Exhaustion.
That's the one word I can think of to sum up the last couple of days in Texas and the first few in L.A.
Let's go back, though, and talk about how lucky we are to have our friends.
The week before we left, we not only had a going away party at Jayson's work (extremely nice people); but Elise threw us a big going away party at her house with a smorgasbord of food. It was fantastic to get to see friends we hadn't seen in months! (For those we didn't get to see, we'll be back to visit soon AND of course there will always be at least a couch for you to stay on in L.A.) We thank all of you for your gifts, your love and your prayers!
Now to the move... I can't even begin to write without remembering the overwhelming experience that took over our souls. Oy! On the 18th, we walked into our house thinking we would just have to pack a few more things and then spend the rest of the night cleaning. We worked... and we worked... and it felt like nothing was happening.
At about 3ish, we had a van load of wonderful friends come over; and without Kristin, Anna, Grayson, Aaron, & Ricky we never would have made it to California at all. Kristin and Anna helped pack up the kitchen (BIG JOB), and Grayson, Aaron & Ricky helped Jayson do the impossible--- fit all that they could into our tiny storage unit. Believe me, this would not have happened without their help. It was, of course, wonderful to get to see our friends; but their help was truly amazing! And in the middle of all of that, sweet Jule brought by our money we made when SHE took our old books and movies to half-price books. That was just another errand we needed to run, but didn't have time for. (I think the Hamilton's, specifically Lynda, took care of all of our other errands!) So we said goodbye to our helpers at about 6 pm (i think this is right.. the day was a blur), and continued on with our packing.
Okay... so friends are amazing... big help. Fantastic. Let me just refresh you on what our original plan was. Be in bed by 9 pm, wake up at 4 am-ish, get on the road at 5 AM!
Well, at about 8 pm we said goodbye to the final friends that stopped by for a visit.
Then, on the 2nd anniversary of our engagement, Jayson and I packed, loaded the car, dropped everything off in Jefrey's garage, and repeated the process until 4 in the morning. We made about 5 trips together with just the two of us and a mini-van, and then I couldn't do it anymore. Jayson dropped me off at his parents, and he made the final run to our house. He is a champ.
So we wanted to be on the road at 5 am, and instead, i fell asleep about 5. Jayson finally made it, and went to sleep around 6:30 am.
We were just a little behind schedule.... and completely exhausted. (and did i mention, we never got to actually clean the house because we were so busy moving.... goodbye, security deposit.)
At 9:30 am, we woke. We hurried to gather our things, said goodbye to Terri and Lynda, and walked out the door. Only to have to make a couple more stops. BUT at 11:30 it was officially just the two of us, Adler, two cars, and two walkie-talkies on the open road!
That first day (April 19th) was to be the long day. We had reservations in Tuscon (where pets stay free!), and we were going to make it. Luckily, we had the beautiful scenery of West Texas to get us through. It really is gorgeous there, and hopefully I will get to post photos soon! (okay, so we did try to take some photos while driving... we were safe other than that tho!)
When we got out of Texas it was dark, and Adler refused to go to the bathroom again. Apparently, there is no grass in New Mexico or Arizona... which really upsets Adler. (She's better now... there's lots of grass in California).
Okay, my letters to the states:
Texas, you're beautiful; but you're too darn big! Feel free to lose a few, if you know what i mean.
New Mexico, sure, it was dark when we met; but your over abundance of billboards helped light my way! (what's with that, by the way?)
Arizona, in a few years your roads are going to be awesome!... at least that's what I gather by all of the road construction we encountered.
But really, the over 15 hours and 950 miles weren't that bad. It was even charming. I liked the quiet of it all. I thought I would listen to a lot of music and audio books, but really i just enjoyed the silence of it, the hum of the road. Plus, it was just neat to know that I could drive that far all by myself.
So we arrive in Tucson! We rest! Did I mention, on the whole drive we never stopped for food. We had snacks from Grampsters and Lynda in the car, and that was enough to make it through. When we made it to Tucson, we were too tired to even think about eating. So our first meal, since the toast the day before, was the continental breakfast at the hotel... which was fantastic!
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So needless to say the waffles were what we needed to get back on the road. It was a nice trip to L.A., and it was so much shorter than the day before... but we wanted to be there.
On our way to L.A. we passed fields of giant windmills (which was also the windiest place i've ever been in my life), beautiful green hills with windy roads that terrify and delight you, and of course, we hit L.A. in the middle of rush hour. My first time driving in L.A. (i've always opted out of driving in the past) was not only during rush hour, i also was in charge of leading Jayson through the mess! You see, I had the GPS; and he was following me. But you know what, we made it; and we made it safe! ... And it wasn't that bad! Really! I mean, Dallas traffic is much worse in my opinion... because the cars don't move. Here, it may be busy; but everyone is driving about 85.
So we arrived, it was beautiful. Over 1400 miles! Can you believe that! It used to take people MONTHS to make it that far! And we arrived in 2 days!
We opened our windows, and enjoyed In-N-Out Burger!
And that's the story of how we made it to Los Angeles! My next post will be all pictures, to give you a visual; then, i will let you know a bit of what's happened in our first week (or two) here! (my camera has been rather dead lately; so i'll need to charge it and take more pics of Cali for all of you).
One more:
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One for the road,
Sass
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