Man, I thought we'd never get here. The drive took us over 22 hours. The cab of our moving van was a very small space for two people and a dog who sheds a lot to be crammed for such a long stretch. And the truck, although it's in reasonably good condition, was the bounciest ride you can imagine. Especially through Oklahoma, where they apparently do not believe in paving the roads flat. Luckily I had to pee about every hour and a half, so that provided an opportunity to get out and take a break from the jostling.
We spent almost as much on diesel as we did renting the truck, but finally we made it here. Our first day on the road we stopped off in Austin to see Mom & Ronnie and hand off our cat Blitz to her for safekeeping. Then we stopped again just outside of Fort Worth to meet up with John and Angela for dinner. It was great to see them all and to be able to share our good news in person. We spent that night in a small town outside of Oaklahoma City in a total dive called "Executive Suites" which reeked of cigarettes and lacked any charm whatsoever. We hardly noticed though, as exhausted as we were. Once we figured out how to work the barely functioning shower, we were just grateful to be clean and get some rest.
The second day was an even longer day of driving. Prior to our departure from Houston, our friend Todd had bestowed upon us the most amazing collection of cds he burned for us, intending to help us through the long boring drive. But alas, our big rig moving van didn't have a cd player, so the best we could do was to scrounge up a "Parliament's Greatest Hits" cassette at one of the many truck stops.
Arwen was amazing. He drove the whole way! The truck was so huge - 26 feet plus a tow dolly hauling our car - that neither he nor I felt comfortable with me driving it. So not only did I not lift a box moving, I didn't drive at all either. What a wuss am I!
After a long long long flat drive through Kansas and eastern Colorado we were finally at the eastern outskirts of Denver right as the sun began to set. As we got closer, the sky became more and more striking. Clouds stretched 180* across the sky, tinted at first soft pink, then orangish, then crimson. There were blues and purples too. It seemed like Colorado was welcoming us home.
Tonight we moved a few essentials into our new place and set up a pallet on the floor to sleep on. Tomorrow my dad will get here to help us get settled in. I can't wait!
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