We've made it to Oregon safely. Just a few snafu's on the long drive up, but overall uneventful. The first incident we came across on our drive was a semi-truck that rolled over just after the Grapevine area in CA...traffic was backed up for miles, people were parking their cars and getting out to look around (myself included), it added about an hour to our overall trip total. The second was when the underside protective plastic under my car decided to give-way and drag on the freeway for who knows how long. We noticed it when we pulled off to get gas. Easily fixed though and caused no damage to my car. Lastly, the right front blinker on the rental truck popped out...it's pieces are somewhere along Interstate 5 North. Fortunately the truck rental company didn't charge us for it. As for our dogs, Ginger and Bender, they fared very well on the trip - much better than I thought they would. Bender was sitting up and looking around for the first two hours or so and then realized we were not planning on stopping any time soon and made himself comfortable. Ginger was really anxious when she was in the back seat of the car, but was totally calm when she was in the lap of the front passenger - she stayed there most of the trip. Every time we stopped to get gas or food, or stopped to wait for the moving truck to catch up with us, we would let the dogs out. One of us would handle the car/food while the other walked or ran the dogs around the lot. When we stopped in Redding for the night it was really odd to have our dogs in the hotel (it was dog friendly), they did pretty well there and I think they were really grateful to be out of the car for more than 10 minutes. It's amazing what will fit in a Celica while still maintaining your comfort and the comfort of your animals!
Finally after a seven hour drive from the hotel in Redding - we arrived at our new house around 3:30pm and had the truck unloaded by about 5pm. The guys built our shelves in the garage while I moved boxes around and got the inside of the house somewhat situated. We ran out for dinner (good ol' Carls Jr) and then came back home. Craig's Dad and Uncle (who drove the truck) left for their hotel while I made our bed (10 or so blankets and comforters piled on the floor) and Craig set up our dining table. Ahhh....finally....SLEEP!
The next day we started to unload all of the kitchen boxes and realized that the lack of cabinetry could be an issue - I ended up using my buffet cabinet for my bake ware and party ware. I have no idea where we'd put any tupperware, so it's a good thing we don't have much of it! We have about 3' x 3' of cabinetry left for food storage - so that may pose as a problem. We DO have two refrigerators (w/ freezers!) and some open shelving in the garage so canned food can go out there. We'll see what happens after we go grocery shopping today!! My overall assessment of the house - I love it! My only complaints would be the lack of cabinetry in the kitchen and the front and garage doors both remain locked even after opening them. I keep forgetting to check them before I go outside - like today when I stepped outside less than a foot from the door to check the mail and I heard a *click* behind me. Totally locked myself out and ended up hopping the fence and going in the patio door (fortunately I had left it open to let fresh air in). Our house is located on a somewhat busy street - not too bad (you can cross it without fearing for your life) and that street is right off of an express way (which is really cool cause you don't have to drive far to get to stores and what not). The really cool thing (I think) is that the train runs by our house and every few hours you can hear it. We can see the train from our front yard. I never thought I'd like living near train tracks! So cool! Another really cool thing is that we have about 4 or 5 bus stop signs we can see from our driveway - Craig loves that he doesn't have to walk too far to the stops that'll take him straight to work. I think once we both figure out the bus system and where everything is we will save a ton on gas.
Anyways.. I will update more once we have this weekend to go out and explore! Now.. I am off to set up our air mattress (it arrived today, thank goodness!!) and put more things away (as much as I can, without furniture).
Cya!!
Oh - and THANK YOU to everyone who has wished us well in this new adventure of ours.
