2022 shaped up to be a year unlike any other. The world is a mess right now with war in Ukraine, political division is rampant, inflation is out of control, and it appears no one wants to work.
And this was a year unlike any other for me as well.
Moving
By the time the new year had rolled around, the decision had been made for us to move from Albuquerque to Iowa. I finished up my Epic certification in February then put in my 2 weeks notice later that week. At the end of February, we were on our way to Iowa, landing in Coralville on March 2.
Five days later, I started my new career as an Epic analyst. That was the goal I had when I started working for Presbyterian in March of 2013 so it only took 9 years to get there.
As the year progressed, I got to experience snow, wind, rain, unbearable heat and humidity in Iowa, and we capped the year off by enduring sub-zero highs, exacerbated by wind that brought the RealFeel to 35 degrees below zero.
Living in Coralville, a suburb of Iowa City, didn’t really give me that “small town experience” I’d been expecting. We lived literally behind a large mall with active anchor stores and even a Target. It wasn’t a whole lot different than living in Albuquerque or Rio Rancho, but that will all change once the move to Ottumwa is final.
Outdoor Activities
I was able to get one last outing with Alan in New Mexico before we moved. We took a cold-weather camping trip to Villanueva State Park at the end of January where I broke the news to Alan that we were moving. I had a small accident on the way to that campsite, and my car still has some damage from it to this day. I do plan on fixing that up before too long.
The first hike I took in Iowa was in April at the underwhelming Woodpecker East Loop Trail. It was an easy trail, sure, but what bothered me was its proximity to the main road through Coralville. I spent too much time looking at road and cars, and the trees hadn’t grown back from winter so everything was dead and brown.
The subsequent hikes went much better, including at the Coralville Dam Recreation Area, Cedar Valley Trail in Solon, and Lake Macbride State Park.
I quickly realized that once things turn green in Iowa, they turn GREEN. A few times, I realized that my camera roll on my phone was just a big field of green. Very little visual interest in the pictures I was taking.
Our favorite outdoors trip of 2022, by far, was to Backbone State Park in Dundee, IA. It was a quick hour and a half drive to the park, and there was a ton to do there, with the hikes, the cave, the drive… it was, just overall, a wonderful trip.
Road Trips
Aside from the trip up to Backbone State Park, we also took some trips to places that were not involved with outdoor activities.
We took TWO trips to Chicago (once to see Justin Furstenfeld on his Open Book tour, and another to go to a Dodger game at Wrigley Field less than a month later), a short trip to Ottumwa to see Hairball at Bridge View Center, and, my favorite, our June trip to Green Spring, Wisconsin, to go to House on the Rock.
The house was a 2 and a half hour drive from Coralville, and we spent three hours there. It was, as I put it then, like Tinkertown, on steroids. I’ve since modified my position and now describe it as if Tinkertown and Meow Wolf had a baby. I wound up taking over 500 pictures and videos, so you know I was in my element. The creativity of the whole place just fascinated me, no end.
We followed that trip up with a September trip to Idaho, with a stop in Wyoming to visit the Grand Tetons National Park. That trip SHOULD have led to another outdoor adventure, but my poor planning got us there on Labor Day weekend and it was way too crowded to try to get a hike in. Instead, I just re-upped my America the Beautiful pass and enjoyed the drive through the park.
That trip, though, led to another big occurrence in 2022.
Reunion With my Parents
After an event that led to not speaking with my parents for nine months, a time during which they decided to move to Idaho without telling me, and fostering such anger and hatred toward them, I did find myself eventually becoming somewhat indifferent to them. Their existence had no impact on my life and I had moved past their transgressions. This is not to say that I was totally faultless in this matter, but how they handled the situation was exceedingly difficult for me to get past. But I did.
So, imagine my surprise when, upon our return from Durango in November 2021, I got a phone call from my mom.
Things were okay for a while, they did make more of an effort to be more involved with my life, so when I decided I wanted to go see my grandmother one last time, I made it a point to stop in and see my parents too.
After our trip through Grand Tetons National Park, we headed into Idaho and stopped by their house. I was very guarded on the trip but afterwards, I felt more loved and appreciated than I ever had. Things since then are better than they ever have been between us.
Return to the Land of Enchantment
Before we made an offer on the house in Ottumwa, we were going to make a trip out to Albuquerque around Thanksgiving to see Alan, Jarrod and, take a side trip to Walsenburg to see Christy. Once the offer was put in though, we decided to bump our trip up as we knew we wouldn’t have the time come late November.
We settled for a week-long trip in October. This would be our first attempt at working from the road, kind of a test to make sure we’d be able to do it once we started our traveling again.
It went well. We both decided that we’d need to travel with second screens so we each got cheap, small monitors to travel with. We both have wireless keyboard and mouse combos so they’re easy to travel with. As long as we have the room to be able to do our work separately, it should be easy to do.
Aside from that aspect of the trip, it was great to see Alan, Brittany, and Jarrod again. I came home with 40 lb of frozen green chile to keep me satisfied for the year. We got to eat at a couple of places that I’ve missed since moving away (Weck’s and Little Anita’s) and overall, it was a nice trip to New Mexico.
Leaving there, we headed 4 hours north to Walsenburg to see Christy. As we arrived, she complained that she wasn’t feeling well. We settled into the house she moved into after moving out of our house and the next day, I took her to get a COVID home test. Well, she tested positive. We wound up cutting our trip short by a day and returning to Iowa where we both started experiencing symptoms almost immediately. We both subsequently tested positive and suffered through our first OFFICIAL bouts with the virus.
…and the house
We closed on our house on November 14 and had our first full day there on the 19th. Since then, it’s been go, go, go on the house.
November 19 was our one-year anniversary, the 20th was my birthday. The 24th was Thanksgiving and Christmas and New Year’s passed us by as we did nothing to celebrate except work on the house.
On New Year’s Day official, I finished putting down the last of the vinyl flooring in the kitchen, leaving a very short to-do list.
When we got back to Coralville, Brandy made arrangements for a U-Haul truck and movers to get us officially moved on January 27. We are keeping the keys until March 1, giving us time to come back and clean the place.
In talking to our landlady, we did ask if it was possible for her to let us out of our lease early, but she said no, we’d be responsible for the rent until the end of July. We have decided to sub-lease the house, which Brandy will take upon herself to do starting next weekend.
2022 Recap
With all certainty, I can say 2022 was an unreal year. We traveled to new places, saw new things, moved across the country and bought a house. We are definitely in a whole new place in our lives, and I couldn’t be happier.
I am looking forward to seeing what 2023 brings. I know what I want out of the new year, and I know what I need to do to get it.
I hope anyone that happens upon this site had a great 2022 and has an even better 2023.
And as always, I must show my appreciation to anyone that happened upon my little corner of the internet. I know there are a few people out there that subscribe to the e-mail notifications for when I post, but I’m confident no one actually reads the posts.
Which is fine, I don’t write this for anyone to read, I write it for myself. I do, from time to time, go back to the very beginning and read each and every post. It blows my mind how much I’ve grown in the last three years. I’ve come to expect happiness in my life, and I will do whatever I need to do to achieve that.
So, with that said, here’s to a new year, and the same old me.
-Phil