Saturday, May 29, 2010

Day 4

We spent the night in the parking lot of a Holiday Inn Express and hit the road again once everyone was awake at 6:30 in the morning. We stopped at a Pilot truck stop to take showers which wasn't all that bad. Surprisingly very clean which is what they pride themselves on. A clean shower, towel, wash cloth and soap for a 15 minute hot shower, all for $10. I, still wore my shoes.

Back on the road, we headed towards St. Louis, Missouri. I must say I don't really know what I expected from the city, but I now know I never have a reason to ever go back there. Not much to see. The nicest part of the town was the green grass around the Arch in the National Park. The Mississippi River must have just flooded the area too because so many roads were closed. It was hard getting around the back ally ways with the motor home and the trailer. We went through a pretty sketchy part of town to find the cheap gas station Lance had found with his phone.

We made our way towards “Cans Ass City” Missouri, according to the GPS pronunciation. We had McDonalds for breakfast and lunch so decided to go with Sweet Tomatoes all you can eat salad bar for dinner. Then on to Kansas for another night in a KOA Kampground.

Not too much excitement today!


Friday, May 28, 2010

Day 3

Happy Birthday sweet baby Brett!! One year old today!!We spent last night in Yogi Bear's Jellystone Park Campground in Nashville, Tennessee. We were lucky to find such a nice place since Nashville had just been destroyed by heavy flooding. We were disappointed because we wanted to go to lunch at the Rainforest Cafe for Brett, but it was closed. As was the Grand Ol' Oprey museum. We hung out for most of the morning at the campground because Lance and George were trying to get a better hitch for the yukon. One that was rated for towing a heavy load. A friend called Lance and suggested we check the rating of the hitch we had and sure enough it wasn't rated for enough tonnage. Thanks Matt!

Back on the highway, we headed north towards Kentucky. Lance was very excited, we were going to take Brett to the National Corvette Museum in Bowling Green, Kentucky. He absolutely loved it. Brett loves anything with a steering wheel. We ate lunch at the Corvette Cafe and Papa bought him a diecast model Corvette. Sophia had to get one too so they can have car races. Brett's is Green and Sophia's is Orange. Don't ask me the year, because I have no idea. I guess cars were never my thing.

Next stop, Mammoth Cave National Park. George and Renee joined us again in the motor home. We arrived just in time for their last 2 hour New Entrance Tour of the day. We got to see the 3 different types of caves, Active, Dormant, and Dying and learned about all three. The most magnificent being the Frozen Niagra formation of stalagmites and stalactites. Sophia did great climbing all 500 stairs all by herself, and kept reminding us that “she WASN'T scared.” Our Park Ranger tour guide was great, adding to the fun experience. It's always great to see people who enjoy their job, acting like every tour was special in its own way even though he does it day in and day out.

Next we headed back to Bowling Green, Kentucky to find a special place to eat dinner and have cake for Brett's birthday party. Since Brett's favorite food is pancakes, we thought Denny's would be perfect! I know, not the greatest place to celebrate the baby's first birthday but our options were very minimal and it was already 7:00 by the time we got there. Lance ran to the grocery store while we ordered dinner and came back with the cutest little chocolate cake for Brett to devour along with a bag of marshmallows, something Brett had found a new love for last week after we made s'mores. What a great Daddy!


Loaded up with sugar, we loaded back into the motor home to get a head start on the boring, from what I've heard, journey across the plains.

Thursday, May 27, 2010

Day 2

Yesterday we left Asheville, North Carolina and headed west into the Great Smokey Mountain National Park. We headed into Tennessee and George and Renee parked the Yukon off highway 40 and jumped into the motor home with us and we headed to Gatlinburg, Tennessee, “The Gateway to the Great Smokey Mountains.” A very cute touristy town. It reminded me a lot of Estes Park, Colorado which is the “Gateway to the Rocky Mountains.” We were going to ride up the big gondola to get a better view of the mountains but we decided against it because we had just missed it and it was going to be another 20 minute wait before the next one left. We had taken our time eating lunch and we knew we wanted to see some of the park before heading west. We stopped at the visitors center inside the park and watched a short film about the park and walked around the museum. Sophia and Brett loved it because they had all different kinds of real animals, birds and insects stuffed and on display for our viewing pleasure. After getting all the stuffed creatures we could handle, we began to make our way back towards the highway to get the truck and head to Nashville, Tennessee for dinner and sight seeing.

Driving up and down the mountain passes the trailer was starting sway a bit so we decided to take some time during a gas fill up stop to move some of the heavy things around inside it. Once the weight was distributed a little better, Lance came across a can of lubricant from one of the crates inside the trailer and decided to spray it on the generator in the motor home since he hadn't been able to get it started for the past few days. Not that we needed it for any specific reason, but if you know Lance, you know that if something isn't working properly, he needs to find a way to fix it, no matter what its priority.

