Well Tom and I are in South Carolina 
now and getting pretty well settled in.
Our last little bit of time in Portland
(or at least my last little bit of time in Portland) was hectic and bittersweet. My mom and her friend from Tennessee flew in at the end of May and puttered around (packing and exploring) while I finished up my last few days working for Dr's Brown and Doleac. My dad flew in on June 5th and Tom's parents drove up for the weekend to attend Tom's graduation.
Everyone helped pack and Bill and Molly were nice enough to take on packing the last of the paintings. Bill even built a crate for the largest ones. Packing and loading the truck took a lot longer then we had expected and actually took a lot more room, too. We had the 24' truck (that dad drove) fully loaded with Tom's car on a 4 wheel trailer in tow ( a scale along the way confirmed that out truck with a weight limit of 26,000lbs was carrying over 31,000, I don't remember how overweight the trailer was) and then rented a 5'x8' trailer for me to tow with my car. That still meant having our bikes shipped and we had to leave our lawn furniture behind. We just plain ran out of room! I thought I had done so well culling down and donating and selling stuff, but there was still so much!
Our little Caravan left Portland on June 9th at about 3:30pm. It was a much later start then we had expected, but we ended up with a lot of extra stuff to do that day. Considering the kids climbed in the back of my car and refused to get out (as if to say "YOU are not leaving US!") about four hours before we left, they did great that day and I was impressed with their behavior the whole way. They acted as if they had lost faith in my ability to find the beach, but they slept most of the way and when we stopped they were very good about doing what needed doing, getting a drink, and then they wanted right back in the car.
So the first day we drove about 300 miles and spent the night at a Super 8 in Baker City, OR. We left Baker City the next day about 9:30am and had one of our most nerve wracking days of the trip. Everything went fairly well until late evening when we were getting close to stopping. We were driving from Utah to Wyoming and I had about a 1/4 tank of gas. We'll be stopping soon, no problem. Except there was a lot of construction and none of the exits had services and I started getting really low on gas. So while I'm trying to find gas, Dad is behind me driving the truck and it just dies as he's going up a small incline. Up until then I hadn't been panicking. I figured if I DID run out of gas, he would pass me, stop, and we could drop Tom's car and I could run up and get gas. So, now the panic sets in. I'm figuring not only am I going to get stuck way past nowhere, but dad is going to call Budget and they'll send out a new truck and we are going to have to move everything from one truck to the other. I'm ready to cry because that took all weekend in Portland. Turns out it was just a hose that came loose and all they had to do was put on a new clamp and refill the coolant. I also made it to the next exit which was where we were staying anyway. I do have to say that I have never before unscrewed my gas cap and heard a vacuum! So, that was how we arrived in Evenston Wyoming! About 500 miles.
We stayed in a Motel 6 that night and needless to say it was nothing to leave the light on for. When I mentioned our disappointment to the front desk staff the next morning they took note and we received a letter of apology and a 100% refund in the mail! Those were some expensive pillows we didn't get!
When we woke up the next morning, June 11, it was 32 degrees and started snowing as we finished filling up and were getting on the road. We had the whole gambit of weather that day; Snow, hail, REALLY strong winds. We got to Goodland KS that night and it was in the 70's. This was also the night there were several tornadoes in Eastern Kansas and some Boy Scouts were killed at there camp. 641 miles for the day.
We left Goodland, KS on June 12th and it was hot and humid and in the 80's all day. We hit a lot of rain and several thunderstorms throughout the day, and were chased into Missouri but another Big storm that his Eastern Kansas that night. It was a 620 mile day.
On Friday the 13th, we left O'Fallen Missouri at 8:30am and drove 597 miles, making it to Mom & Dad's house in Tennessee around 10pm. All in all we drove though OR, ID, UT, WY, CO, KS, MO, IL, KY, and TN between 3:30pm on June 9th and 10pm on June 13th.
We got to relax for the weekend before making the final leg and getting into Charleston on June 16th. I signed the papers and we got the keys to our new house. Palmetto Bugs and all!
now and getting pretty well settled in.
