saturday's long drive

Wow! What an intense, crazy past three days. At last, all of our stuff is packed and on the truck (with the exception of a few stray items that we missed). Seeing the truck pull away was really difficult for me. Then it was the good byes to the neighbors. Lots of hugs and tears.

This morning was getting the "last few items" into Kevin's car. Funny how you think your vehicle is bigger than it actually IS, so in went a few more items to either (a) be packed and sent, or (b) just left behind.

Then it was time to load up our car with the cats....the cages we had already determined we were going to use didn't fit due to the fact we had to lay our sleeping bags on the floor of the car. That extra bulk made everything too tight, so we had to reconfigure. (Which worked out better in the long run, but I will elaborate on that in a minute). Henry, Sadie, George and Spatz all went together in one and seemed excited about the trip ahead of them. Ernie, Lizzie and Gracie Moon on the other hand, were TERRIFIED. Thomas was Thomas and just mad he couldn't go outside.

Now it is time to leave our driveway. I knew it would be difficult, but really wasn't prepared for the total melt down I had. Leaving Bryan and leaving our home is probably the hardest thing I have done.

The drive today was long and HOT. Thomas suffered a bit of a heat stroke in Tehachapi, so a stop to McDonald's for vanilla ice cream and ice was in order. We got him cooled off and put him into the cage with Henry, where it was a bit cooler, and he was okay. Later in Needles, Ernie was having the same problem. It was there that we threw away the one cage to make more room in the truck for air to circulate (Sorry Cheryl).

California is truly a diverse state, and it was nice seeing all the different terrain, but with all the set backs this morning we didn't get started until 9 and it was 9:30 when we pulled into Kingman, AZ. Our goal was to hit Flagstaff, but we were all tired and we wanted to get the cats out!

Tomorrow should only be a 8-9 hour drive, not so bad. While this is all so sad and surreal, I can't look back and will try to make this a "fun" adventure.

Time for sleep...

Heavy Duty Day. And it ain't over yet.

First, the video of the day for your personal libation:



I have to give kudos to Susan, the most amazing woman I know, for all that packing. I ended up working most of the week, so it was work with clients and pack during the rest of the time. I guess we'll sleep when we're dead!

The loaders we hired to help were very good, and Doug packed while we hefted boxes, furniture, and the countless odds and ends. Did we get everything on the truck? Of course not. We already have a box for Bryan to send out to us next week. Go figure.

Tomorrow morning we leave as early as possible for Flagstaff, Arizona. It's the longest leg of our drive, between 12 and 14 hours, and will get us well on the way.

More to come!

11th Hour Tornado

Well, the good news is that the trailer is nearly packed. We had a little assistance from a professional loader, and he did an excellent job. We busted a hump and got it done.

And yet... we have a house full of miscellanea and items like beds that still have to be packed. Have a look:



We have about 10 hours and are pretty darned tired.But we'll get through the day, collapse tonight, and arise in the morning, bound for Flagstaff AZ. That's a 12-hour drive. Oy!

More to come later today!

Sort of like Day 1, with boxes

It began a few days ago, actually, and I shot a video with my new Android phone (being the geek that I am).

Watch it now... Definitely not Speilberg...