What a week it's been!
*Note to my LiveJournal friends: Some of you may not be aware of what's been going on in my life as of late. Well, Randy and I have moved to Las Vegas; of course there were months of preparation that built up to the final act. So that's why I've been inactive on LJ for quite some time. I'm much more active on Facebook, and if you're interested in friending me there, send me a note (you may be able to locate me via my "homefryes" handle).
It's hard to believe that it was only one week ago today that we began our journey from Chicago to Las Vegas. I did a great job of jotting fun little notes down during our trip, but for some reason I can only find days 1 and 3. I'll have to do my best to fill in the blanks. First I'll back up to the day before we left.
16 March
First thing, I dropped Randy off at U-Haul to get the moving truck and the car trailer (to tow his Hummer). The movers arrived at 10 a.m. to begin loading the truck. It was really difficult trying to have things organized enough in that small apartment for the movers to be able to have room to maneuver; we had to keep shifting things around to accommodate. It became apparent about 90 minutes into loading that the 17' U-Haul was not going to be big enough to handle all of our stuff. We decided then we would need an additional 6' x 12' trailer that I would tow with my truck. We ended up keeping the movers for an additional hour (four total hours), and at 2 p.m., we STILL had more stuff we had to move on our own; that's when we learned that the movers did a horrible job of loading the truck. There was a lot of space left underutilized! Randy had to climb in and around stuff to try to throw stuff like couch cushions and pillows in the open areas. The cleaners arrived at 3:30 and we STILL had stuff to move out; we continued with our shuffling of stuff in the apartment to give them room to work, and managed to get it all out into the hallway in time to allow them to finish. It was 6 p.m. when we were finally done -- including loading the hummer on the trailer -- and we headed to a local hotel for the night. We finished off the day with dinner at Culvers, since there are none here in Las Vegas.
17 March
After dropping the keys off at the apartment rental office, we hit the road. We took the northern route, taking us across Illinois via I-88 and I-80 across Iowa and into Nebraska, where we spent the night in Grand Island. This was my first time ever driving in Iowa, and this video pretty much sums it up; I didn't see any actual corn this time of year, but did see the corn fields. I had always been under the impression that Iowa was flat; it's definitely not flat -- not mountainous of course -- but rolling hills as far as the eye can see. It's quite nice, albeit not "exciting" by any stretch of the imagination. We saw three wind farms, one in Illinois and two in Iowa. Neither of us can understand how some people find them an eyesore; we both found them to be rather interesting to look at. The structures gently rotating in the light winds that day were simply magnificent to watch, in our opinion. Nebraska, on the other hand, is flat-as-a-pancake flat (at least along I-80)! The highway also follows a constant incline from east-to-west; I was applying an almost constant pressure on the accelerator to maintain my speed. (I obviously couldn't use my cruise control while towing, which was frustrating for me, since I'm a "cruise control driver"!) We got a little later start that morning than we had wanted; we arrived at our destination around 9:30 p.m.
18 March
We departed Grand Island around 9 a.m. and continued our uphill drive to the I-76 junction, which we took into Colorado to Denver. That drive through northeastern Colorado is anything but interesting, and not terribly attractive (IMO) -- and quite smelly at times! We encountered some steeper hills along this route. About 60 mi. outside of Denver, we caught our first view of the Rockies. It was a little hazy, but still quite a sight. It was approaching rush hour as we entered the metro area and picked up I-70. Then came the ascent into the Rockies themselves; interesting to say the least. As we were heading up the very steep incline, the check engine light came on in the U-Haul. Since Randy wasn't experiencing any real problems, we continued on. I wished I could have enjoyed more of the view through the Rockies, but I had to concern myself with maintaining my speed both up and down the steep hills. My truck seemed to do well for the most part, though I was worried I might be giving my brakes a thorough workout (I did descend in lowered gears most of the time). A rockslide had closed part of the interstate about a week prior to our trip; it was reopened, however quite rough going through that patch of road. We stopped in Vail for gas -- it's a beautiful resort town, by the way -- and that's when MY truck's check engine light decided to come on. We thought we might have gotten some bad gas back in Nebraska or earlier in Colorado. Since the U-Haul was going through gas quicker than my truck, we thought maybe that's why his light came on sooner than mine. I did have OnStar do a diagnostics check, and they assured me that I should be fine for the remainder of my trip. It's not uncommon for a vehicle's oxygen sensor to malfunction due to the high altitudes. I was still a bit concerned about my truck, however, because it seemed to be running rough. But we continued on that night to Grand Junction to spend the night.
