We are still in Limbo!

We are here... have been for over 24 hours....but we have no household stuff. Our moving van is actually here in Woodbridge, Virginia... about 20 miles N. of here. BUT... and this is a BIG BUT.... the Woodbridge Bekins agent has no record of our move having been made with them. In other words it wasn't scheduled with them. Since it wasn't scheduled with them... they are already booked solid...the absolute earliest that they could get us delivered and set up in Thursday. After Wayne unscrewed himself from the ceiling, I get the phone call from him telling me all of this. Our booking agent and the Bekins central are trying to get things ironed out for us... but nothing can happen until at least Thursday. What I am really worried about is that Friday is the 4th...and with the way things are going...well, I really don't want to think about what will happen if they go beyond that time frame. We have already rescheduled with the Dish people, the phone people, and the gas Co once... looks like some more rescheduling is in the near future.

So while all this is happening... Wayne, Carson, Petey and I are living at the Marriott Town Suites in Fredericksburg. At least there is a pool. Wayne is going to go to work tomorrow and take off on Thursday and that will give us all weekend to hopefully get it all ironed out at the house. The ONLY bright spot in this is that Bekins is footing the bill for the hotel and food for us...but only up to 125.00/day. Does anyone know how much the average hotel in this area goes for that is at least decent? It sure isn't less that 95.00 a night. I guess all three of us can eat on 30.00/day... that 10.00 each...right?

Anyway... at least we are all here... in one piece....I am trying to be patient...really I am... just frustrated beyond all measure.

We are Here!

We are FINALLY here! It seemed like we were going to be driving for weeks....but we did finally get here tonight. I was about 15 miles ahead of Wayne for the last leg... and I was able to drive right to the house and see it for the first time without Wayne and Carson. I will say it is way more house than we have ever seen, but I love it and I am sure it will be our home before too long.

We have NOT heard from the movers yet... and when we checked the status online, it said that it was still in transit. So we are really hoping that we will have it all here tomorrow. If not... we are staying the night at the Marriott Town Suites, a nice room with a kitchenette. At least I could cook something instead of the fast food stuff we have been eating for the past week.

We dropped the animals off at the house and unloaded my car, so that we all could ride in one car to find a hotel and something to eat. Petey... the dog, has NOT used the restroom in 2 days.... at least not a poop. Kinda worried about him... if he doesn't get down to business tomorrow... we may be finding a vet tomorrow. We left the cats at the house for the night. I set up the litter pan and food for them and let them have free roam of the house for tonight so that they can at least get acclimated somewhat. I DID NOT want to have to disassemble another hotel room bed to try and get them out from under the bed again. After we ate a quick dinner and found a hotel...we drove back to the house and picked up Petey. Get back to the hotel and we are on the backside of a hotel with a whole bunch or traveling construction workers as next door neighbors...neither Wayne or I felt too comfortable there so we had to go find another hotel that took pets... after three tries we found the one we are in now.

More exciting news from Carson tomorrow night!

We are in Kentucky

After FINALLY getting on the road yesterday afternoon, we are in Louisville, Kentucky. We spent yesterday morning getting the final things done in Amarillo. I needed an oil change and a tire rotation, and We had to turn the keys in for the old house and all the normal stuff. We left Amarillo at 12:07, and I no sooner hit the I-40 when there was a horrible shake to my car. So I was right by the tire store and I pulled right in. Evidently when they rotated my tires that morning... they forgot to balance them correctly. They got me right in and within 45 minutes I was back on the road.

I forget when you figure travel time from point A to point B that you need to figure in stops. And with Carson, two cats and a dachshund, you HAVE to stop. We stopped last night in Springfield, Missouri, and woke up to torrential rainfall this morning. When we got on the road about 10 am it was raining, not too bad, but enough that there was an accident on the interstate that delayed us for about an hour. Once we got East of the wreck, we only traveled about 10 miles when the rain hit so hard and so fast that I had to pull over to the side of the road for about a half an hour. Wayne had also pulled over ahead of me. We finally got back on the road and stopped in St. Louis and let Carson and the dog out for a run around the Arch. I walked down to the river and there are barricades up all along the river. The flooding is massive... it completely covers both roads that run along the river walk. Carson and I then walked up to the base of the arch and took a few pictures.

We stopped quickly to grab this picture in Indianna.... in all we have covered 6 states. Texas, Oklahoma, Missouri, Illinois, Indiana, and Kentucky. We still have to cover the rest of Kentucky, West Virginia and then Virginia. We figure we have about 9 hours left... and want to get on the road no later than 9 am. We also lost an hour as we are now on eastern time...yuk!

One More day!

