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The Move (part two)
May. 30th, 2006 04:08 pmI have mixed thoughts on writing a long entry about the actual moving part of the move (that part that featured cross-country travel). It's long and strange and probably most interesting to those who were there. I've decided I'm going to write my thoughts without complete explanations to back them up, so that things are recorded but not to the point of overkill.
Day One: Wichita
Woke up and threw the last of our things in the car. Short rit for Asphaltia, to speed our way across the country and keep breakdowns from happening. Soon we were going and gone -- good bye Boulder. We drove through western Kansas and then the kids (Pat and me and Tessa) headed down to Wichita to see some of their relatives. Nicest hotel on the trip, with a particularly awesome bathroom. Not much to say about this day. I drove a lot and Pat drove a good bit. Less than halfway across Kansas we traded the cat from our car to the Uhaul because it was way too hot. We started in CO where it was in the 80s and very dry and headed to Kansas where it was in the 90s and very humid. Our car has no AC. So Kage was not a happy cat, being too hot on top of really nervous and scared (from the noises and vibrations.
Day Two: The Cat
Drove from Wichita up to Kansas City and into Missouri. Arrived at Pat's cousins (?) house to meet up with Pat's mom, who'd gone on the day before with the Uhaul while we headed to Wichita. As soon as we get out of the car we find out that Kage has escaped the back porch where he was staying. At that point he could have been anywhere, because the neighborhood was huge and there were practically no fences in any backyard. I completely broke down, because my cat means the world to me. If you've seen me with him, you know this. So I was a complete mess. Pat and his mom tried to keep it together to run around and find him. It was awful. We had people going door to door trying to find him and stopping cars on the road. Finally, I was standing with Pat on the porch talking about what we were going to do. Suddenly, I heard something -- a meow. I ran outside to see if I could see or hear him. Nothing. I go back into the porch and I can hear it again. Now Pat and I are straining to hear him and Pat's holding the windchimes to make things less noisy. I hear him again, and go out in the backyard to look in the bushes. Then Pat starts yelling "I found him!" The cat had gotten himself inside the couch on the porch and had gone to sleep while we all exploded with worry. Never even left the porch. We took him into the house and Pat and I just sat there and cried and cried. We were so relieved. That night I ate a tiny lasagna. I should start by saying that everyone else was eating a big meat lasagna and I had a tiny dish of veggie lasagna all to myself. We also ate pound cake with Jello poured over it and drank wine and mead and were generally relieved.
Day Three: The Giant Cross
Got a late start the next day. Drove to Columbia Missouri and stopped to see a few more relatives. Then we were back on the road for hours and hours. Probably the most impressive thing we saw was the giant cross: an enormous cross (covered in what appeared to be aluminum siding) put up by the side of the road. It appeared from nowhere as we went around a bend. This was near the border of Illinois and Indiana. We continued on past the cross, into Indiana. Our original intention was to make it all the way to Columbus Ohio that night -- but we were all so tired that there was no way we could make it there. After a dinner at a tension-filled Burger King (there was a shortage of employees apparently) we managed to make it all the way to the border of Indiana and Ohio. We stopped at a crummy Super 8 (most Super 8's seem to be renovated, but this one hadn't quite gotten there yet.
Day Four: Garden State
Early day (5:30am) so that we could try to avoid Memorial day traffic. I drove through Ohio for a while and it was really quite splendid. Rolling hills and mist. The sun hadn't come up yet, but there was light, and it was cool. Really lovely. Then, about halfway through Ohio, my body just gave up and needed to sleep. Pat took over while I tried to stay awake. (See, Pat's a brand new driver, and I'm a nervous person when I'm sitting still in a house, let alone in a car with someone else driving. So I really, really didn't want to go to sleep). Eventually though, I had no choice. I woke up at a rest-stop in an empty car. Apparently, I'd refused to get out of the car, insisting that I had to sleep. The rest of the day was much better. I rode in the Uhaul with Tessa and the cat (the Uhaul had AC) through the first half of Penn. I love those mountains out there, it's really gorgeous. For the last leg of the trip, we decided to split up again, with Pat and I in the car zooming along and Tessa and Pat's mom in the Uhaul. Somehow they still beat us to the finish. Driving through Penn is fun, but at that point all I wanted to do was get out of the car and not drive anymore. It didn't seem like we were making any progress. I did get to see where the PA turnpike goes though -- now I have a good idea of how to get to the only Sonic near the east coast, Lancaster, and the Penn Renn Faire. Brillant. We followed the turnpike all the way to the end of the line and crossed the Bristol bridge to exit 6 of the NJ turnpike. Funny thing was, both my car and the Uhaul collected the same ticket upon entering the pike (with a total charge of $19.75). At the final exit the Uhaul was charged $25 while we were only charged $16.25. Random numbers apparently. Anyway, we got ourselves across the bridge and down to Pat's mom's house in So Jersey without any problems at all. And the whole way we listened to (of course) the Garden State soundtrack. There were a number of times when I started to cry I was so happy.
Award Show Time
Best Hotel: Wichita Holiday Inn Express
Worst Hotel: Super 8 near the Indiana Border
Kansas: Hot and Windy
Missouri: Sorta Boring
Illinois: Nice Cross
Indiana: Road That Looked Like 287 North, Best Skyline (Indianapolis)
Ohio: Misty Elegant Driving
Penn: The Kind of Mountains I Can Relate To
NJ: Garden Garden State
Best Mixed CD for Cruising Through Kansas: Amber
Best Mixed CD for Mornings in Ohio: PJ
Best Mixed CD for the Penn Mountains: Cody
Best Pics of the Whole Damn Thing: Here!
