I am here. I am in Colorado. Right now it kind of feels like a vacation, except on this vacation I brought a long my dog and all of my stuff.... though not the kitchen sink, thankfully. As I had been stating we got the truck on Feb 7th. Finishing packing and moving stuff into the truck from the house as a long and tedious project and I am not looking forward to unloading the truck here, reloading later to move into an apartment and then unloading for a last time. Any way.
Thanks to Leah B and Leo's dad for helping us on Monday with moving the big furniture. I think by the end we ended up with 5 trips to the thrift store. Most of the large furniture went except for my dry sink, my couch, the book shelves, the beds, the freezer full of MEAT and... and...oh and my dresser I got from my parents house. hmm. That is all the big furniture I think. My poor old floor model tv that was my parents before it was mine, had to be left behind. We didn't have room at all. We should have maybe had a bigger truck, but we made due. Also left behind was Andrea and Leo's kitchen/dining room table and chairs. The washer and the dryer got left behind too, as well as Leo's grill and the patio furniture. We packed as much as we could Monday until it was dark. I made one last trip to my moms house for the dresser and we were done for the night. Tuesday we got up early, but not early enough. There was still so much to do and it was all very, very overwhelming. I think we got on the road by 11:30 am. 2.5 hours later than we intended.. or it could have been noon. While packing my car I had to go in and out of the house several times. Everytime I went out the door, Jamie would try to come with me. I would tell him "Not yet." and he would sit down and wait for me. This happened several times and when I finally said "Ok, it's your turn." He jumped about with what I can only call glee. He had been locked up and held back and scooted out of the way for two days now and he was tired of it.
On our way out of town we stopped in Englewood, Oh to meet with Liz and Larry for brunch/lunch. It was wonderful seeing them. I am going to miss them soo much. We had a huge meal, gave hugs and kisses, and piled back in the car and truck. Thus started my journey west.
Driving through Ohio, Indiana and Illinois wasn't bad at all. The lay of the land is pretty much the same. Jamie and I had to stop a couple times for bathroom breaks and a walk about, but he mostly slept the whole time. When he started to snore, I poked him so he had to wake up. If I have to be awake, so does he. :) We had a small mishap while driving through Illinois. Some ice flew off of a Semi and took the right side mirror clean off the truck. Leo was a little panicky and it was understandable. He had declined the insurance for the truck because they thought it would be covered with their auto insurance. Guess what? It wasn't. Some calls were made and there appears to be a place in St. Louis where we can stop and have the mirror fixed. So we travel together in a tiny caravan of truck and car towards St. Louis. I have never been,in a car or a plane for that matter, to St. Louis. The Arch was AH-MAZING! So magnificent rising up from the ground the Gateway to the West. It brought tears to my eyes. I wish I could have taken time to actually go there and see it up close. But alas, I was on a schedule. We had to make it to Columbia, Mo. before we could be done for the night.
Rising bright and early the next day we boogied on down the road toward our destination. Kansas, in the beginning, has beautiful rolling hills and the sight truly is breathtaking. I could not imagine traveling through Kansas in a horse and wagon train. It was so... expansive.. and there weren't a lot of trees. Of couse everything had snow on it which gave everything a shimmery look, but still. After Topeka is a different story. Still expansive but now with out the hills. Wide open fields as far as the eye can see with a random farm here and there. Field, field, field, silo, field, field, field, field, farm, Jesus sign... and it goes on like this. I realize after the 5th or 6th Jesus sign that I was in the bible belt. I did not turn my radio on while in Kansas. I listened to my book on my phone. I did see a bunch of deer along the side of the road grazing and they could have been there because of a farm or because they had just stopped there to eat, but either way it was very cool... oh and the wind turbines... if that is what they are called. A wind farm maybe. Reminded me of ET. Several acres with the big white wind mills(?). Very interesting. Kansas is mile after mile of flat land. Farm land. And it was good to see farm land. So much farm land is being eaten up by housing back where I'm from I find it somewhat sad. When I can drive down a road at 31 years of age and say.. "I remember when that was a field." I don't know if that bodes well for the future or not. (shrugs)
As I was chasing the sun across the country the night was gaining on me. I have pictures and will post them when I am able to figure it out. When I finally hit mile marker 1 for Kansas I was very excited. However, Eastern Colorado doesn't really look any different except there were a few more trees. I think eastern Colorado should just be called western Kansas. Then something unexpected happened. A tumbleweed blew past my car! A tumbleweed! I was a wee bit surprised. I have never seen a tumbleweed and I guess it didn't occur to me that they would be around in the winter... or in Colorado for that matter. Boy was I wrong. LOL! After this I kept my eyes peeled for more but didn't see any and I tried desperately to see the mountains... I know, it was dark but somehow I just thought that if I tried hard enough I could see them. Silly no? I made it to my destination with no problems.. just a sore behind from driving for 12 hours and an antsy dog who was tired of riding for 12 hours.
So far my time in Aurora, Colorado has been nice. I finally saw the mountains in all their "majesty" and was once again brought to tears. I can't wait to see them close up but even at a distance they are breath taking.
