Most of this weekend has been rainy and gloomy, starting on Friday. Courtesy, I believe, of Hurricane Kyle. It's reminiscent of the drive to Maryland.You might wonder why this reminds me of the drive. Well, I tried to cover all my bases - got a GPS to help with navigation, made lists of what to bring with me, and got a book to tell me which hotels would be pet friendly. The one thing I forgot to do was check the weather. It had just been so hot and dry in Texas that I just didn't even think about the weather.
The morning after all my stuff was picked up by the moving company, I loaded what I'd set aside, along with Kitty Cat, and headed to LA to pick up Mom. Kitty Cat turned out to be an awesome little traveler. She did well at Grandma's house (in the photo) as well as the hotels. The route mapped out from Louisiana was to take I-20 pretty much all the way. So, early Saturday afternoon, after lunching in LA, we headed out on I-20 and did pretty good. We didn't quite make it as far as we hoped, spending the night in Pearl, MS, which turned out to be a nice little town. We woke up to the weather gifts of Tropical Storm Fay. After checking the weather both on TV and online we realized that if we took the originally mapped out route we would be driving right into more of it. Not really what we wanted to do. Fortunately, from where we stayed, it was less than two miles back to the junction for I-55 which would take us into Memphis, where we could hook up with I-40 and come that way. So, armed with both printed directions and the GPS (which tends to lose connectivity in heavy rain) we set out for Day 2 of the trip. Blessedly, the rain wasn't bad and after we got to Memphis it was clear skies for the rest of the drive. Day 2 saw us making it as far as Farragut, TN. To my amazement, only one hotel around that exit ramp took pets. A Super 8. Not my first choice, but honestly, the mattresses were some of the most comfortable I've had in a hotel and there were food choices around. Considering it was 9:00 pm and we were exhausted, this was it. Very basic, but clean. And, let's face it, we weren't there that long.
We set out fairly early on Day 3 and managed to make it all the way to MD. Spent most of the trip driving through Tennessee I think, but it's a gorgeous state with very nice rest stops. It's actually now on my list for potential retirement spots. In MD we splurged and stayed at the Doubletree. Their chocolate chip cookies are still good and the room was just fun to stay in. Kitty Cat particularly liked the padded luggage rack. The following morning we headed to the apartment complex for me to sign paperwork and pick-up keys. It's now Tuesday and the driver (who picked up our stuff) said that they'd deliver on Friday. Among other things, we found camp chairs so we'd have something to sit on and got laundry detergent so we could do some wash.
All was going well except I was not doing well on the air mattress. I definitely prefer sleeping in a bed. On Wednesday, the moving company called to let me know that my stuff would be delivered on Sunday between 8:00 am and 9:00 am. We were crushed and trying to figure out what we were going to do. My cousin's friend came to our rescue. They were going sailing for 10 days and needed someone to house sit, even if only for a few days, so we could go stay at their house. Talk about blessings. Even Kitty Cat did okay, though I don't think she'd ever been in a house that big before.
The furniture was actually delivered Saturday, so I was able to have Sunday and Monday (Memorial Day) to do some unpacking before work. Mom flew back to LA on Sunday morning, so I left Kitty Cat enconsed at the friend's house and did a bit of unpacking and organizing (with much appreciated help from friend DB) before heading back to get her and bring her home (after a stop at my favorite new place, California Tortilla, for take out for dinner). It did take me a little over a week to get everything done, but all the boxes are gone now and it's just organizing for a smaller space that remains. But for right now, I'm not rushing anything. My goal is to finally organize what I have rather than haphazardly throw it in containers. And, that, I know takes time.
