Well, I think we're learning that lesson already, and we're not even on the road yet!
On March 1st, our government started the sequestration, which means that 800,000 people are now furloughed. Steve works as a civilian employee for the Department of Defense, which is one of the departments hardest hit.
As a result, we will have a 20% cut in pay. Steve will be working four days each week instead of five (even though he's still required to get the same amount of work done). He is being mandated to take unpaid leave each week, from now until October 1st.
Since our budget for this trip was calculated based on his full-time pay, we now have to reconsider the budgeting strategy. In short, with a 20% reduction in pay, I'm not sure how we're going to be able to make this trip work. I don't know if we'll be able to save enough money by this coming fall in order to hit the road. Things were already tight in our budget because we were scrimping and saving for this trip. Now, I'm not sure how we're going to make it work.
So there it is. We're still going to push forward, but I just don't know how to make it work. (I know, I've said that a dozen times already, but it's true!) I feel sorta shell-shocked, kinda like a deer in the headlights. I don't know which way to run.
Thank you, Washington, D.C.!
