Day 5 - Spruce Grove, Alberta, Canada

2,387.8 total miles. 630.0 miles today.

First, let me give a big shout-out to Montana for being just so gosh-darn pretty. WOOT!

We left Helena and set our GPS to Sunburst, which looked like the closest town to the US/Canada border. I'll just say that I'm really glad we decided to stop for the night in Helena, rather than look for a place to stay nearer the border. Sunburst had a general store and half a gas station, and that's pretty much it. They did try to make up for it with a very attractive welcome sign, though, so a little bit of a Woot! to the citizens of Sunburst, too.

About three hours into the day's drive, we reached the border. Jim parked and went into the building to see what we needed to do, having a dog, two birds, food, and a small apartment's worth of household goods. Turns out the Canadian border agents were not too interested in any of that. They waved Jim through, no problem, and when I pulled up, the agent asked if I was "with that guy," asked what was in the cooler that the collectible violins were in, and was ready for me to get going, too. I was expecting a lot more drama. I think we all were, given the build-up we'd had about what to have ready for the agents and all. Oh well, I'm sure there will be more drama getting back into the US in a few days.

I also expected to see the agent get out a big rubber stamp and stamp our passports like in the movies, but no. He stuck mine in a time-card type thing and then handed it back to me, and he didn't even want to see James'. Hm.

This is our GPS showing us sitting right on the US/Canada border.

Once we were on the other side of the border (which means a lot different things than it does when you say that in Texas), we drove through what looked a lot like Kansas. We drove until we got to a big enough town to have a McDonald's, and got some lunch. I got lost in that town, but Jim didn't. Thank goodness for GPS and family-band radios, that's all I can say. I turned left looking for bathrooms, Jim turned right looking for a windshield-repair place, and long story short, I got to tour downtown.

At first, being in Canada was a bit odd. Sort of like those old Star Trek episodes where the ship's crew finds themselves in an alternate dimension where something is not quite right, but they don't know what to do about it. I mean, the people speak English, but the accents are juuuust slightly different than what we're used to. The measurements are different, and the prices are different, too, so don't pull up to a gas pump that says $1.09 and think you're getting ANY sort of a bargain. Many of the chain stores are the same in Canada as in teh US, but the menus are off a bit. I bought a "grand format" (king size) Reese's Peanut Butter Cup, for instance. And rather than build businesses on the highways to cater to travelers, like we do in America, in Canada you have to go looking for that gas station or eatery way on off down the road several kilometers. I keep waiting for Evil Spock With A Beard to stroll by so I can make sense of my surroundings.

This is Calgary.

We made our goal of Edmonton and finally found a hotel for the night. Traveling with Tate has begun to be a problem. Hotels that are dog-friendly in an area of few hotels to begin with have made stopping for the night a bit of an adventure. Oh well, there's nothing to do about it now. Jim found a Ramada Inn in downtown Edmonton, and we went up to the room, but I got a strange sense of something very bad there. I told the guys but told them in a joking kind of way that I was completely oogied out by that room. The feeling didn't go away, and it got worse, to the point where I was in tears and shaking. The guys packed us all up and out we went. By the time we got to the vehicles, I'd added teeth chattering to the whole meltdown repertoire. Jim found a Holiday Inn further downtown that would take Tate, but we couldn't get the truck and trailer parked in their trial-sized parking lot, so we had to scrap that and drive on into the night until we found a hotel in Spruce Grove that would take the pets and had enough parking space. I'm sorry I put the guys through so much drama with moving to another town for the night, but I'm not at all sorry we left that Ramada Inn. I still can't explain it, and I hope that never happens to me again, but I'm definitely not sorry we got out of there.

Day 4 - Helena, Montana

I forgot to check the mileage before getting out of the truck here in Helena, but we drove for about 11 hours and the mileage is somewhere around 1800. We're more than a third of the way home!

We finished the drive through Utah (which got pretty again after being desolate and depressing for part of the time), through the corner of Idaho, and now are in Montana. We expect to be in Canada tomorrow. There's either irony or symbolism in the twist that we'll be leaving America on its birthday, but I'm too tired to figure that out right now...

For those who've been wondering how we packed the three pets, here you go. Tate shares about 2/3 of the bed of the CR-V with Sprite and Buttercream, and our clothes are in the hardcases next to them.

Aaaaaand this is my view - the back of the U-Haul. Only the scenery around it changes. James took a shift driving this morning so now he knows what it's like to have the U-Haul logo burned into your eyeballs. Just for grins, when I got the wheel later in the day, I got in front of Jim so I could see open road, but after so long behind him, it felt weird so I got back behind him fairly quickly.
Speaking of scenery, we passed through some really lovely terrain. Green mountains and valleys, flocks of sheep and llamas, Our Lady of the Rockies, and the Great Salt Lake. We tried to take pictures of what we could see of the Great Salt Lake, but they didn't really turn out.

