We've arrived! Okay, we arrived three weeks ago but things have been hectic to say the least. We weren't as packed as we thought we were come moving day, and instead of being the responsible tenants we were known and loved for by our apartment manager, I dreaded making that call to her saying we wouldn't be able to clean the apartment before we left. We vacuumed and wiped things down, but being my mother's daughter, that simply wasn't the level of clean I am used to when leaving a house/apartment. Our manager was understanding though, and told me to worry about our move and not the apartment.
We were like a ban of gypsies - the caravan consisted of us, Bill's parents, the Mace's, her parents and the Farabee's. Also in tow was the Farabee's 2-year-old daughter, our dog Jovi, the Mace's dog Scooter, and her parent's dog whose name escapes me at the moment. We struggled to stay on schedule right from the beginning; last minute we realized the route we had chosen to travel was less than ideal as the plains were being inundated with snow, storms, tornados and the like. Once re-routed, and once all the hotels we re-booked, we were on our way via I-80. Things were looking pretty good until we reached Laramie, WY where we ended up being snowed-in for an extra day. I've never had the experience where road workers actually locked the gates on the Interstate due to weather conditions.
It wasn't so much the amount of snow as it was the drifting snow and high winds, which combined made for some pretty wicked white-out conditions. The ice didn't help, either. For the duration of the trip Bill and I traveled in the 28' moving truck while his parent's lead the way (along w/ Jovi) in our truck which was hauling my vehicle. The scariest and most uncertain part of the trip is when in a surreal and scary moment, we watched my vehicle which was being towed begin to fish tail on the car dolly. It was even scarier when we saw that the sway was so forceful it was starting to take the bed of the truck with it. Thankfully Nancy was at the helm and corrected beautifully not only saving themselves, but our vehicles and pet too. The windshield wipers on the moving truck and the windshield itself became so iced over at one point we had to pull over to scrape it off just so we could see. It was at that time a road worker pulled off, yelled at us to get off the road as we were sitting ducks, and to hurry and get our rear-ends into Laramie because they were closing the I-80 right behind us. It took us an hour to drive the last 18 miles into Laramie.
Gratefully we arrived to our hotel rooms and hunkered down for the night. When we checked the weather report and road conditions in the morning, we learned parts of I-80 were still closed and so that, combined with the fact that one of the people traveling with us had been subjected to food poisoning the night before, we decided it best to stay put. We decided to make the most of it though and unloaded my vehicle from the car dolly, took the dolly off the truck and went into Laramie to have breakfast and do a little shopping. It may have been frustrating to lose a day on the road, but the relaxation that came with it wasn't bad at all.
We made it the rest of the way without incident and arrived to our new home. Of course we were greeted with snow/rain/slush as we unloaded the truck into an absolutely freezing home. The delay caused us to miss our appointment with the gas company and so we didn't have heat or hot water until that following Monday. My in-laws decided to stay in a hotel (frankly, I would've done the same) until the heat was back on, and they returned to Missouri the following day.
Since we've been here, we've unpacked maybe 70%. Work has kept us very busy, never mind the need to try and catch up on some sleep. Now in our sights are my impending surgery and the wedding that will follow shortly thereafter. My surgery is a repeat of the last, except this time my doctor will take the larger uterine fibroid that was left last time, in addition to the new fibroid and new endometriosis, which will make for a longer recovery time (one month to be exact). The wedding is scheduled for mid-July. We wouldn't bother with the expense and time that a wedding takes, except we want so badly for friends and family to be apart of it with us. I am also looking forward to wearing the wedding dress, which I am going shopping for tomorrow with my mom and my good friend Lindsey.
As for Bill, he's doing great. OWT right now is cake, and I'm glad it's so. Bill has worked so hard these last several years that he deserves an easier gig for a while. His unit here is going to Texas for a couple of months, but he will remain at Fort Lewis with some other OWT Soldiers. Fort Lewis is gearing up for a large-scale mobilization of Soldiers so come this fall, it'll be a ghost town around here. Bill is eager to share what he knows to get these Soldiers trained and ready to face what lies ahead of them. I can't think of anyone better to teach them either, given his years on the police department, multiple deployments and years in the military.
As for Cole, he has chosen to stay in Kansas with his mom. It's understandable, but we still are sad that we don't have him with us full-time. He will visit during the summer, spring and at Christmas time. We got him a cell phone before we left for easier communication and, while he struggles remembering to actually check it, it's money well spent.
Jovi's enjoying the larger house and the fenced yard. It's taken some adjustment for him in that his mom doesn't work from home anymore and while it's not a full day in his crate, it's still an every day thing for at least a few hours which he's not used to. Gratefully there are so many dog parks in this area, and one we found and just love is only 6 miles from the house. Hoorah! Now we can all keep sane.
We hope everyone is well. Thanks for all the support, phone calls, e-mails, etc. We send all our love, and I'll definitely be keeping up more regularly on the blog.
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