fairy party

Shhh - I am piggybacking off some neighbor's wireless connection. Don't tell.

I am NOT happy to find that the fairy assigned to unpack all of these boxes has gone to a fairy party instead. Joe, the cat, also refused to do the work. You just can not find good help these days. I suppose I will just have to do it myself. Sigh.

The packers actually packed open bags of chips and a half loaf of bread. Very strange.

Sam and I went to see the new Batman movie. The press about Keith Ledger was not exaggerated. He was absolutely amazing as The Joker. There was really only one point in the whole movie where I saw Keith Ledger. The rest of the time, I was looking at a very demented villain. I recommend the movie!!!

Tomorrow I will visit Bartlett UMC. Huge church - great music program. I think I can go and enjoy the music and sermon and not get asked to do anything. I know that sounds awful, but this new job will require 10-12 hour days for a while. I will need church to keep me sane, but I will not have an ounce of me to give for a while! Hopefully things will be better in 6 or 8 months.

Joe spends most of the day hiding behind boxes or draperies. Poor guy - he will calm down eventually.

checking out of hotel

The mover arrived at 8 a.m., as promised. His helpers didn't get there until 8:45 a.m. But everything was successfully unloaded. They finished up around 12:30 p.m. Then Sears arrived at 1:30 p.m. with the new fridge. Now we are back at the hotel doing one last load of laundry. Then we will check out and take Joe to the house. We don't have Internet at the house yet, so this will be the last report for a while.

errands, deluxe

Sam and I ran all over the place today. We got utilities turned on and we looked at rugs for the house. We unloaded all of the junk from the car. We heard from the mover. He will be here at 8 a.m. tomorrow. We're going to leave Joe at the hotel while all of the stuff is unloaded and while the refrigerator is delivered (between 1 and 3 p.m.), then we will go back and get Joe & the rest of our stuff and check out of the hotel. Tomorrow night will be the beginning of the unpacking.

appliance buying

The lease is signed and August rent is paid. House keys and garage door openers are in my possession. A refrigerator is purchased. The day is done!

"home" to Memphis

Sam and I began the day with an unscheduled tour of Tinker Air Force Base in Oklahoma City, OK. We were trying to find the Long John Silver restaurant to get our breakfast/lunch, but we made a right turn off the exit instead of a left turn. Once you are on the approach to the base, there is no turning back. There was nothing to do except pull up to the guard post and explain the wrong turn. The guard on duty laughed at us. After a complete search of the car and our persons and a rough interrogation of Joe, the cat, we were on our way. Just kidding. They let us turn around and go right back out.

Oklahoma was a long ride. Not much to talk about except we saw a MILLION dragonflies. There must have been a convention going on because we saw so many of them! Next came Arkansas - another boring state.There were a few spots where there were rolling hills but that didn't last long. We saw one HUGE lake and just as we passed it we heard a weather forecast indicating heavy thunderstorms and possible tornados moving into that area. Yikes!!!

Sam did a lot of driving again today. It was a real help to me. When we crossed the Mississippi River into Memphis, I said, "we're home!".

Ohhhhhhhhhhh-klahoma

We left Albuquerque at 10:30 a.m. Well, we thought it was 10:30 a.m. We forgot about the time change - until we got to the McDonald's drive-thru. So we had lunch instead!!! Eating chicken nuggets for breakfast is a weird experience and not as satisfying when you were expecting a sausage mcmuffin and coffee. Oh well.

Last night, while we slept, the mini-cooler proved why a $4.99 cooler is not as efficient as a higher priced model. We had a pool of water in the rear floorboard of my new car when we went out to load the car. Sigh. Might as well break the new car in!

We were aiming for Amarillo, Texas today, but when we got there we decided we weren't ready to stop. So I called AAA to see what was the next thing down the road. Our new goal for the day became Oklahoma City.

Texas was huge and we only drove across that little short part at the top of the state. It is easy to see why they call it Big Sky country. It is so flat that you can see forever and the sky is so huge. I was highly disappointed when we crossed the border into Oklahoma because Sam refused to sing any of the songs from the musical.

At one point while he was driving, Sam had his IPod plugged into the radio and was listening to his chosen tunes. I had my IPod earbuds in and was listening to my chosen tunes. I took one earbud out to tell Sam something and discovered he was listening to Led Zeppelin "The Crunge", which is "my" music, on his IPod. Oddly enough, I was listening to Incubus, which is "his" music, on my IPod. We both agreed that it was a weird discovery.

We arrived in OKC around 8:30 p.m. We checked in and got Joe settled. Then we went next door to the Waffle House for dinner. Now we are back at the room. I am beat!!!