So, here we are, in another Holiday Inn. But this time in Montana, about three hours from the Canada border. We're on the 7th floor, but there was an elevator for Tate so I don't think it's quite sunk in for her how far up she is. This was her first time on an elevator. And speaking of first times, at twelve years of age she's finally discovered that there is a big porcelain dog bowl in the bathroom. [sigh]

Another fun option Tate's discovered about our room is the tiny dog-sized balcony overlooking part of the arts festival going on in Helena today. I sent Tate out there to take her picture with the mountains behind her, but she plopped herself down and didn't want to move. James and I tried to get her to sit up, or even look back at the camera, but there were too many things to see on the street outside and too many good smells coming from the restaurant below.
So, I guess that's about it for today. I'm tired, and there is another long day of driving ahead of us tomorrow, as well as going through Customs at the border. Wish us luck and I hope they don't want us to unpack everything we've got crammed into that trailer.....

Day 3 - Green River, Utah

1,079.8 total miles. 229.6 miles today.

As you can see, we didn't get a whole heck of a lot of driving done today. Jim's work had a crisis, and he needed to spend quite a chunk of the day seeing if he could get it straightened out.

But first, there was breakfast! After spending the night at the B&B, we went back to Mom's and Stan's house for an al fresco meal of bacon and pancakes, cooked right outside by the Host With The Most.

Here's Jim, Stan and Mom, sitting in their back yard by the rushing creek right in their back yard. It was so pretty out there, listening to the water and watching the chipmunks running all around.

Stan's cooking breakfast on the electric griddle right on the picnic table. Once he got the bacon and a round of pancakes done, we sat down at the table to eat it while he spooned up more batter onto the griddle and ate while he continued to cook. Awesome. I'm stealing that idea when we get settled in the new house!

Jim, doing what he did for most of the day, while Stan fried bacon.

The budgies are having quite a nice time traveling, I think. Tate seemed to really like Granny's house, and she spent the night there while we were in the B&B. I did take pics of her, but I took them with a disposable camera so I can't upload them.

While Jim worked on the computer getting the crisis somewhat under control, Stan, Mom, James, Tate and I went on a drive through their part of the valley to look around at the pretty houses and cute cabins and the scenery near where they live. No wonder they like it there so much. We had a lovely time visiting them, but we did have to leave, so around 3:15, we headed out.

We left Colorado behind and got into Utah. Our goal was Salt Lake City, but we didn't get that far. A lot of the first part of Utah was really pretty.

A lot of the rock formations are really interesting. For example, this thing:

We don't know what it was, but it just sort of appeared in the desert, like a misplaced space ship or a fat lost chicken. And this had some really pretty arches to it:

But all too soon, the interesting rock formations gave way to desolate areas as far as the eye could see, and we decided it might be best to find a hotel while we could, and get some extra rest. On the bright side, we're a quarter of the way to our new house.

The Best Western in Green River doesn't allow pets, but the Holiday Inn Express across the street does, so that's where we are right now. Unfortunately for Tate, our room is on the second floor, and her old hips don't appreciate the adventure of staircases like they did back in the day. But she's fine. In fact, she's fast asleep, much like she's been for the last several days. At least we haven't needed to pull out the sedatives!

Tate, Sprite and Buttercream say hello!

Day 2 - Lake Vallecito B&B, Bayfield, Colorado

Day two is under our belts, as are the remainder of Texas, New Mexico, and part of Colorado. 850.2 miles of the trip are behind us.

Let me say that while New Mexico is strangely pretty, it is also very boring. And I'm way too old and too white to enjoy the one radio station I could get through most of the desert. James rode two-thirds of the day with Jim, so it was me and the pets together up until Santa Fe, when James switched back over to riding with me. We'd gone into Santa Fe to try to find their Home Depot to buy some more bungee cords and tarps, but we got lost. The touristy area of Santa Fe seems very inviting and interesting, by the way, and if you ever get the chance to go there and look around, seems like a nice place to spend an afternoon. If you're not lost and stressed, that is.

We got to Mom's and Stan's later in the day than we'd planned, thanks to our detour through Santa Fe, but they still had a hot dinner waiting for us when we got there. Ribs, corn on the cob, baked beans, and lemon pie for dessert. YUM!

My sister Carla and her family had rearranged their travel plans so that we could see them before we all parted ways, and it was so nice to see them again! They had to leave that night to get to their destination by Thursday morning, so after dinner, we had to say our goodbyes.

Here we are, from left to right: James, me, Stan, Mom, Carla, Chris, Steven, Adam, and Jim. Tate is on the floor, but she laid down so now you can't see her.

