The Move Is Almost Over

Well, the move is almost over. It has been an adventure, to say the least!

It began when I flew down to NC on Saturday. My plane was, of course, overbooked, and when I was checking in, it was suggested that is I could upgrade, I should or there was a huge risk of getting bumped. So I upgraded, and it was a good thing. At least 15 people were bumped from the flight, and another dozen on standby were SOL.

So I got down there, about 30 minutes late, and then Boxer and I went to Mimi's Cafe for a late dinner. And then home to meet the boxer, who seems to like me but is still learning to respect my authority. Hah!

Sunday was a day of packing. I was surprised that there was still so much left to pack! But thankfully, Boxer has a lot less crap than I do, so packing wasn't really horrible.

The truly horrible thing was the heat... It was hot and humid, nearly 100 every single day. Even with the central air on, it was hot.


On Monday, we went to pick up the truck and started loading it. We took things very very slow, as Boxer had a lot of steps and it was so hot, we were sweating buckets. But we got everything loaded, and on Tuesday morning, we hit the U-Pack place and loaded the cube. Boxer's stuff only filled about half of it. Then we dumped a lot of stuff at Goodwill, finished the cleaning, loaded up the car, and headed north.

The first day, we planned to go as far as Asheville and find a place to camp. But as we got near there, it started to rain. So we kept driving. Through the Smoky Mountains. Just into TN, we pulled off at a place that advertised camping sites by the river. But when we pulled in, it didn't seem like they were really open to the public. Seemed to be associated with a bunch of whitewater rafting places.

So, we said screw it and found a hotel in Newport, TN, and headed off for dinner. It turns out to have been a great idea to get a hotel room, as while we were at dinner, the skies opened, and water poured forth as if from a giant faucet.

Wednesday dawned bright and sunny, and we got back in the car and headed for Berea, KY. I chatted with my friend, and she gave us a couple of recommendations for campgrounds, and so we ended up at the Oh! Kentucky! campground, where we started setting up our tent.

Oh god.

As I was getting the tent unfolded and Boxer was getting the boxer attached to his tie-out, the boxer peed on the tent. Ack ack! So, we quick washed it, and continued with out set up. We were just about done, when all of a sudden, I felt something fly by my right ear. And then, I looked at the tent and went, "Why did someone just thrown pork and beans at us?" And then I went that isn't pork and beans!

It seems that a hawk had hunted a pigeon and eviscerated it in such a way that the guts sprayed over the tent. OMG! Disgusting. Stink. I cleaned it up with tp and water as best I could, while trying not to puke. Boxer was fairly grossed out, and I totally give him props for not insisting on throwing the tent away and hitting a hotel. The boxer was greatly enjoying his call of the wild snack, as he did manage to eat some of the bird before we had managed to get it all clean.

After that horrid event, we went to visit with my friends at their eco-dome (I will have a post on that soon) and had a wonderful dinner of garlic pasta with homegrown bok choy, oyster mushrooms, and other veggie goodness. And then we went back to try and sleep on our tent. It didn't work very well. First, some weird guy pulled up to our campsite, looking for someone in a yellow tent. That made me nervous. And then, the tent truly wasn't a four person tent as advertised, so there was no room for the boxer. And it was noisy. We ended up waking up about 5 am to interesting lightning, packed up, and hit the road.

The last day of driving went fairly well. Indiana is boring to drive through, but everything was going smoothly. We stopped at Fair Oaks Dairy and got some milk and cheese and had lunch. The only traffic we hit was, of course, in Chicago, what with all the major road construction going on.

We got back to the house in Waukegan about 3 pm. It will take some time to get everyone integrated. Pele is unenthused about the boxer. The boxer ate several apricot granola bars. We should be able to pick up the stuff from Boxer's cube on Monday afternoon or Tuesday. And then we got to get it all put away,

Man, it is good to be home!