopped growing around the same time he made this statement. Please don't misunderstand me. I don't think Wendell is lame or anything of the sort. In fact, we're really starting to like Wendell. I just think that as far as the "growth and development" side of things go Reed's idea of Wendell's potential was a little. . . stunted. Allow me to illustrate my point. 

Ladies and Gentleman I now present to you the not so short list of ways that Wendell is not so big!

 1. The Population: I touched on this last time, but as a brief reminder: 2,751. We'll round that up to 2,753. . .and half. In comparison the population of the surrounding towns Gooding: 3,519; Hagerman: 865; Buhl: 4,170; Jerome: 11,027; and Bliss: 311. To be fair, I included some towns with smaller populations, because I could be living in Hagerman or Bliss instead of the metropolis of Wendell. But coming from Boise (population 212,303) it's a pretty drastic change. By the way, I learned the other day that Hagerman and Bliss make up one ward in our stake. 

2. The Library: I also mentioned this one last time. The Wendell Public Library is housed in a trailer next to city hall. There is one librarian (her name is Ann) and one assistant librarian (her name escapes me). When Carlos first got here he had no internet access and no T.V. He really didn't have much of anything for the first three days (a few dishes, some food, a sleeping mat, and his computer). Anyway, with so little in his possession Carlos was bored, so he found himself at the library checking out movies to watch on his laptop. He met Ann at this point and they talked and she learned all about him. So, the first time I went to the library I introduced myself to her, she got all excited and started asking me all these questions and already knew so much about me. That's one thing that Carlos and I have both noticed about these small towns. Everyone is so friendly and welcoming. We could get used to that :)

3. The Traffic: It's basically non-existent. UNLESS you count getting stuck behind a tractor or having to wait for cattle to cross the road. These instances can delay you for about as long as the 5' O clock traffic in Boise. In fact, Carlos came home the other day and announced that he would have been home about ten minutes earlier, but he had gotten stuck behind a tractor. ALSO, there is exactly ONE traffic light in Wendell. It's situated right by Maverick, which, I may be wrong, but I think it's the only gas station. Which leads me to my next point. . .

4. Directions and Gettin' Around: When there's only one of everything it makes it easy to find anything. We now live in one of those towns where people give directions by landmarks. Example: Go past The LDS church, turn right at the Maverick, follow that road for about 4 miles. On your left there will be a bunch of cows. Turn left. Follow that road for another 3 miles. On the right you'll see a field with four horses. Two on one side and two on the other. Above that field are two houses that look the same. Go to the one on the right. I've just given you directions to my house, if you're coming from the Gooding side. Feel free to visit. :) I actually had a guy ask me the other day if we lived past the tank. I hadn't noticed a tank before, but the next time we went somewhere I paid more attention. And yes. We do indeed live past the tank. It'll be on the right before you get to the cows. ;)

5. Radio Stations: I noticed when I was in Gooding earlier this week that they still get the Boise radio stations. I was listening to Mix 106, 107.9, and 102.7 with ease, but almost as soon as I hit the Wendell city limits. . . gone! I began searching frantically for a new radio station, but all I got was static. I did eventually find a few stations. My choices were as follows; country, Christian country, Christain rock, Christian Bible thumpin', more Christian Bible thumpin', NPR, or heavy metal. I will no longer know what the kids are listenin' to these days. . .

6. The Scenery: When it comes to sights you really can't get much better than what we have here in Wendell. You can actually see the stars. I went out the other night and I looked up and the sky was absolutely filled with stars. The sunsets are gorgeous. All red, and pink, and orange with the suns rays piercing the clouds. Magnificent! Finally, it's been stormy here lately. Yesterday it rained and we were headed out for the evening and we saw a rainbow. Not just part of  a rainbow, but the WHOLE rainbow!! And not just one rainbow, but two!! Double rainbow!! It was spectacular. There was absolutely nothing hindering our view. I would post a picture, but they're all on Carlos' phone.

Okay, so maybe this list wasn't as long as you were expecting, but it was involved. Hopefully, you have a better idea of the new life Carlos and I experiencing here. I may seem a bit sarcastic and cynical, but I honestly am excited to be here. It's a whole new adventure and I'm trying to embrace it whole-heartedly. 

BONUS:

 
We found this Shasta machine in Gooding. I got so excited. How many places can you find a canned soda for 25 cents these days? I'd wager not many. Just another perk of these small towns. Sadly, it was out of order. :( But still!


 

Beginning the Transformation

*Note: This post is for your information in an effort for you to better understand our current situation. If you are like my sister, Sarah, and hate reading, please feel free to skim. :)

For those of you who aren't so familiar with my story let me explain. No. There is too much. Let me sum up:

I graduated last May, 2013 from Utah State with a degree in Vocal Performance. In September of that year I met my now husband, Carlos, and we were married almost exactly five months later. Nearly two months from the day we got married we found out we were expecting our first child. I feel as if the Lord suddenly threw me into the fast lane and said "Hold on."

Carlos and I

From there the pace seems to have only increased. Carlos is a Spanish teacher, and it became apparent to us that we could not support a family of three on a part-time teacher's salary. So Carlos began seeking full-time positions around Boise and the surrounding areas. After many applications and several job interviews he came up empty handed. Carlos had applied for one position outside of the Treasure Valley in the small town of Gooding, Idaho (population about 3500). I informed him at the time that if he did get the job there I would follow him, but that I would probably cry. . . A LOT.