Not knowing ahead of time that Carla and Company would be leaving before night, Stan had made us reservations down the road from their house at Vallecito Lake B&B. We stayed in the Hunter Room. We came back to Mom's for breakfast, but looking through their guest book, I'm sure the B&B's breakfasts would have been very tasty, too, so check them out if you find yourself in Bayfield in need of a place to spend the night. Check back in tomorrow for pictures of our day with Mom and Stan, okay?

Moving out, and Day One

Here I am, in a Best Western in Vernon, TX. We are FINALLY on the road!

But let me back up a little bit....

On Sunday, the moving truck came to get most of the household stuff. I was pleasantly surprised at what a cool trailer it was, too. I didn't get any very good pictures of it, although I tried to while still being casual. Haha. Anyway, the back of the semi had a ptarmigan on it, the back side had a moose in profile, then the lake with a bear in it (seen between the two moving guys) followed by the polar bear family at the front.

The estimates we got for weights from two different moving companies were evidently off by about 2000 pounds. Egads. We haven't gotten a final weight yet. James sums up the way we all were feeling:

The semi already had another family's stuff in it at the front. The movers partitioned it off and then loaded our stuff. Then it was time for Little Sweetie to be loaded in. The movers had a bit of fun joking about which trailer it was to go in - theirs, or U-Haul's.

Uuuuuup the ramp Little Sweetie goes, with Jim behind the wheel.

I could be a lot happier about the arrangements of the stuff around the car, especially considering that they are on their way to pick up yet another load in Wichita. But they assure me they've done this over and over and everything will be fine.

Fast forward to Tuesday. We spent all of Monday packing and straightening up the house, and then on Tuesday we loaded the trailer and both vehicles full of paraphernalia and pets and headed out. Several hours later than we'd hoped, but at least we're out the door, right? But I have to say, if it weren't for Jim's dad Big Jim, we probably wouldn't have made our deadline to get out of the house on the 30th at all. As it was, we were frantically throwing things away and giving things away and lightening the load as much as we possibly could. Big Jim stayed behind to make not one but two round-trips to unload the house and take the stuff to Forney where he lives, then come back and get another load. What a blessing. Mwah, Big Jim!

Surprisingly, I didn't cry on the way out of town, but Jim did. He's already missing having his dad handy. It's not like they saw each other very often, but at least it was more of a possibility up until yesterday than it will be from now on.

We left The Colony around 6:45 on the 30th. We drove as far as Vernon and stopped at the Best Western, where we were glad to find Tate welcome. Here we are in the hotel, playing with finger puppets from the travel snack/entertainment kits Amy G gave each of us (including Tate!). Thank you, Amy!

Jim, unpacking his goodie bag from Amy:

Tate seems to like her first time in a hotel. Our budgies seem to be okay with it, too, although they're not smiling as big as Tate.

There were a few bumps in the plans to getting out of the house, and I hope there are no worse bumps in the days ahead of us. We're on our way to a whole new adventure and new way of life. Thank you to everyone who helped and supported us as we planned and stressed and carried on.

I'll write more in the days to come, as I get time and internet access. Next stop - Bayfield, Colorado to visit my Mom, Stan, and sister Carla and her family. Maybe I'll be able to write from there.

And now, a final Thank You to the people who went out of their way to help us in our Wild Ride:

Team Yarnell, who helped us empty the storage unit in record speed and moved boxes like professionals;

Scott and Jane, who offered us a place to sleep should we happen to need it, and who will be helping with our trash cans until the new owners take over the house;

The Stiblers, who fed us a lovely steak dinner on the 29th and provided an island of sanity in all the hectic activity we were going through;

Amy G, my soul sister, for her encouragement during the years and months this whole thing was in the works. For talking me off the ledge more times than once. For the packing materials for which we blessed her name every day. And for goodie bags for the road;

For James, who worked his hiney off without complaint;

For Jim, whose whole idea this thing was;

And again, for Big Jim, who is even now at this hour spending long hours on the road cleaning out our garage for us.

Thank you from the bottom of our hearts. {{hugs}}

Tomorrow!

The semi that will take most of our worldly goods and my adorable little car on a rambling, no-hurries trip without us will be here in the morning.

And no, we're not ready.

Hopefully I'll have an update tomorrow night. Unless I've decided to take up alcohol.

Who's sorry NOW? heh heh heh

Today, my friends, it is 103 degrees here in the lovely D/FW Metroplex, with a heat index of 110.

I found a penny in the parking lot while running errands this afternoon, and in picking it up, I nearly branded Lincoln's profile into the pad of my thumb.

What's the temperature like at our new house in Alaska? 56 degrees. Oh yeah. You wanna come visit us now, don'tcha?

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