NEXT TIME
Part Three: Moving In
Day One: Wichita
Woke up and threw the last of our things in the car. Short rit for Asphaltia, to speed our way across the country and keep breakdowns from happening. Soon we were going and gone -- good bye Boulder. We drove through western Kansas and then the kids (Pat and me and Tessa) headed down to Wichita to see some of their relatives. Nicest hotel on the trip, with a particularly awesome bathroom. Not much to say about this day. I drove a lot and Pat drove a good bit. Less than halfway across Kansas we traded the cat from our car to the Uhaul because it was way too hot. We started in CO where it was in the 80s and very dry and headed to Kansas where it was in the 90s and very humid. Our car has no AC. So Kage was not a happy cat, being too hot on top of really nervous and scared (from the noises and vibrations.
Day Two: The Cat
Drove from Wichita up to Kansas City and into Missouri. Arrived at Pat's cousins (?) house to meet up with Pat's mom, who'd gone on the day before with the Uhaul while we headed to Wichita. As soon as we get out of the car we find out that Kage has escaped the back porch where he was staying. At that point he could have been anywhere, because the neighborhood was huge and there were practically no fences in any backyard. I completely broke down, because my cat means the world to me. If you've seen me with him, you know this. So I was a complete mess. Pat and his mom tried to keep it together to run around and find him. It was awful. We had people going door to door trying to find him and stopping cars on the road. Finally, I was standing with Pat on the porch talking about what we were going to do. Suddenly, I heard something -- a meow. I ran outside to see if I could see or hear him. Nothing. I go back into the porch and I can hear it again. Now Pat and I are straining to hear him and Pat's holding the windchimes to make things less noisy. I hear him again, and go out in the backyard to look in the bushes. Then Pat starts yelling "I found him!" The cat had gotten himself inside the couch on the porch and had gone to sleep while we all exploded with worry. Never even left the porch. We took him into the house and Pat and I just sat there and cried and cried. We were so relieved. That night I ate a tiny lasagna. I should start by saying that everyone else was eating a big meat lasagna and I had a tiny dish of veggie lasagna all to myself. We also ate pound cake with Jello poured over it and drank wine and mead and were generally relieved.
Day Three: The Giant Cross
Got a late start the next day. Drove to Columbia Missouri and stopped to see a few more relatives. Then we were back on the road for hours and hours. Probably the most impressive thing we saw was the giant cross: an enormous cross (covered in what appeared to be aluminum siding) put up by the side of the road. It appeared from nowhere as we went around a bend. This was near the border of Illinois and Indiana. We continued on past the cross, into Indiana. Our original intention was to make it all the way to Columbus Ohio that night -- but we were all so tired that there was no way we could make it there. After a dinner at a tension-filled Burger King (there was a shortage of employees apparently) we managed to make it all the way to the border of Indiana and Ohio. We stopped at a crummy Super 8 (most Super 8's seem to be renovated, but this one hadn't quite gotten there yet.
Day Four: Garden State
Early day (5:30am) so that we could try to avoid Memorial day traffic. I drove through Ohio for a while and it was really quite splendid. Rolling hills and mist. The sun hadn't come up yet, but there was light, and it was cool. Really lovely. Then, about halfway through Ohio, my body just gave up and needed to sleep. Pat took over while I tried to stay awake. (See, Pat's a brand new driver, and I'm a nervous person when I'm sitting still in a house, let alone in a car with someone else driving. So I really, really didn't want to go to sleep). Eventually though, I had no choice. I woke up at a rest-stop in an empty car. Apparently, I'd refused to get out of the car, insisting that I had to sleep. The rest of the day was much better. I rode in the Uhaul with Tessa and the cat (the Uhaul had AC) through the first half of Penn. I love those mountains out there, it's really gorgeous. For the last leg of the trip, we decided to split up again, with Pat and I in the car zooming along and Tessa and Pat's mom in the Uhaul. Somehow they still beat us to the finish. Driving through Penn is fun, but at that point all I wanted to do was get out of the car and not drive anymore. It didn't seem like we were making any progress. I did get to see where the PA turnpike goes though -- now I have a good idea of how to get to the only Sonic near the east coast, Lancaster, and the Penn Renn Faire. Brillant. We followed the turnpike all the way to the end of the line and crossed the Bristol bridge to exit 6 of the NJ turnpike. Funny thing was, both my car and the Uhaul collected the same ticket upon entering the pike (with a total charge of $19.75). At the final exit the Uhaul was charged $25 while we were only charged $16.25. Random numbers apparently. Anyway, we got ourselves across the bridge and down to Pat's mom's house in So Jersey without any problems at all. And the whole way we listened to (of course) the Garden State soundtrack. There were a number of times when I started to cry I was so happy.
Award Show Time
Best Hotel: Wichita Holiday Inn Express
Worst Hotel: Super 8 near the Indiana Border
Kansas: Hot and Windy
Missouri: Sorta Boring
Illinois: Nice Cross
Indiana: Road That Looked Like 287 North, Best Skyline (Indianapolis)
Ohio: Misty Elegant Driving
Penn: The Kind of Mountains I Can Relate To
NJ: Garden Garden State
Best Mixed CD for Cruising Through Kansas: Amber
Best Mixed CD for Mornings in Ohio: PJ
Best Mixed CD for the Penn Mountains: Cody
Best Pics of the Whole Damn Thing: Here!
NEXT TIME
Part Three: Moving In
