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| Iowa Summer |
So where are we now... We are twirling our thumbs and waiting on the next few weeks to pass. Or more currently windows open, kids playing outside, bidding farewell to our last days in Iowa.
Our time in the Midwest is diminishing right in front of our eyes. We have officially been in the Midwest (Iowa mostly, South Dakoda, Minnesota, and Illinois) for the last 4 years and 4 months. Levi has obviously spent 99.5% of that time working, and not just working, but working his butt off to get us to this very point in our lives. He has put in 9,500 total hours and counting since becoming an apprentice for Missouri Valley. Those hours are what he has worked his tail off, and have all been put towards learning the trade and becoming the best Jouneyman Lineman that he can. He has worked for many different contractors and dozens of different crews all helping and grooming him into the Lineman he has become! To say I am proud would be an understatement, he deserves the next few weeks to go smoothly, he really has earned it.
So in the next few weeks, Levi will have completed all of his hot time needed to take the Jouneyman Lineman test. That is 800 hours of working with "hot" or live wires. The Journeyman's test is his last step before he receives his Journeyman Lineman card. The card that holds all merit for his future. It's a huge test for him, and I know he is already sweating bullets, so keep him in your thoughts these next few weeks!
Once Levi passes his test (yes babe we all have faith :) the rest of the journey will be up in the air. We have a calling to head back West especially with the brutality of winter quickly approaching. I think I can speak for both of us when I say we have no intentions on ever spending another -20 degrees winter in a camper. It is just not a whole lot of fun for anyone!
Where we end up, we honestly have no idea. That will be all of the fun that this adventure takes us on. With Levi becoming a Jouneyman it allows us the freedom for us to go anywhere in the 50 states to work at anytime. All he does is "drag up" pack his tools and pull in the slides and we will be on our way to someplace new. The union works by allowing employers or contractors to call for Lineman off of books from Local Union halls. Once Levi signs his name on the books, he just waits for a call from a new employer and then he heads for the first day on a new job. No contracts, no formality of employers, and no need to stay someplace we don't enjoy. That is the beauty of it all.
The future really is up in the air, and we have no idea where we will be or what it holds, all I do know is that these last 4 years have truly been unforgettable, allowing us an adventure we could have never imagined, meeting many friends, and making many unforgettable memories along the way. It will be bittersweet saying good-bye to this place, but as all goodbyes go, the hello to somewhere new will be even sweeter :)
I'll be back in a couple of weeks with a bit more of an update on where we are headed! Knox keeps on telling us we are headed to the beach with his trucks, I can only hope to make that little dream a reality in the short future :)
