24 Diet Cokes, 1 Pack of Orbitz Gum, and Three Tubs of BreathSavers
Pardon me while I catch my breath. We've now been here seven days, and I'm just now having trouble breathing. Very weird feeling to be sitting at a stop light in your car and realize you can't get enough air. Very weird.
Anyway, our trip to Colorado was relatively uneventful. Relatively. We went to pick up our moving truck on Tuesday only to find there was no moving truck. Four hours later, about an hour before our helpers had to leave, we finally had a truck. This put us way behind on loading but we did the best we could. Wednesday, we loaded the rest of the stuff, starting at about 4 a.m., and left finally at 10 a.m. to head west. We stopped in Columbia to say goodbye to some friends, and had a minor cat emergency. The plan was to have Neuroticat ride with Klown in the big truck, and I was to take BabyCat in my car. By the time we reached Columbia, Missouri, Klown had had enough of Neuroticat, so after a quick trip to Walmart to buy a different traveling crate, both Neuroticat and BabyCat were in the car with me and the plants.
Finally, we were making some time. Several tanks of gas, a traffic jam, and almost 11 hours later, we stopped in Hays, Kansas for the night.
I don't know that I've ever been so tired in my life. I wish I could say I'd taken note of the landscape, but I had one eye on the road and one eye on my rear-view mirror to keep an eye on the Perfect Child, who was driving the second car. She's never been in a car so long, and her highway driving experience was limited to mostly Florida.
The second leg of the trip only took about 8 hours, and had us driving through rush hour in downtown Denver in a vicious thunderstorm. It was the scariest bit of driving the Perfect Child had ever done, but she was a champ, and we finally arrived at our new front door as the rain eased up. We unloaded about a third of the truck, enough to get the sleeping bags and our mattress and box springs in, along with some bare essentials of kitchenry, and called it a night.
I really didn't want to be bored by Kansas. And my memories of Kansas must be mixed up with memories of Texas and Oklahoma, because Kansas didn't look anything like a remembered. It is not flat, it is instead full of long, rolling low hills that look the same from one to another. There are no billboards, no settlements around the exits, which are 7 to 10 miles in between. By the time we got out of Kansas and into Colorado, I was ready for something, anything, besides those hills with nothing to look at.
Colorado almost immediately blooms with color and variety. Each exit has something interesting to see. Still, it was another long day and at some point, you just want to be done with it all.
Our house is odd, but livable. It is huge, but laid out strangely. We are slowly but surely making it home. After unloading the truck on Friday, Saturday was devoted to locating all of the second-hand and thrift stores to replace furniture we sold off before we moved. We scored a dryer, bed frame for Tater, night stands, a dresser, a kitchen table and chairs, and a double bed including headboard for the Perfect Child and BabyCat. We discovered the Habitat for Humanity ReStore, which was the best place we went. I intend to visit again! A week later, we have both the girls' and our bedrooms set up completely, as well as the kitchen and dining room, while the living room, garage, and "man cave/guest room" is still a gigantic mess. It will get done, it's just taking a loooooong time.
I started my job on Monday, and so far, it's great. I'm enjoying it immensely, getting to do what I love with people who appreciate me. There is much to learn, but I have a great team to work with, and I will get there. Colorado is beautiful and the mountains make me happy. Hopefully this weekend we can get out and do some sight-seeing.
Anyway, our trip to Colorado was relatively uneventful. Relatively. We went to pick up our moving truck on Tuesday only to find there was no moving truck. Four hours later, about an hour before our helpers had to leave, we finally had a truck. This put us way behind on loading but we did the best we could. Wednesday, we loaded the rest of the stuff, starting at about 4 a.m., and left finally at 10 a.m. to head west. We stopped in Columbia to say goodbye to some friends, and had a minor cat emergency. The plan was to have Neuroticat ride with Klown in the big truck, and I was to take BabyCat in my car. By the time we reached Columbia, Missouri, Klown had had enough of Neuroticat, so after a quick trip to Walmart to buy a different traveling crate, both Neuroticat and BabyCat were in the car with me and the plants.
Finally, we were making some time. Several tanks of gas, a traffic jam, and almost 11 hours later, we stopped in Hays, Kansas for the night.
I don't know that I've ever been so tired in my life. I wish I could say I'd taken note of the landscape, but I had one eye on the road and one eye on my rear-view mirror to keep an eye on the Perfect Child, who was driving the second car. She's never been in a car so long, and her highway driving experience was limited to mostly Florida.
The second leg of the trip only took about 8 hours, and had us driving through rush hour in downtown Denver in a vicious thunderstorm. It was the scariest bit of driving the Perfect Child had ever done, but she was a champ, and we finally arrived at our new front door as the rain eased up. We unloaded about a third of the truck, enough to get the sleeping bags and our mattress and box springs in, along with some bare essentials of kitchenry, and called it a night.
I really didn't want to be bored by Kansas. And my memories of Kansas must be mixed up with memories of Texas and Oklahoma, because Kansas didn't look anything like a remembered. It is not flat, it is instead full of long, rolling low hills that look the same from one to another. There are no billboards, no settlements around the exits, which are 7 to 10 miles in between. By the time we got out of Kansas and into Colorado, I was ready for something, anything, besides those hills with nothing to look at.
Colorado almost immediately blooms with color and variety. Each exit has something interesting to see. Still, it was another long day and at some point, you just want to be done with it all.
Our house is odd, but livable. It is huge, but laid out strangely. We are slowly but surely making it home. After unloading the truck on Friday, Saturday was devoted to locating all of the second-hand and thrift stores to replace furniture we sold off before we moved. We scored a dryer, bed frame for Tater, night stands, a dresser, a kitchen table and chairs, and a double bed including headboard for the Perfect Child and BabyCat. We discovered the Habitat for Humanity ReStore, which was the best place we went. I intend to visit again! A week later, we have both the girls' and our bedrooms set up completely, as well as the kitchen and dining room, while the living room, garage, and "man cave/guest room" is still a gigantic mess. It will get done, it's just taking a loooooong time.
I started my job on Monday, and so far, it's great. I'm enjoying it immensely, getting to do what I love with people who appreciate me. There is much to learn, but I have a great team to work with, and I will get there. Colorado is beautiful and the mountains make me happy. Hopefully this weekend we can get out and do some sight-seeing.