For those of you who know me you know that I am beginning a new adventure with my husband, Mark. We are going to Fukuoka, Japan to teach. We are both thrilled to have this amazing opportunity.
The end of the each school year is always a very busy time. Teachers are preparing their classrooms for the summer break and getting all of the end of the year paperwork completed and put in the proper places. For any teacher this takes time, but for teachers who are leaving the school it is something that must be done carefully so that there are no loose ends. Saying goodbyes to students, colleagues and friends makes this an even more difficult time. I had a very hard time saying goodbye to my students. Some of my students have had classes with me for the past six years. It is hard to just let all of that go without feeling some sadness. Sadness doesn't mean that you can't or won't leave. Change is good for everyone and personally, I feel everyone should experience change and adventure in their life. It adds another dimension to who you are.
On May 29th I went to school knowing that I was saying goodbye to some people forever. At the same time I knew that for some of the teachers/staff members I wasn't saying goodbye at all. I knew and know that I will keep in touch with many from Evans and Colorado Springs for years to come. Yes, I will miss seeing some people everyday, but knowing that they are there for me makes me feel comforted.
I was told by a very wise woman that people come into our lives for a reason, a season or a lifetime. No matter how long each person is in my life the memories I have made will last a lifetime. Could anything be better than that?
Mark stayed home on the 29th to get the Uhaul truck and to meet the movers who would be packing up our house. We at least knew that we would not be able to do that on our own. I was at school in the morning and then had a bunch of errands to do. While I was at Petsmart to get the cats some travel necessities Mark called. He was stranded at Uhaul up near Voyager because they did not have a truck for us even though we had two calls over the previous two days confirming our truck reservation. We ended up going to five different Uhaul locations because each place told us they did not have a truck for us despite the fact that the previous Uhaul location we were at called and were told there was a truck for us. This honestly went on for almost three hours. I was so frustrated and exhausted by this point. We went all the way from the Chapel Hills area to Platte. At this point I was starving and I knew I was headed for "scary hungry woman" mode. Let's just say it isn't a pretty sight. We finally stopped to eat. Once we were heading home to see what we could do to locate a truck we had a call. Yes, it was the movers. The movers who were supposed to call us before they left for our house. That way we could let them know about the "no" truck situation. Nope, they were already at our house where they had been for 30 minutes. We got home and Mark paid them to go get a bite to eat since there time had been wasted. By now I was beginning to think we would never be able to find a truck. We called a few truck rental companies and found out that basically we were stuck with a 16 foot truck. We were looking for a 20 or 24 foot truck. Mark had talked to Penske and was told he could get a truck at 4:00. I had already scheduled my last massage with the best massage therapist in the world.So, I did the only thing I could...I took Mark early. He would just have to wait for the truck. I dropped him off and went to leave and found out they had a truck available, a 22 foot truck. That was even better than we had expected. Now maybe things would go a little smoothly.
When I was finished with my massage I had a bunch of messages from Mark. The movers were able to come back and were loading up the truck. I just had to get to the store for some furniture moving blankets/pads. I could not believe our luck that we were actually back on schedule.....or so we thought.
Kara and Josh had come by as the movers were finishing up. I thought we had so much done and only a few things to gather up. Kara was so kind and asked if we needed help. I told her no since we only had a little more to do. Well, she obviously knew more than me because it took us until the next evening at 5:30 PM to finish getting everything done. By the time we left I had been to Goodwill and the Ronal McDonald's recycling place at least 3 or 4 times. I just knew there was no way that I was sleeping on the floor again. We loaded up the cats and headed out for Ft. Collins. Day one would not be very far, but at least we were on our way.
As soon as I pulled out of our neighborhood I started to cry. Colorado Springs is such a beautiful place and I was truly sad to say goodbye. As I continued on my way I felt better about leaving since I knew I was on my way to Oregon. Mark and I made it to the hotel at the same time. I had overshot the hotel location by ten miles so having to backtrack gave Mark time to catch up with me. Let me tell you all something....staying in a hotel that does not have an elevator with two cats and many bags to bring in for safety reasons is not a good combination. I felt like I was going to collapse after carrying things up and down the stairs. Finally, we were able to get cleaned up and then relax.
We were very rested when we got up the following morning. Our goal for the day was to get to the Sandman Hotel in Tremonten, Utah. The drive was very dull through Wyoming. I had never been that way before and was so glad to get into Utah. It is hard to be very energetic while driving through such boring landscapes. We both made it to our final destination, although I arrived a good three hours before Mark. At this point the cats were really doing well. I think they were getting used to being in their carriers in the car. They were hardly meowing at all. It was a little bit stressful getting them back in their carriers in the morning. All in all, travel was going smoothly.
Our last full day of driving was ahead of us. Our goal was either La Grande or The Dalles, Oregon. The drive into Oregon was beautiful. Well, to be honest the beginning of the drive into Oregon after leaving Idaho was not really beautiful. It was interesting, but I prefer the mountains and green trees. I made it all the way to The Dalles and was right by the gorge. It was very nice. I had made good time and I was really going to go all the way to Salem, but Mark said to play it safe. Once I arrived at the hotel I realized that stopping for the day was a much better decision. Mark was having troubles with the truck so he had to stop in La Grande for the night. Te cats really enjoyed the last hotel. They were such expert travelers at this point.
The next morning Mark was up and at it early. He needed to catch up to me so that we could get to Salem and get the movers to unload the truck. I made it to Salem within two hours of leaving the Dalles. It was an amazing drive. It was cool, foggy and rainy. I soon got to Salem and then, of course, it took me an hour to find the complex. I guess I should have studied the map more carefully. It isn't hard to find, I was just all turned around with my directions. Mark arrived shortly after me and we met the movers who were going to unload the truck. The movers did the majority of the hard work. We had them go to the storage unit to unload the rest of the items that were not coming into the apartment. Bye the end of the day was sore, bruised and exhausted. We had to get one bed put together so we had a place to sleep.
We were finally able to see the light at the end of the tunnel. We made it safely to Salem and now we just needed to get the place set up. We wouldn't have our cable until Tuesday (we arrived on a Saturday). We did have our internet though. (Even if we didn't know it until Sunday.)
The beginning of our vacation was here and we were ready for it!
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