We made it...

.... but what an ordeal it has been.... let's see where to start...

The week before we left, Zach had, as the ER doctor said "rip roaring" dual ear infection. So that made for some sleepless nights and very high fevers. We had appointments all over town with all of his doctors and specialists to wrap things up before we left.

We decided to rent a U-Haul truck for Chris, Zach and I to drive back, and pull a car trailer to tow the Element. My brother flew in to drive the Subaru back. A few weeks back, we'd scheduled the 17 foot U-Haul for Monday the 26th. We sold off a lot of furniture, so we thought that would be just enough room.The week before, seeing the weather forcasts, we were really started to regret our timelines, but we went forward as planned.

Saturday and Sunday, we wrapped up all the stuff that wasn't packed away and boxed up yet, and spent some time with some good friends (we miss you guys!!).

So Monday, we picked up the truck at 8am, and in the 103+ degree weather, loaded the truck. Zach was hot, miserable and restless. The carpet cleaners came out to clean the carpets. And about half way through packing the truck, we realized there was no way we were going to fit all of our stuff. And there was no way we were going to unload and start over in a bigger truck. So, we called U-Haul and got another truck and trailer. So, my brother drove the 14 foot truck (which somehow we filled.. we need to really get rid of some things) and towed the Subaru.

About 4:15pm on Monday, both trucks packed, we decided to head out. But, we still had to stop at U-Haul to get the second car trailer and put the Subaru on it. So, we get there and realize that the Element (which they had tied down earlier), was not straped down right and could have potentially fallen off had we not stopped and checked it. We get the other trailer hooked up and the lights wouldn't work. So they try another trailer and that didn't work. So, they sent us to the maintence garage for them to fix the electrical on the truck. After sitting in a hot garage for 30+ minutes with my baby, they get it fixed. Then, they realize that one of the straps was broken on the trailer, so they had to fix that. So about an hour and a half later, we were off. By this point, we were all starving and decided to stop and eat in some A/C before tackling the traffic on 217. So after finding a parking lot that would fit us, we ate. We finally got on the road about 7pm, and as we were driving through Tigard, it was still 100 degrees. We were planning on staying in Medford, but couldn't make it that far, so we called and cancelled our hotel reservations and stayed in Roseburg for the night.

We got up early Tuesday and continued the journey. We got on the road about 7:30am. At 10:23am, we officially entered California. It was hot. Really hot. Luckily we had A/C in the truck, but tried not to run it too much to conserve gas. We were on track to get to my relatives house in Lincoln about 3pm to stay the night.

About 12:30pm, we look in the mirrors and see pieces of tire flying behind us... one of the tires on the trailer, had just blown out. So here we are in the middle of nowhere, hot as hell, on the side of the road, calling U-Haul maintenence. After about an hour or so, they got there, replaced the rim and tire, and we were on our way... once again.

We stopped in Redding to get Zach some food and top of the gas tank and decide to go seperate ways from my brother. He wanted to make it to San Jose for the night and we were only going as far as Lincoln. We finally made it there about 5:30pm and got some much needed rest and got to visit with some very missed family. (including Zach meeting his new baby cousin)

This morning we hit the road about 9:30am. We stopped in Roseville to get gas. While I changed the baby, Chris started the gas and went in to grab some drinks. When he came out, he noticed some gas on the floor, but figured it filled up too much and overflowed a little bit, we didn't think too much of it.

After all the heat we had been having, it was nice to have a fairly cool, overcast morning. We went through Walnut Creek, and it rained. (I thought we left that crap?!?) And most of the drive today was very windy, which made driving the truck/trailer very hard for Chris. (or as he liked to call it, the "rolling billboard") When we got past the bay area, we stopped to fill up again and when Chris started pumping the gas, the gas was just leaking out everywhere. We decided to just stop pumping... we had enough to get where we needed to go. It was pretty scary, we were a little hesitant to start up the truck. We called the nice people (hear the sarcasim) at U-Haul to report the problem. They didn't care.

We wondered why we were getting such crappy gas mileage the whole time. We were in a brand new truck with only 3,000 miles when we got it, and my brothers truck had 190,000 miles, and we had to fill up more than him... now it makes sense....

Anyway, we are here. We are resting for the night, then tomorrow unload the U-Haul. We came over to my moms for the night to sleep in nice beds and watch TV and relax.

Will post pictures soon...

Moving back to California....

As I pack up our house in preparation for the move, I have been thinking about all the things I love about California, and how I cannot wait to be home. I will however miss some things about Oregon of course.....

What I will miss about Oregon:

No sales Tax

Fred Meyer

Wonderful Healthcare

Not having to pump my own gas



Why I can't wait to get home:

Sun

Not having to dial an area code to call a local number

Family

Sun

We will own our first home together

Much better programs for Zach

Sun

We will be living 15 miles from the beach

Old Friends

and the list goes on.....