19 March
Our final day, we started out around 9 a.m. again; filled up before hitting the highway; and continued on to Utah. We encountered a few light snow showers during the morning, but were very fortunate that we didn't encounter any major snow storms like what was occurring outside Denver (where we were the previous day). We learned on the morning new (before we left the hotel) that a jackknifed truck on I-70 west out of Denver had closed the highway for about 2 hours that morning! Though very desolate (like northeastern Colorado), the parts of Utah we traveled through were really very pretty. We still had quite a few steep inclines to traverse, and we managed pretty well. We made a pit stop in Green River and didn't feel we needed to fill up the trucks; we continued on. Shortly thereafter was the sign indicating that there were no services on our route for the next 106 miles -- and then came a series of steep hills. When we arrived at the first exit with services, Randy informed me his truck was close to empty! So we filled up and continued on to the end of I-70 at I-15. We stopped in St. George before exiting Utah and heading through the northwest corner of Arizona and through the Virgin River Gorge. I don't know what else to say about the Gorge other than "breathtaking". You have to see it to appreciate it. Once you exit the other side, you're just about into Nevada; the land levels out but the river continues. We were then about an hour or so outside Las Vegas -- and it seemed like the longest hour of our trip! We hit Las Vegas during rush hour (again), though it wasn't too bad, and arrived at our home around 5:30 p.m. Randy's younger son Adam came to help us unload, and we had it mostly knocked out by about 9 p.m.! (Unloading is SO much quicker than loading!)
20 March
We had a few items left in the bed of my truck that we got out Saturday morning (BBQ grill and other miscellaneous items). We searched and searched for three bags of screws and other fasteners for the furniture, but couldn't seem to locate them! Other than unpacked other things and turned the rental equipment in at around 4:30 that afternoon.
21 March
This is when the fun really began. Randy got up after I did; went to the bathroom and joined me for a few minutes by the pool. When he went back to the bedroom, he found that the toilet had overflowed, putting about 2" of water in the bathroom that was flowing out to the bedroom carpet and into the other bathroom! Strangely, this water was clean. We tried to determine what might have caused it, and noted that when we forced the float down in the tank, the overflowing water was filling the bowl, but wasn't draining out of the bowl. The water should, at some point, begin to drain. In any case, we threw the wet towels into the washer after cleaning up all the water, and continued on our day. Later, Randy found that the shower and tub had sludge back-up in them! We continued cautiously where the plumbing was concerned until the next day. Meanwhile I had finally located the bags of fasteners, so we were able to begin putting our furniture back together.
22 March
We continued to experience drainage issues, particularly when we both had showered one after the other. We decided to call the homebuyers' warranty number, and they put a plumber in contact with us. Meanwhile I took my truck to the dealership for service. The plumber came out and tried snaking the line outside, but was unable to get anywhere. He suspected the line was probably collapsed. He would begin digging the next morning.
23 March
The plumber and his helper arrived around 8:00 a.m.; long story short, $4000 later, we have a new drain line from the cleanout (where our internal pipes drain into the external pipe) to near the sidewalk! Oh, the joys of homeownership! Before the new line was installed, the remaining line (from where they stopped to the street) appeared to be draining properly. So far, everything seems to be working fine.
One other ongoing item to mention is that the pollen here at this time of year is HORRENDOUS! Our insurance agent (she came by to introduce herself) was explaining to me that this is a normal occurrence, and as a result, certain trees (mulberry, some olive, etc.) are now banned here (you can no longer buy them). Along our back wall (all along this side of the street), we have mountain pines that are currently putting a bunch of pollen out too. I'm reminded of being in South Carolina in the springtime when the edges of the sidewalks would be lined with piles of yellow pollen. We had the house wide open on Monday (because it was a beautiful day); yesterday I noticed that the top of the refrigerator has a yellowish dusty tinge to it! Unfortunately it's all bothering my sinuses terribly; I haven't experienced allergies like this in many years! Sudafed doesn't seem to be doing much for me, so I guess I'll have to find something stronger. I still don't have my truck back; the front brakes were to be relined yesterday and all the rotors ground. I'm still waiting on word on the "check engine" issue.