Albuquerque or bust

I woke up this morning around 7 a.m. Sam didn't get in until 2:30 a.m., so he was completely out. I washed my hair last night after the water finally starting flowing. I did dry it some, but any time I wash my hair shortly before I go to bed, I wake up resembling the Bride of Frankenstein, minus the white streaks. This morning was no exception. On went the headband and I was ready to go downstairs for coffee.

I grabbed a newspaper and went back to the room to enjoy my mediocre coffee and the pastry I bought last night. I read the paper from front to back. Around 9:15 a.m., I began the process of waking up Sam. I drove over to Wal-Mart to get some last minute things. Then I came back to the hotel and we loaded the car. We gassed up, got Sam a sandwich and we were on the way.

I drove to Flagstaff, then Sam took over. He drove all the way to New Mexico, then I took over again. It was a long day, but it went pretty well. At one point while Sam was driving, we were suddenly startled by a loud banging sound. At first we thought it was coming from the engine, but we realized it was on the roof. It sounded like someone pounding on the roof. Sam pulled over to the side of the highway and I stepped out and looked. There was nothing to see. We started back up and the banging began again. We concluded it was inside the roof and began to speculate what could be in the roof that would come loose. Finally, at the next exit, Sam discovered the problem - the weather stripping across the top of the front windshield was loose and was flapping. We pushed it back into place and did not hear the sound again. Yikes!

After we checked in the La Quinta in Albuquerque, we drove over to a steakhouse and enjoying sirloins. I had a sweet potato with mine. Yummy! We are now back in the room watching Ocean's 11 on HBO.

Joe did okay today. He only meowed for the first three hours and peridocally after that. I think meowing could be used to torture people.

Tomorrow morning we head to Amarillo, Texas.

Saturday night at La Quinta Inn

The moving van arrived at 8 a.m. David (driver) and two helpers (Greg and Perry) loaded the truck in fairly quick order. David is traveling with his two teenaged daughters. They seem to be a very nice family. We exchanged cell phone numbers so we could connect easily on our separate trips. I've found that this gives me a VERY FAST way to find out exactly what day my stuff will arrive.

Before the driver arrived this morning, Reggie came over and scrubbed out the refridgerator for me. I thought that was very sweet of him. After the truck left, I cleared out the rest of the crap, cleaned the oven (YUCK), spackled nail holes, did some touch-up painting and prepared farewell, thank-you notes for my landlord & landlady and also for my cleaning lady (who has become a very good friend).

Back to the La Quinta where a hot shower would be waiting for me .... NOPE - a water main had burst, water was shooting up in the air and there was no water in the room. Sigh. So I drove over to the spa near my house to treat myself to a pedicure and manicure. 90 minutes later, I was back at the La Quinta where surely ... NOPE - still no water. I called the front desk. "They will have it fixed in about 30 minutes." Two hours later, still no water. Sigh.

We leave tomorrow morning to begin our cross-country drive. I sure hope I can shower before we leave or this will be a very uncomfortable trip!!!

Friday night at LaQuinta Inn

Huge room. Immaculate lobby. Filthy elevator. Disconnect!!!

Joe is cowering under the bedcovers. He and I have done this trip three times previously. He does the same thing every time. The first night he comes out of his carrier, jumps on the bed, burrows under the covers and does not come out until I drag him out the next morning to put him back in the cat carrier. The second night he comes out of his carrier, jumps on the bed, burrows under the covers and stays there fora few hours, eventually coming out long enough to sniff around the room, use the litter box, eat a bit of food and drink a bit of water, then back under the covers. The third night he comes out of his carrier, sniffs around the room, eats a decent bit of food, sniffs around the room some more, eats a bit more, then cuddles a bit, then goes back under the covers. The fourth night he comes out of his carrier, explores the room, discovers the window and jumps up and sits there for hours. We will see what happens this time!

Sam has gone over to the pool hall with a couple of buddies. Thank goodness! He was stir crazy and starting to get on my nerves. Of course part of me worries that something will happen on the first of our last two nights in Phoenix, but I will make an attempt to relax.

The packing went smoothly. Tomorrow the van arrives and is loaded. Then we clean. Then one more night at La Quinta.

packing day

The packers arrive in about two hours to pack up all the belongings in my house. It is exciting and stressful all at once. By the end of the day, everything I own will be packed up and out of reach until the moving van arrives in Memphis. I have to be so careful to make sure I have everything in my car that I think I might want.

Sam is still asleep. His attorney is coming to visit him today to discuss his options for lawsuits. We are not the type of people to sue. I have had several opportunities to sue people but have never done so because I did not think there was any real negligence or long-term harm. But in this case, I think there was extreme negligence. Drinking beer and playing with guns is just plain idiotic. And the long-term harm of Sam's injuries is just a huge unknown. He needs to be compensated.

Well, I may or may not have an opportunity to post while I am on the road. If I do, I will. Ciao!