Our last little bit of time in Portland
(or at least my last little bit of time in Portland) was hectic and bittersweet. My mom and her friend from Tennessee flew in at the end of May and puttered around (packing and exploring) while I finished up my last few days working for Dr's Brown and Doleac. My dad flew in on June 5th and Tom's parents drove up for the weekend to attend Tom's graduation.
Everyone helped pack and Bill and Molly were nice enough to take on packing the last of the paintings. Bill even built a crate for the largest ones. Packing and loading the truck took a lot longer then we had expected and actually took a lot more room, too. We had the 24' truck (that dad drove) fully loaded with Tom's car on a 4 wheel trailer in tow ( a scale along the way confirmed that out truck with a weight limit of 26,000lbs was carrying over 31,000, I don't remember how overweight the trailer was) and then rented a 5'x8' trailer for me to tow with my car. That still meant having our bikes shipped and we had to leave our lawn furniture behind. We just plain ran out of room! I thought I had done so well culling down and donating and selling stuff, but there was still so much!
Our little Caravan left Portland on June 9th at about 3:30pm. It was a much later start then we had expected, but we ended up with a lot of extra stuff to do that day. Considering the kids climbed in the back of my car and refused to get out (as if to say "YOU are not leaving US!") about four hours before we left, they did great that day and I was impressed with their behavior the whole way. They acted as if they had lost faith in my ability to find the beach, but they slept most of the way and when we stopped they were very good about doing what needed doing, getting a drink, and then they wanted right back in the car.
So the first day we drove about 300 miles and spent the night at a Super 8 in Baker City, OR. We left Baker City the next day about 9:30am and had one of our most nerve wracking days of the trip. Everything went fairly well until late evening when we were getting close to stopping. We were driving from Utah to Wyoming and I had about a 1/4 tank of gas. We'll be stopping soon, no problem. Except there was a lot of construction and none of the exits had services and I started getting really low on gas. So while I'm trying to find gas, Dad is behind me driving the truck and it just dies as he's going up a small incline. Up until then I hadn't been panicking. I figured if I DID run out of gas, he would pass me, stop, and we could drop Tom's car and I could run up and get gas. So, now the panic sets in. I'm figuring not only am I going to get stuck way past nowhere, but dad is going to call Budget and they'll send out a new truck and we are going to have to move everything from one truck to the other. I'm ready to cry because that took all weekend in Portland. Turns out it was just a hose that came loose and all they had to do was put on a new clamp and refill the coolant. I also made it to the next exit which was where we were staying anyway. I do have to say that I have never before unscrewed my gas cap and heard a vacuum! So, that was how we arrived in Evenston Wyoming! About 500 miles.
We stayed in a Motel 6 that night and needless to say it was nothing to leave the light on for. When I mentioned our disappointment to the front desk staff the next morning they took note and we received a letter of apology and a 100% refund in the mail! Those were some expensive pillows we didn't get!
When we woke up the next morning, June 11, it was 32 degrees and started snowing as we finished filling up and were getting on the road. We had the whole gambit of weather that day; Snow, hail, REALLY strong winds. We got to Goodland KS that night and it was in the 70's. This was also the night there were several tornadoes in Eastern Kansas and some Boy Scouts were killed at there camp. 641 miles for the day.
We left Goodland, KS on June 12th and it was hot and humid and in the 80's all day. We hit a lot of rain and several thunderstorms throughout the day, and were chased into Missouri but another Big storm that his Eastern Kansas that night. It was a 620 mile day.On Friday the 13th, we left O'Fallen Missouri at 8:30am and drove 597 miles, making it to Mom & Dad's house in Tennessee around 10pm. All in all we drove though OR, ID, UT, WY, CO, KS, MO, IL, KY, and TN between 3:30pm on June 9th and 10pm on June 13th.
We got to relax for the weekend before making the final leg and getting into Charleston on June 16th. I signed the papers and we got the keys to our new house. Palmetto Bugs and all!