Well. . . I should have known better to say anything like that, because in my experience the things that I really don't want to happen seem to always be my fate. On July 19th Carlos was indeed offered the full-time Spanish teacher position at Gooding High School. He was then informed that he would begin work on August 7th. So, in all of about three weeks we packed up our belongings, quit our jobs, found a house on Craigslist to rent, and transferred our records and our lives to the middle of nowhere.

Did we end up in Gooding? No. We ended up in the town of Wendell. 20 minutes from Gooding. Population: about 2800. Actually, we don't even live in the town of Wendell. We live out in the country. On the outskirts of Wendell. To give you an idea; we have to pay a $17.50 membership fee to the Wendell Public Library (which is in a trailer, by the way,) because we live outside of the city limits. More on that in a future blog post.

Anyway, to finish this post I would just like to highlight a few things that made this actual move one of the most painful experiences OF MY LIFE. Oh. Also, please note that with the exception of #1 Carlos was already in Wendell and missed the whole fiasco.

1. Being Pregnant in August
    For anyone who has ever had to move during pregnancy I feel your pain. For anyone who has ever been pregnant in the middle of summer and had to move we can get together and cry about it later. I've always been a generally cold person (temperature wise), but since being pregnant I am hot ALL THE TIME! There was no air conditioning in the home we were renting and being there all day packing was tortuous. On top of the heat there was the whole part about since I'm pregnant I shouldn't lift heavy objects. Now, granted, this does have its' advantages. I wasn't too heartbroken about not being allowed to carry certain things. Did I still try? Yes. And did I pull a few muscles doing so? Yes.

2. The Moving Van
    Thanks to my dad I didn't have to do the actual driving of the U-Haul. I am grateful for that. We had to back the U-Haul up to our front door for easy access during loading. The yard out there is irrigated by a nearby ditch and because the gate had not been properly closed which caused the whole yard to be flooded. Not a good combination for a 26 foot U-Haul and a whole lot of furniture. The loading of the U-Haul actually went quite smoothly thanks to some awesome church members and family, but due to a "small" inconvenience (see #3) we were not able to move the U-Haul until several hours later. As a result the U-Haul sank deeper and deeper into the mud until it was horribly and hopelessly stuck. A problem I left my parents to deal with while I went back to their house to make sure the air conditioner didn't overflow. Later, at around 11:30 that night, my hero of an uncle pulled the U-Haul out with some tow rope and his truck. I would like to mention that my aunt and uncle are also the owners of the house we were renting. Sorry we destroyed the yard Aunt Barb and Uncle Steve!

3. The Elk
    Yup! You read that right. The elk.

This is the elk that wandered into the field next to our house while we were moving. The police were called and so was Idaho Fish and Game. You may have read about it in the newspaper or heard about it on the news, but we were there! The thing ate all my tomatoes and beans out of the garden. Not to mention anything else it could find. Because the authorities were trying to contain this animal we were banished to the house, which meant no more moving things onto the truck or my car. Eventually we weren't even allowed to make much noise. So we found ourselves mostly just waiting for nearly three hours while Fish and Game got like the one guy in all of the Treasure Valley authorized to use a tranquilizer gun to get over there. By the time they took down the elk (and he did not go down easy) It was much later than we had anticipated. Funny story about this elk. Apparently this was not his first visit to the area. They had caught him just a few weeks earlier down in Garden City and released him again near Horseshoe Bend. Well, he managed to find his way back to eat my tomatoes  (I noticed a couple weeks prior that all my tomatoes had mysteriously vanished. Now I think I know why.) I have a theory that the Lord was preparing me for more wildlife encounters as He knew I was moving to "Farmville."

4. The Robbery
     While this was not an inconvenience to my time it was the "straw that broke the camel's back." Excuse the expression. I got up Saturday morning in preparation to drive to Wendell to find that my car had been broken into and some of my things stolen. :( I arrived at my parent's house the night before exhausted and left a few of my belongings in my car with the doors unlocked. In hindsight this was a stupid choice, but it really is sad that we live in a world where you can't leave your doors unlocked for one night without having something stolen. Anyway, the thieves took a 19" flat screen TV, our blu-ray player, and my acoustic guitar. Not cool. I figured they were probably just some punk teenagers and that I would never get my stuff back, so I left for Wendell without even making a police report. Come to find out a few days ago four teenage boys in the area were caught stealing out of cars in the neighborhood. I have now made a police report. Fingers crossed we get our stuff back. Once again though, I've decided the Lord was just preparing me for the podunk life. No electronics means I have to find other ways to fill my time.

Anyway. . . Through this whole move I've had some pretty rotten experiences, but thanks to some really good people I was able to make it through. Also, once we got to Wendell things could not have gone more smoothly. I guess it's a sign that we really are where we're supposed to be.

I realize that this was not the most exciting of blog posts. This one was meant to be more informative and help you to understand why the rest of this blog exists. Future blog posts are intended to highlight our new life in the country and our transformation from city peeps to country folk. I promise that future posts will be much more entertaining. Stay tuned for my next post about just how small Wendell is! It's sure to be much more entertaining.