I really can not believe that I only have one more night in Texas! Yes, we thought that we would be on the road by now. But as they say the best laid plans of mice and men...anyway, we spent today at the house cleaning, and I must say it is way cleaner than when we moved in.
We plan on hitting the road by 12pm tomorrow, and take it slow....8 hrs a day will get us there by 2 on Sunday.

I will admit that I have been quite emotional over this whole thing, especially the past two days... Just thinking about leaving has me tearing up again. I said goodbye to my sister and her family last night. Some special friends yesterday and today....but I am dreading saying goodbye to my parents. I know I have done it before when I left for college and when Wayne and I first got married... but this one seems so far and so final.

Anyway I can sit here all night, worrying.. or I can got to bed and hopefully get a good nights sleep...Not real easy with a five year old between us.

We do have a MAJOR praise.... we got the final bill for the move... and we came UNDER budget by $30.00....GOD REALLY DOES LOOK OUT FOR US! We sweated the final numbers... and God already had the answer!

We don't know yet if they are going to deliver on Monday or not yet.... but we will find out in the morning.

Hope to post from the road...

17 pages.... our life in 17 pages!

The Bekins moving van arrived a little after 9am on Wednesday with 4 workers and 1 paper work guy. The paperwork guy was responsible for tagging with a sticker every box, every piece of furniture, basically everything that was going on the truck needed a sticker. All I know is that when he was done I had 17 pages of sticker numbers to sign, I had to sign each page. Just before 7pm the truck pulled away. The truck would not back down the driveway it stayed in the cul-de-sac, there will be another charge on the bill since from the front door to the end of the driveway was 159ft (measured by pacing it off). I was not apprised of that until I had to sign the final paperwork- I think I'll contest that charge.

Our moving quote was based on 15,000 pounds and when the driver did a walk through he thought that there would be close to 17,000 pounds, so I started to stress a little as the contract stated that I would have to pay on delivery for 16,500 pounds and if there was more I would be billed for the difference.

Around 11am, the pick-up truck from the Amarillo Downtown Women's Shelter also arrived as they had been called to come pick up stuff that we decided we no longer needed or wanted. Like Kari said, how did we get so much stuff. It took the ADWS truck about an hour to load, their truck was not as large as the moving truck but we did fill it.

Back to the BIG truck, Carson takes his bicycle and walks it up to the guys so that it would be one of the first things loaded, they tried to convince him that he could ride it and they would load it later, nope Carson wanted it on the truck, once his bike was loaded he then got into daddy's truck and sat there strapped into his car seat ready to go to Virginia, he would periodically come out of the truck, but he did spend a lot of time sitting in the truck waiting to go to Virginia. He never got in the way of the movers and occasionally he would carry a small box or two out of the house to join the two long lines of boxes in the driveway. About 6pm Kari took Carson and headed to her parents house so that they could both relax.

A very special friend of ours, Mr. Gary showed up to show support, lend a hand, and to even take away a few items that we offered. Thank you Mr. Gary for all your support, friendship, and guidance over the past few years.

As the truck was closing the door, the driver asked for my phone number as said he would call me after he got a final weight on the truck. Just as we were finished dinner at Kari's parents, the phone rang and it was the driver. The final weight was 15,320 pounds - I CAN LIVE WITH THAT...

Kari and I will be headed back to the house in a little while to clean it up and leave it for the last time. We will be staying in Amarillo with her parents again tonight and then hitting the road first thing Friday morning, putting us into Virginia on Sunday.

Need Your Prayers Please!

It is 8:20 am Central time, and I am waiting patiently (if possible) for the truck to show up and begin loading us. We could most definitely use your prayers as we begin the final part of our move. There is some apprehension on my part... and I am really just now realizing that we are actually going through with this. There has always been in the back of my mind, the hope that something will happen to stop this and we will stay in Amarillo. Please pray for a smooth transition, for us, Carson , our stuff, traveling...no car problems... you know all of it ...blanket us in prayer.

Carson is wild with excitement.... we have talked this up to him for months. Making sure he understood that Virginia is a cool, fun place. He remembers the summer of '05 when we vacationed in the Virginia Beach, Richmond and D.C. area. The time when we saw the BIG fireworks on the National Mall on the Fourth of July. While we will be there in time for the BIG show... I think we are going to play it a little more low key this year and do something a little more local to where we are going to live.

Carson really thinks that all his friends will be in Virginia as well...I hope that he isn't too disappointed when he realizes that they aren't moving too. Last week when we said goodbye to his teachers, Miss Heather told him that she and her family were going to save up their money and come visit us. He took that literally, and expects visits from all his friends, teachers, therapists, etc. I am wanting to get him involved in as much as possible as quickly as possible so that he has the opportunity to make new friends quickly.

Well I am hoping to get to post from the road, but really don't know how tired I will be every night. If not I will definitely update once we gt in and get computer service again.

