Well after several weeks of complete chaos, we are finally in Oklahoma and mostly settled. We have lots of fun stories from our move half-way across the country. We are starting to be able to tell them and find some of them amusing ourselves, but only because some time has passed since they occured.
Our first ordeal was trying to figure out where to have the moving company park their big trailer at our apartment complex. We used U-Pack and they drop off the 28 foot trailer and leave it for you to load for a few days and then pick it up and drive it to your destination. Our apartment complex has a very small parking lot and we learned that people are really uptight about coning off spaces. On the 4th of July we heard our car alarm going off and Mike went outside to find some guy breaking into our car. He was from a tow company. Apparently one of our neighbors called and told him that his car was parked illegally and broken down and needed to be towed, only it was our car. We had parked in two spaces to save them for the trailer coming the next day (we had permission from the management at the complex). Thank goodness for the alarm or we would have spent a lot of time trying to find out where they had towed our car. Then of course the day we loaded was blazing hot, 105 degrees plus. It was insane. We really appreciate all the help we got loading, particularly from my dad. We are also grateful that he drove our car from Sacramento to Oklahoma, most of the way without air conditioning (yes that's right the air conditioning on our car that has ALWAYS worked without any problems suddenly stopped working).
So we got all loaded and then started driving to Utah on Friday. We were making good time and things were going well until we got to the middle of Nevada and discovered that 1-80E was closed between Battle Mountain and Carlin, NV because of a wildfire. There really is no other way from Sacramento to Salt Lake. So we ended up having to drive back to Winnemucca, NV (90+ miles) to stay the night at a crappy hotel that had horrible air conditioning because that was all that was left. Then the next morning when we again set out to SLC, we made it to about the same spot on I-80E and the road was again closed (we're not really sure if they ever opened it during the night or not). Thankfully we didn't have to wait too long before we were on our way again. We were so relieved to finally make it out of Nevada, I'm not sure we will ever return to the state. We made it to Utah by dinner time on Saturday. We really had a good time in Utah visiting with friends and family. We got to visit with all of our grandparents and spend some time with Mike's family. We were planning to leave Utah on Tuesday to drive as far as Colorado, but then Sabrina got sick and barely slept on Monday night. So we ended up leaving Tuesday night and driving straight through to Oklahoma (we're still not really sure why we did that...). Before we left Utah we stopped at a grocery store to pick up a few things. Mike left the kids and I out in the car with it running while he ran in. I was sitting in the back on the floor feeding the baby while he was gone and apparently some concerned citizens only saw Ben and Grace in their car seats and didn't see me. So they called the cops. Mike was getting something out of the trunk when the cop walked up and said "We've had several reports of kids being left unattended in a car." Mike pointed out that I was sitting on the floor feeding the baby the whole time and the cop apologized and left. The trip from Utah to Oklahoma was pretty uneventful and the kids actually did pretty well considering all they had been through.
So, we've been in Oklahoma a little over a week now. We got all moved into the upstairs of the Burkinshaw house and everything seems to fit pretty well (we have stuff in storage too). Mike started work on Monday and he really likes the store out here. The kids LOVE being around Grandma, Grandpa, and their aunts. I feel a little guilty because I have so much help all the time, but I'm trying to just enjoy it while it lasts. Benson only occasionally says "I want to go home," usually just when he isn't getting his way. So we made it and we're adjusting. We really appreciate EVERYONE who helped us in the process, we could not have done this alone!
Gracie helping take apart her toddler bed for the move
Visiting with Grandma Stevens in Utah
Uncle Stephen, Benson, Grace, Grandpa Gary,
Sabrina, and Grandma Kathy
4 generations of Richards
Jess and the kids with Great-Grandma and
Grandpa Burkinshaw