So ... now that the front yard is put back together, the satellite TV has been installed (Tuesday), our Internet connected this morning, and everything else appears to be working properly, we can finally go do some needed shopping!
Don
It's hard to believe that it was only one week ago today that we began our journey from Chicago to Las Vegas. I did a great job of jotting fun little notes down during our trip, but for some reason I can only find days 1 and 3. I'll have to do my best to fill in the blanks. First I'll back up to the day before we left.
16 March
First thing, I dropped Randy off at U-Haul to get the moving truck and the car trailer (to tow his Hummer). The movers arrived at 10 a.m. to begin loading the truck. It was really difficult trying to have things organized enough in that small apartment for the movers to be able to have room to maneuver; we had to keep shifting things around to accommodate. It became apparent about 90 minutes into loading that the 17' U-Haul was not going to be big enough to handle all of our stuff. We decided then we would need an additional 6' x 12' trailer that I would tow with my truck. We ended up keeping the movers for an additional hour (four total hours), and at 2 p.m., we STILL had more stuff we had to move on our own; that's when we learned that the movers did a horrible job of loading the truck. There was a lot of space left underutilized! Randy had to climb in and around stuff to try to throw stuff like couch cushions and pillows in the open areas. The cleaners arrived at 3:30 and we STILL had stuff to move out; we continued with our shuffling of stuff in the apartment to give them room to work, and managed to get it all out into the hallway in time to allow them to finish. It was 6 p.m. when we were finally done -- including loading the hummer on the trailer -- and we headed to a local hotel for the night. We finished off the day with dinner at Culvers, since there are none here in Las Vegas.
17 March
After dropping the keys off at the apartment rental office, we hit the road. We took the northern route, taking us across Illinois via I-88 and I-80 across Iowa and into Nebraska, where we spent the night in Grand Island. This was my first time ever driving in Iowa, and this video pretty much sums it up; I didn't see any actual corn this time of year, but did see the corn fields. I had always been under the impression that Iowa was flat; it's definitely not flat -- not mountainous of course -- but rolling hills as far as the eye can see. It's quite nice, albeit not "exciting" by any stretch of the imagination. We saw three wind farms, one in Illinois and two in Iowa. Neither of us can understand how some people find them an eyesore; we both found them to be rather interesting to look at. The structures gently rotating in the light winds that day were simply magnificent to watch, in our opinion. Nebraska, on the other hand, is flat-as-a-pancake flat (at least along I-80)! The highway also follows a constant incline from east-to-west; I was applying an almost constant pressure on the accelerator to maintain my speed. (I obviously couldn't use my cruise control while towing, which was frustrating for me, since I'm a "cruise control driver"!) We got a little later start that morning than we had wanted; we arrived at our destination around 9:30 p.m.
18 March
We departed Grand Island around 9 a.m. and continued our uphill drive to the I-76 junction, which we took into Colorado to Denver. That drive through northeastern Colorado is anything but interesting, and not terribly attractive (IMO) -- and quite smelly at times! We encountered some steeper hills along this route. About 60 mi. outside of Denver, we caught our first view of the Rockies. It was a little hazy, but still quite a sight. It was approaching rush hour as we entered the metro area and picked up I-70. Then came the ascent into the Rockies themselves; interesting to say the least. As we were heading up the very steep incline, the check engine light came on in the U-Haul. Since Randy wasn't experiencing any real problems, we continued on. I wished I could have enjoyed more of the view through the Rockies, but I had to concern myself with maintaining my speed both up and down the steep hills. My truck seemed to do well for the most part, though I was worried I might be giving my brakes a thorough workout (I did descend in lowered gears most of the time). A rockslide had closed part of the interstate about a week prior to our trip; it was reopened, however quite rough going through that patch of road. We stopped in Vail for gas -- it's a beautiful resort town, by the way -- and that's when MY truck's check engine light decided to come on. We thought we might have gotten some bad gas back in Nebraska or earlier in Colorado. Since the U-Haul was going through gas quicker than my truck, we thought maybe that's why his light came on sooner than mine. I did have OnStar do a diagnostics check, and they assured me that I should be fine for the remainder of my trip. It's not uncommon for a vehicle's oxygen sensor to malfunction due to the high altitudes. I was still a bit concerned about my truck, however, because it seemed to be running rough. But we continued on that night to Grand Junction to spend the night.
