The journey from there to here...
I haven't said much about it, haven't posted it anywhere, really...but, I've moved to Kansas. The kids are with mom in Seattle still, until the end of the school year. The trip down had been delayed a week or so for various reasons, but I'm finally here.
We left Seattle Sunday morning. We stopped by Freddie's for coffee and last minute supplies. The route that gps had planned for us took us on I90 through Washington and Montana and parts of South Dakota before turning us southward. The first part of the trip was pretty uneventful. The car towed the trailer just fine. It snowed in the passes, but the roads were fairly clear with some spots of slippery stuff. On our way out of Snoqualmie pass, we did end up in a snow bank. No injuries to people or vehicles. But, there was no traction to get us out of the spot we were in, so we had to call AAA to come tow us out. Another delay for an hour or so, but doable and not as bad as it could have been.
Late Sunday night, we arrived in Montana. We stopped in Missoula to visit a friend and ended up sitting at IHOP for several hours. It was fun though and D needed the break from driving. Early Monday morning, we left Missoula and headed east to Butte. Along the way, we discovered that the trailer lights weren't working. It was a little stressful driving, for me, because I kept thinking the big trucks wouldn't see me in time. Fortunately, it wasn't true - they all saw and passed on the left with no issue. Not to mention that for a big chunk of the trip, there weren't many on the roads at all.
Monday mid-morning, we arrived in Butte. The car was having issues, stuttering when it revved up over 3000 rpm and not really gaining speed. We stopped by an auto shop store, then by an auto repair place. Spent way too much money, but the car is fixed. We needed one tire, a windshield wiper, a new airflow system thing and a new O2 sensor. Yikes!!! I learned that if the O2 sensor is off, and the airflow system isn't working right, it floods half the engine. With that fixed, we did get much better gas mileage. While we were in the repair place, a guy came in with a dog. I have a couple pictures that I'll post later...but he's a pit bull mix. Very good dog, very pretty. He sits, shakes, rides in the car well...very, very friendly. He was saying hi to everyone. The guy said the dog (which he called "CJ" for short, calling him by his own name with "junior" tacked on) had been following him around for a couple hours, but it wasn't his. So, we made room in the car for him and stopped by a grocery store to pick up some food, containers, water and a toy.
CJ was very, very good. Loveable dog, young. He got in and out of the car without issues, slept for the most part when we were traveling. He was good about letting us know when he needed us to stop. He'd even stretch when we stopped for gas and let him out and told him "stretch it out boy..". Someone put time into this dog - all the training, he was in good health and he's fixed. Unfortunately, Kansas City Kansas isn't pit friendly - and since the place we had lined up isn't ready yet, we couldn't keep him. We did find a no kill shelter for him though - and if he's still adoptable when we're set up, we'll adopt him officially. We can own him legally, he just has to be indoors for the most part - which he seems okay with. When we take him out, we have to have him muzzled - so, I guess if we get him back, we'll be purchasing a muzzle for him.
On our way out of Butte, we had the trailer hooked up again and stuff - and it blew out a few fuses. D found the connection wires were frayed. So, we couldn't even hook up the electrical. There's NO U-haul between Butte (I don't think there was one in Butte either, come to think of it) and Leavenworth KS. None. I was surprised by that.
The rest of the trip was relatively uneventful. We drove all Monday night, stopping only for bathrooms. I drove through a good chunk of Montana, most of Wyoming (into Gillette, where D took over again for awhile) and I think some of South Dakota. We arrived in Kansas City, Kansas Tuesday evening. We found a place to stay for the night, snuck the dog in. It was a small place, really...but, doable. And it had a shower - which felt *so* good.
Yesterday, we went to the mobile home place that we were supposed to have a place at. It isn't ready. There won't be one ready for at least a couple weeks. We did look around the place a little bit, I'm not sure I'm really enthused about it...but, if it's what we can do, it's what we can do for a bit. So, now, we have an extended stay motel for a week. We've spent the day looking for jobs and applying to anywhere we could. I'll be doing that again soon. Yesterday was spent putting stuff in storage - thank god for Uhaul giving us a free month. We've returned the trailer. We spent a good part of the afternoon looking for a place to take CJ - and at the vet's office while they looked for a microchip and helped us with where to take CJ. I know where I'm adopting and taking my pet to now - they were very good. They even called the numbers in the microchip - both of which were disconnected. That would explain though, why CJ always wanted to be close to both of us.
D just got his cousin from the airport and is bringing him back. Hopefully, between the three of us, it won't take us long to be able to get set up.
Oh - side note...coming out of Missoula, it was about 4 am or so. The sky was light, but not too light. The mountains were covered in snow, but you could see the dark patches where trees and rock showed through. It was beautiful! The contrast was breath-taking. I wish I were a better photographer, cause that would have been a picture well worth taking. Unfortunately, I tried and it just came out dark.
