"Got to Admit...Waking up in Ohio Feels Pretty Good" -Lee

I really wanted to write last night, to tell of our so-far adventure and the range of emotions I was feeling, but alas... There was graduate work to be done that had to be turned in by midnight, so the laptop was in use until then. And I figured that since posting after midnight would change the date to today anyway, what was the point? So here's a blog for yesterday and a little bit before that too. Sorry for the delay, my faithful readers (all two of you so far...) :)

First of all, let's start at the beginning, shall we? We had to ship our beloved Malibu to Texas ahead of us. Here's the old girl on the truck...


We started "packing" a few weeks ago. This is what we had done until about last Wednesday.


Slowly but surely, our pile grew...


For all of you who have never really made a cross-country move before...it's hard work! We were sweaty, smelly, and tired for about a week straight. I guess packing in our 90 degree apartment didn't help much. And no one warns you about the little things, like having to test all of your pens to see if they work...


...or having to eat Grape Nuts out of a cup because you packed all of your bowls.


But seriously, if we didn't have these guys moving would have been SO much more terrible. If we hadn't hired them, I'm sure I would have ended up physically harming someone by the end of the move. And can you say, "Now we don't have to carry all our stuff up 3 flights of stairs in the Texas heat!"? Go on, say it. Basically, movers are amazing.


After about four hours, this was all that was left.


Thanks to my parents, our apartment was immaculate. My mom helped me clean the kitchen and bathroom (thanks for the big-butt picture Dad), while my dad was dubbed the "Vacuum King." He even did his famous starburst in the middle of our bedroom. Too bad our walkthrough was literally less than a minute long. The man came into our apartment, walked into the kitchen, opened the oven about 4 inches, walked back into the living room and down the hall to the bedroom, glanced at the carpet and then said those sweet words: "Looks good; no charges." Ok, now should I be happy about that? Sure. But why did I bother vacuuming the window screens or washing the walls?! Ughh...


It was definitely a bittersweet saying goodbye to my parents, but we will see them again soon! (October's not that far away, right Mom?) And yes, we took a picture with the vacuums. They were such a central part of our day that we thought it was necessary to honor them. :)


With our car packed, our plant safe between us, and homework in progress, we set off for Bob Evans in Fredonia, where we ate dinner with Lee's family.


There were a few tears rimming our eyes, but the reality of leaving our home really hit us when we crossed the border out of New York. (Pretty sweet picture, if I do say so myself...and I just did.)


Our first potty break. Ok...it was my first potty break, and YES this is worth blogging about. I am sure our future children will want to know about all the details of our trek, even "firsts" like this. (Right...?)


As we passed into Ohio, we were thinking of and missing our awesome brother-in-law and native Ohioan, David. Our hotel was called "Chase Suite Hotels" - yet another reason we thought of David. The hotel was pretty nice. A little old with outdated decor but spacious and comfortable. You will have to check Facebook later for pictures because Lee is gently pressuring me to stop blogging so we can leave to move on to our next destination: Nashville.


As for our stay here, we got to eat a hot breakfast outside by the pool, and as Lee brag-texted David this morning, "...Got to admit...waking up in Ohio feels pretty good."



Missing our family, but excited about the journey ahead...

~Hooks

P.S. Our plant was NOT so safe and sound between us. One slam of the brakes and it tumbled forward, spilling its freshly watered dirt all over the car...and me. Nice. :)