19 March
Our final day, we started out around 9 a.m. again; filled up before hitting the highway; and continued on to Utah. We encountered a few light snow showers during the morning, but were very fortunate that we didn't encounter any major snow storms like what was occurring outside Denver (where we were the previous day). We learned on the morning new (before we left the hotel) that a jackknifed truck on I-70 west out of Denver had closed the highway for about 2 hours that morning! Though very desolate (like northeastern Colorado), the parts of Utah we traveled through were really very pretty. We still had quite a few steep inclines to traverse, and we managed pretty well. We made a pit stop in Green River and didn't feel we needed to fill up the trucks; we continued on. Shortly thereafter was the sign indicating that there were no services on our route for the next 106 miles -- and then came a series of steep hills. When we arrived at the first exit with services, Randy informed me his truck was close to empty! So we filled up and continued on to the end of I-70 at I-15. We stopped in St. George before exiting Utah and heading through the northwest corner of Arizona and through the Virgin River Gorge. I don't know what else to say about the Gorge other than "breathtaking". You have to see it to appreciate it. Once you exit the other side, you're just about into Nevada; the land levels out but the river continues. We were then about an hour or so outside Las Vegas -- and it seemed like the longest hour of our trip! We hit Las Vegas during rush hour (again), though it wasn't too bad, and arrived at our home around 5:30 p.m. Randy's younger son Adam came to help us unload, and we had it mostly knocked out by about 9 p.m.! (Unloading is SO much quicker than loading!)
20 March
We had a few items left in the bed of my truck that we got out Saturday morning (BBQ grill and other miscellaneous items). We searched and searched for three bags of screws and other fasteners for the furniture, but couldn't seem to locate them! Other than unpacked other things and turned the rental equipment in at around 4:30 that afternoon.
21 March
This is when the fun really began. Randy got up after I did; went to the bathroom and joined me for a few minutes by the pool. When he went back to the bedroom, he found that the toilet had overflowed, putting about 2" of water in the bathroom that was flowing out to the bedroom carpet and into the other bathroom! Strangely, this water was clean. We tried to determine what might have caused it, and noted that when we forced the float down in the tank, the overflowing water was filling the bowl, but wasn't draining out of the bowl. The water should, at some point, begin to drain. In any case, we threw the wet towels into the washer after cleaning up all the water, and continued on our day. Later, Randy found that the shower and tub had sludge back-up in them! We continued cautiously where the plumbing was concerned until the next day. Meanwhile I had finally located the bags of fasteners, so we were able to begin putting our furniture back together.
22 March
We continued to experience drainage issues, particularly when we both had showered one after the other. We decided to call the homebuyers' warranty number, and they put a plumber in contact with us. Meanwhile I took my truck to the dealership for service. The plumber came out and tried snaking the line outside, but was unable to get anywhere. He suspected the line was probably collapsed. He would begin digging the next morning.
23 March
The plumber and his helper arrived around 8:00 a.m.; long story short, $4000 later, we have a new drain line from the cleanout (where our internal pipes drain into the external pipe) to near the sidewalk! Oh, the joys of homeownership! Before the new line was installed, the remaining line (from where they stopped to the street) appeared to be draining properly. So far, everything seems to be working fine.
One other ongoing item to mention is that the pollen here at this time of year is HORRENDOUS! Our insurance agent (she came by to introduce herself) was explaining to me that this is a normal occurrence, and as a result, certain trees (mulberry, some olive, etc.) are now banned here (you can no longer buy them). Along our back wall (all along this side of the street), we have mountain pines that are currently putting a bunch of pollen out too. I'm reminded of being in South Carolina in the springtime when the edges of the sidewalks would be lined with piles of yellow pollen. We had the house wide open on Monday (because it was a beautiful day); yesterday I noticed that the top of the refrigerator has a yellowish dusty tinge to it! Unfortunately it's all bothering my sinuses terribly; I haven't experienced allergies like this in many years! Sudafed doesn't seem to be doing much for me, so I guess I'll have to find something stronger. I still don't have my truck back; the front brakes were to be relined yesterday and all the rotors ground. I'm still waiting on word on the "check engine" issue.
So ... now that the front yard is put back together, the satellite TV has been installed (Tuesday), our Internet connected this morning, and everything else appears to be working properly, we can finally go do some needed shopping!
Don