Are we married mom?

Last evening my parents had one of their famous BBQ's for the family. They have a big Tiernan smoker, and they love to use it! Last night the whole family, with the exception of my sister Holly and her family (in El Paso) came over kinda as a going away gathering. My Aunt Verita and cousin Dennis and his wife Allison and their youngest daughter Lyndi came as well. Lyndi and Carson are only 2 months apart, with Carson being the elder of the two. Those two kiddos, second cousins (right?) were like two peas in a pod. What one did the other copied and so forth. The two of them were quite alike in temperment and activity level. Actually, I think Carson is a little infatuated, he kept asking me today if he and I were married. I explained that I am married to Daddy, and one day you will find a girl and marry her. I should have known, his mind was working, and he piped up and wanted to know if he could still marry me and Lyndi. In the past we have had issues with girls and boys and Carson not wanting a thing to do with girls. He only wanted to marry a boy... because they were fun, liked dinosaurs and played in the dirt. Anyway, he now wants to marry his cousin. Once again I am trying to explain why he can't really marry Lyndi, and his response is, "but Mom, she IS a girl".

Definitely a sweetie!

Carson was watching Lyndi the entire time I was taking her picture. He HAD to pose like she did.

Yikes!

We just got a phone call from the moving company... They aren't going to have a truck in Amarillo until WEDNESDAY. They were supposed to come tomorrow! On the positive side we could always use the extra day for packing etc. On the negative, the delay is going to cause some issues with delivery. They are now stating that they won't be able to deliver until the 1st of July...that in itself is not a huge thing, but for the simple little detail that Wayne has to be back at work on the 1st. Now I have done a lot in getting this house ready ahead of time, packing, purging, and organizing. BUT I really don't want to be at a house I have never even seen, in a area I have never been to, with movers I haven't met. Let alone what do I do with Carson during all this... not knowing a single soul in the area. The delay in the loading will really push us in getting the house cleaned after we vacate. We have also already contacted all of our utilities to disconnect on Wednesday. So the movers will really be sweating loading the truck with no A/C and electricity after 4 pm. (Wayne is going to call and delay utilities if possible). Not to mention that we are supposed to meet all the utility people at the new house on Monday...If we miss the DISH people I am sure that they will reschedule.... a couple of weeks from then.

Wayne contacted our agent and he was unaware of all these issues. Hopefully we will hear back from him soon...I really hope that things get worked out soon... we could use some good news and less stress at this point.

There is a silver lining in all this besides the extra day in packing... we get one more day with friends and family...we are gonna relax this evening for a while and hit the ball running in the morning.

~Yes! There is a Light~

I can see the end of the tunnel. With Wayne home things have progressed much faster than I anticipated. We are in the final countdown...only the rest of our bedroom (a good hour will complete it), an hour in the kitchen, and maybe a couple of hours in the garage. Plus a few closets to empty... and we are DONE! The truck is supposed to be here bright and early Tuesday morning...Wayne assures me that we will be loaded in one day. We have to clean the house on Wednesday... and most likely hit the road on Thursday afternoon at the latest. This would put us in Fredericksburg late Saturday evening, and allow us to relax at least one day before the truck gets there on Monday. Then it all starts again...YIKES!

We decided to wait on the new vehicle...Because we most likely will need the truck to haul some stuff that wont fit on the moving truck... and we really don't want to rush and buy... we want to research what vehicle would be best for our family. The downside is that I have to drive my car and Wayne will drive the pick-up with Carson.

I came real close to having Wayne move a bunch of packed boxes out to the garage yesterday to give me some room in the house to turn around. Thankfully I am a scatterbrain, and did not get around to mentioning it, because we had over 2.5 inches of rain late last night...it rained so fast and hard that our garage flooded quite a bit. Wayne was out in the garage as it was at 1:00 a.m. moving a few boxes that we had moved from the storage room. Then he spent the better part of an hour this morning sweeping that water out of the garage. The rain also came in under the front door...but towels were able to stop it from going to far.

Things are definitely winding down... I promised Carson and some friends that we would hit the water park for a few hours on Monday for the last time...

We are finally moving... and as Carson so eloquently put it...we get to be a family again.

Last Leg to Amarillo was 915 Miles

I got in to Amarillo about 10:30 last night after covering 915 miles. In total I did 1,712 miles in 2 days, 797 the first day and 915 the second. At least I have 5 days rest before heading back. I had called Kari as I exited I-40 and told her I was about 5 minutes out, since Carson was still up they went into the garage and as my truck started up the driveway he came running out to me I stopped my truck and he jumped up into the window to give me a hug and a kiss. AWESOME...made the 1,712 miles all worth it, and yes I also got a big hug and kiss or two from Kari. It's going to be a busy 5 days.....stayed tuned.