Well, we did it. We trekked our way across the whole United States, from Florida to California, in 5 grueling days. Kevin and I have promised that we will never ever move across country again. It is the most insane thing to do with children and a moving truck towing a car. Looking back I should have paid the $6k to have movers haul the junk out for us. Stupid me trying to save money.
I should have known that things would not run smoothly from the moment we picked up the truck. What idiots we were for thinking all our crap could fit into a 16' truck. Dorks! All my wonderful friends and their lovely spouses came over to help us load up the truck. They were awesome and kept to themselves how disorganzed we were and they never once mentioned that I looked like I was going to just freak out :) I was too much in a shambles to take pics of all of them hauling my stuff like I had planned. You will just have to use your imagination. Ruthee's baby daddy, Chuck, is the packing God. He crammed that truck so tight with stuff. I really could not believe how much he fit in it. I really just want to thank all of my friends for being such a help and supporting me even though you didn't want me to leave.
Well, we set out early on Sunday, July 9th, and we made it to Baton Rouge around 10 or so that night. Monday we made our way into Texas (the state that never ends) and ended the day in Sonora. Nice little town, very isolated though. They had mohair goats in that region, which I of course wanted to steal. Tuesday saw us out of Texas and through New Mexico and into Arizona.
This is the western part of Texas. Very pretty but very hot and desolate.
As we passed Tuscon, AZ and got closer to Phoenix the Sun was setting over the desert and it looked so pretty. This pic does not do it justice.
Everthing was going well as we headed into Phoenix, kids were behaving (Draken watched the portable DVD player the whole way), we were making great time and had already travelled 150 more miles than we had planned that 3rd day. It was late and all we wanted to do was get through Phoenix so we were out of morning traffic and get a hotel. Well, as we got to the outskirts our travelling luck had run out. The tire on our car carrier decided that it was a great time to start shredding itself to pieces. We pull over into an evil Walmart parking lot at 11pm and wait for an hour to get someone to change our tire. It was about 12am central time before we get into a hotel. Next morning we decide that since our next destination of Los Angeles is only 7 hours away that we will sleep in a little. Boy did we pay for that.
The drive out of Arizona the next morning went well. Made it over the California border on Wednsday with no problems. At a gas break Kevin and I decide that instead of getting a hotel outstide of LA we would just stop in and visit with my sis for a few hours then get back on the road for a few more hours so that our last day of driving on Thursday would be nice and short. We were about 60 miles outside of LA (and already in the middle of heavy traffic) when Draken tells us he needs to go the bathroom. Now keep in mind this is the first time in over 2000 miles that this kid has asked to go to the bathroom. I could not freakin believe that he needed to go now in the middle of packed traffic. So of course I let Kevin know and I follow the moving truck off the next exit. As the truck rounds a corner I hear a pop and a hissing sound. The car carrier in front of us has blown another damned tire. We pull into a Taco Bell parking lot and I am out of the car in a flash and shouting expletives at Kevin and the tire. So now we have to wait in the 110 degree weather for another hour to have the tire changed. Our plans have changed again and I have Sara locate a hotel outside of LA for us. We finally get to our hotel around 6:30 pm and we go out to dinner with Sara and her husband Sean. It was a nice evening even if our plans did not turn out as expected.
Next morning, day 5, we set out at 8 am the next morning. We are in the hills (mountains is what they seem like) outside of LA and we are coming out of them around 9 am. But there is this super steep hill you have to go down till you reach the plains around Bakersfield. It is so steep that big Semis have to go like 20 mph. As we were reaching the bottom I see this ramp over to the side that says "Runaway Trucks". It is essential a long ramp up with bumpers at the top so that if a truck goes out of control they ride up it to stop themselves from slamming into any of the cars. I was so freaked out by the time we made it to the bottom. I could not believe we had not been crushed to death. We make it out to the farm plain outside of Bakersfield when I start to notice little puffs of smoke coming from the bck tire of the trucks car carrier. Call Kevin and ask him to pull over so we can check. We pull into a little patch of dirt on a side road. I kick the very back tire and it just sinks in. At this point I just can not believe that this is the third tire on the carrier that has gone. We drive the truck to a little gas station in the middle of nowhere and Kevin calls Penske again about the tire. They are upset that this is the 3rd tire we are calling about (first 2 times it was the front tire on the right side of the carrier, this time it is the back tire on the right side). They send someone out to repair the tire. They take the tire off to fix it but they notice that the tire drum will not turn. The man decided to take it apart thinking maybe he could fix it, this is what he found:
The whole tire drum was completely rusted and locked together. We had to wait 4 hours in the scorching heat of S. California waiting for a new car carrier. Needless to say I wanted to throw myself in front of an oncoming semi truck, but instead I sat in the van, exhausted and pissed. At this point we had given up on making it to Willits that evening and all we wanted was to make it to Santa Rosa by dusk. Next morning we would only have an hour and a half trek to look forward to. By some combination of exhaustion and determination Kevin decided when we made it passed the San Fran/Oakland area that we just needed to push on to Willits that evening. I was far too tired to argue. That night is a total blur, but I know that by the time we were past Santa Rosa and in the hills I was pretty giddy with exhaustion and was staring to loose it. Was joking with my mom about seeing creatures coming out of the darkness. We pulled in to Kevin's sisters house around 10pm pst, and we gratefully crawled into beds that had been lovingly prepared for us.
Well, that is the tale of our long journey. Sure it is not as exciting as the tale of the Donner party coming to California but it felt as excuciating to me. Later I will tell you all about the fun I have been having settling into our new house :)
So, this is my new house. Since we are on the side of a hill (although it seems like a mountain to a flatlander like myself) I was not able to get the best shot ever. Hard to take a straight picture on an incline :) We have a neighbor to the side of us and one behind us but since we are pretty much surrounded by trees you do not even notice. Right across the street it is completely wooded. The nice thing is that it will stay that way since the city will not permit any more building up here due to water restrictions. With all the wooded area up here it is really no suprise that the wildlife around this area is so plentiful. We have a very cute family of quail that come out of the woods across the street for a walk with the kids every evening. It is so neat to see the Mom and Pop quail and their five little ones walking in our yard or along the road. We have tried numerous times to take pictures of them but they seem to be camera shy and they run whenever we bring out the camera.
This is the view out of our front living room window. I put my glider in front of this window so that when I sit and feed Keelin I can look out at this beautiful view. The whole family really enjoys our new enviroment. It is hot here, but without all the humidity we are used to, we are able to go outside and appreciate it. We have a nice back deck and that is usually where we take our meals at night. There is something so peaceful being able to enjoy a meal surrounded by birdsong and fresh air. We still have not made it to any of the many state parks around here, but once we finish settling in we plan to explore a new one every weekend or so.