I do have some pictures and when I can, I'll post them. They aren't anything spectacular - most just snap shots along the way, but nothing too touristy, since we didn't really stop.
We left Seattle Sunday morning. We stopped by Freddie's for coffee and last minute supplies. The route that gps had planned for us took us on I90 through Washington and Montana and parts of South Dakota before turning us southward. The first part of the trip was pretty uneventful. The car towed the trailer just fine. It snowed in the passes, but the roads were fairly clear with some spots of slippery stuff. On our way out of Snoqualmie pass, we did end up in a snow bank. No injuries to people or vehicles. But, there was no traction to get us out of the spot we were in, so we had to call AAA to come tow us out. Another delay for an hour or so, but doable and not as bad as it could have been.
Late Sunday night, we arrived in Montana. We stopped in Missoula to visit a friend and ended up sitting at IHOP for several hours. It was fun though and D needed the break from driving. Early Monday morning, we left Missoula and headed east to Butte. Along the way, we discovered that the trailer lights weren't working. It was a little stressful driving, for me, because I kept thinking the big trucks wouldn't see me in time. Fortunately, it wasn't true - they all saw and passed on the left with no issue. Not to mention that for a big chunk of the trip, there weren't many on the roads at all.
Monday mid-morning, we arrived in Butte. The car was having issues, stuttering when it revved up over 3000 rpm and not really gaining speed. We stopped by an auto shop store, then by an auto repair place. Spent way too much money, but the car is fixed. We needed one tire, a windshield wiper, a new airflow system thing and a new O2 sensor. Yikes!!! I learned that if the O2 sensor is off, and the airflow system isn't working right, it floods half the engine. With that fixed, we did get much better gas mileage. While we were in the repair place, a guy came in with a dog. I have a couple pictures that I'll post later...but he's a pit bull mix. Very good dog, very pretty. He sits, shakes, rides in the car well...very, very friendly. He was saying hi to everyone. The guy said the dog (which he called "CJ" for short, calling him by his own name with "junior" tacked on) had been following him around for a couple hours, but it wasn't his. So, we made room in the car for him and stopped by a grocery store to pick up some food, containers, water and a toy.
CJ was very, very good. Loveable dog, young. He got in and out of the car without issues, slept for the most part when we were traveling. He was good about letting us know when he needed us to stop. He'd even stretch when we stopped for gas and let him out and told him "stretch it out boy..". Someone put time into this dog - all the training, he was in good health and he's fixed. Unfortunately, Kansas City Kansas isn't pit friendly - and since the place we had lined up isn't ready yet, we couldn't keep him. We did find a no kill shelter for him though - and if he's still adoptable when we're set up, we'll adopt him officially. We can own him legally, he just has to be indoors for the most part - which he seems okay with. When we take him out, we have to have him muzzled - so, I guess if we get him back, we'll be purchasing a muzzle for him.
On our way out of Butte, we had the trailer hooked up again and stuff - and it blew out a few fuses. D found the connection wires were frayed. So, we couldn't even hook up the electrical. There's NO U-haul between Butte (I don't think there was one in Butte either, come to think of it) and Leavenworth KS. None. I was surprised by that.
The rest of the trip was relatively uneventful. We drove all Monday night, stopping only for bathrooms. I drove through a good chunk of Montana, most of Wyoming (into Gillette, where D took over again for awhile) and I think some of South Dakota. We arrived in Kansas City, Kansas Tuesday evening. We found a place to stay for the night, snuck the dog in. It was a small place, really...but, doable. And it had a shower - which felt *so* good.
Yesterday, we went to the mobile home place that we were supposed to have a place at. It isn't ready. There won't be one ready for at least a couple weeks. We did look around the place a little bit, I'm not sure I'm really enthused about it...but, if it's what we can do, it's what we can do for a bit. So, now, we have an extended stay motel for a week. We've spent the day looking for jobs and applying to anywhere we could. I'll be doing that again soon. Yesterday was spent putting stuff in storage - thank god for Uhaul giving us a free month. We've returned the trailer. We spent a good part of the afternoon looking for a place to take CJ - and at the vet's office while they looked for a microchip and helped us with where to take CJ. I know where I'm adopting and taking my pet to now - they were very good. They even called the numbers in the microchip - both of which were disconnected. That would explain though, why CJ always wanted to be close to both of us.
D just got his cousin from the airport and is bringing him back. Hopefully, between the three of us, it won't take us long to be able to get set up.
Oh - side note...coming out of Missoula, it was about 4 am or so. The sky was light, but not too light. The mountains were covered in snow, but you could see the dark patches where trees and rock showed through. It was beautiful! The contrast was breath-taking. I wish I were a better photographer, cause that would have been a picture well worth taking. Unfortunately, I tried and it just came out dark.
I do have some pictures and when I can, I'll post them. They aren't anything spectacular - most just snap shots along the way, but nothing too touristy, since we didn't really stop.