This move has been a mess!!
Our home, which I love, has not sold. It is a traditional home on just
over half an acre built in 1995 – but with a remodeled kitchen (I LOVE my
kitchen!!), new bathrooms and an established neighborhood with trees and wooded
lots, great schools – well you get it I love my house. Area builders have
several new developments near our home, small lots, no trees or grass yet, open
floor plans, super close to your neighbor – but same square footage same basic
price. So there are many houses on the market and so far the lookers want new
and no yard over my amazing home, the fools!! The kids and I have had a hard
time with the move – it’s only 10 months; El Paso schools are terrible-and that
is being polite; we like trees, this is
the desert; it takes me a year to stop getting lost I won’t make that hurdle
here; and well we were happy. BUT we love our soldier so we have moved, a
little pouty about it but we are packed and loaded and ready to drive cross
country.
THEN it begins, we left from G-ma’s resort in VA where we
spent just over 2 weeks resting, swimming, and socializing with family. We had
a great time and as always Granma was a super awesome hostess. Since it is
summer and we would be traveling with 2 adults, 2 kids, 2 vehicles, a dog (good
boy) and a very unhappy cat – I was reserving hotels a day in advance. The plan
- to take an easy pace; driving days around 5-8 hours of driving time, remember
to add 1 hour for the huge production that happens during any stop with this
size crowd, so 2 of those a day.
Day one – leave Virginia planning to make Asheville NC. An
easy day so we get off a little late, as we head for gas my phone rings, G-pa
has our dog bed. G-pa and our dog are besties when together they go running
every morning, so he really wanted Hemi (the dog) to have his bed. “Wait for me
at the gas station and I’ll bring you the bed, Hemi has to have his bed.” Ok,
dad. While getting gas my phone rings, it is a friend I haven’t talked to in
over a year, so we are catching up on the hands free and I just drive off
forgetting all about dad, until my phone rings again – OOPS!! So I call
spouse’s car and we pull off and wait (we were about 5 miles down the road),
G-pa delivers Hemi’s bed and we leave VA.
I have driven cross country more times than I can count
taking both I 70 the northern route and I 10 the southern route and I have to
say I am awed every time. Our country is so diverse and huge with amazing sites
and interesting people and towns, it is really worth the adventure to drive it.
BUT I have to say it is a better dive if you don’t have a screaming cat in your
car. Mooshu is a small (12 lbs.) black cat, and he is pretty talkative all the
time, and when you stuff him in a carrier and put him in the van, he likes to
share his opinion about the experience. We have had him in the van for up to
3.5 hours and his voice will hold out that long, so I knew this would last at
least 4 hours, possibly all day, every day until Texas. Knowing something and
living the reality can be very different. I had the dog, cat and youngest girl
in the van with me Monkey is 10 and a pretty happy easy to entertain kid, plus
this van has a video player – so movies for her NPR podcasts for me, it will be
great.
Except I got so used
to the cat screaming that when he stopped I got worried – but Monkey was asleep
– no one to check Mooshu. Then the smell hit me, oh no, I am going to get to
wash a cat after driving all day. Panic!!! So I start playing this out in my
mind, do I wake Monkey up to check the cat? Well, what good would that do? I can’t
wash the cat until we get there, so I let it go. Over the next 30 minutes the
meowing and the smell would come and go with no real pattern – just the anxiety
it caused me. In the end it was something outside that smelled and Moo had not
done anything foul.
We arrived at Asheville, NC in the Smoky Mountains around
5:30 – were settled and in our hotel by 6:00. I wanted to do something – I have
set this trip as an adventure and it was early and I had energy and I Love Asheville
– but most places were closed, so we took a walk on the trails off the Blue
Ridge Parkway. We found a place where there was a short trail and kids,
adults, and dog took a stroll in the woods. It was glorious!! I love the
forest, one of the girls is even named Forest (after a fashion), it started to rain
as we returned to the car – even better, *sigh* perfection. Then we started to
search for a place to have dinner. I had hoped to eat at a restaurant – but what
to do with the dog?? Hubby didn't want him left in a running van, and I was
worried he would bark at the hotel. This discussion took place as we drove
around Asheville. There were hippies everywhere, prompting him to declare
Asheville the Portland (OR) of North Carolina. I laughed so hard, he was right,
and that explains why I love Asheville so much.
(Um, tried to insert a photo, can't figure it out - will continue to try, sorry)
Back at the Days Inn we found
ants, gnats, and our sorta clean room too much to bear, so I went to the front
desk to get our room changed. Thankfully they had another room, so shift
everything upstairs and around a corner. The second room was clean and newly remodeled,
but it had the oldest beds. Discussions ensued about how far to drive on day
two – I will cover that in the next installment. We awoke aching and grumpy, but found an
awesome breakfast to start the second day of adventure.
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