This is where the story gets interesting!

I'm driving now, Lance is in the back with the kids getting them something to eat and decides to start up the generator. It powers the microwave and the air conditioner in the back without a problem at all. It stalled out a few times but started back up again each time, no problem. Lance was all excited he had gotten it working and I was fine with it because now they could stay cool in the back without me getting frostbit having to blast the AC from the front seat.

I should have known better when I first started to smell something burning. Lance just said, “yeah, its electrical burning,” and just kind of shrugged assuming something we drove past was the reason. The next thing I know, I see the Yukon barreling up beside me with Renee's body hanging out the window with her arms flailing, screaming, “PULL OVER!!! YOU'RE ON FIRE!!!” No sooner did I see the smoke and flames bursting out the side of the motor home, I pulled over off to the side of the road. Lance had the door open and was ready to jump out with the fire extinguisher before I even came to a halt. And Wouldn't you know it, he pulled the pin and went to spray the fire and NOTHING came out! I was screaming, “GET THE KIDS, OUT OUT OUT!!!” Call it a mother's instinct, I don't know, but all I wanted to do was get the kids out of the car. I could have cared less at that moment if the motor home went up in a ball of flames as long as we were all out of it! And of course all in those split seconds I'm picturing in my head the most frightening of situations. Sophia, who's usually quick to get out of her car seat the moment the car stops, sat strapped into her seat staring at me wide eyed as I'm yelling at her to “get out, get out, NOW” and unbuckling Brett. I grabbed the two kids up in my arms and ran as fast as I could up the hill away from the road, somehow grabbing my phone somewhere in the scurry. I quickly dialed 911, which took a surprisingly long time to connect, probably 15 seconds which felt like eons. I had no idea where we were except that we were in Tennessee on I40 westbound. I could see a McDonald's sign and a Shell gas station sign above the tree line but the exit sign was just far enough away that I couldn't make out the words. The operator informed me that he was just getting another call and he had my location and was sending the fire department on its way.

Meanwhile, a man in a black pick up truck, ready for work in his Lowe's smock, stopped to help but only had a BIG GULP of Hi-C and a shovel. He threw what he had left of his drink into the flame and went to go scoop some dirt from the side of the road to try to smother it. George came running from the Yukon with a gallon of water that he had just purchased at the gas station a few miles back and was able to put out the fire.

By now a state trooper had arrived and also had been carrying a few gallons of water, in a red fuel can of all things. Lance, in hind sight, was upset that I didn't get a picture of him pouring “gas” on the fire!

And here come the fire trucks, and the police cars, and the ambulance, and all the volunteer firemen within the dispatch radius. Because, you know, we are in the “Volunteer State.”

After a lot of what seemed like a bunch of men standing around watching as one guy put the fire hose to the side of the vehicle, me, Renee and the kids climbed down the hill to thank the men from the Gordonsville, Tennessee Fire Department for coming out to our rescue. We were back on the road.

At this point we knew we were not going to be making it to Nashville for dinner. We wanted to find the nearby Lowe's, not only to thank the man who stopped to help and to return the shovel that he left at the side of the road, but to buy a new fire extinguisher. We bought 2.

We went to O'Charlies for dinner where I got the first drink I could see on the menu. Some kind of fruity margarita, and we sat and laughed about what had just happened, thanking God for letting us live to see another day.

Wednesday, May 26, 2010

Day 1


OK, so my goal is to try to write every day about our journey across the country for you all who are interested! So here goes...

Of course we couldn't start the trip without at least one thing going wrong. We departed Elizabeth City at about 9:45 but had to head over to the weigh station to check the trailer load, which of course was too heavy on the tongue weight of the truck. All because of, none other than, Lance's infamous bio diesel. I was questioning the reasoning for loading it in there in the first place but he felt the need, maybe because its his love, I don't know, so I wasn't going to be the nagging wife I wanted to be. But come on, 3 barrels of diesel fuel? Really? They do sell gas in Alaska!

So back at the weigh station, Lance was crying on the inside because he knew he was going to have to part with it. But how, was the big question. So we headed to the dump transfer station up the road in Camden where he was sure he would just be able to pump it into the used oil drum. But when we got there, it was of course closed. At this point I could almost see the steam coming out of Lance's ears because he was getting so frustrated in addition to being way over tired. So we decided to drive a little further down the road to a gas station to ask anyone if they'd be interested in it, or knew of anyone who might be.

At this point Lance suggested that I head up to the airport to pick up Renee who had to drop of the rental car she and George had driven up from Florida the day before, and he and George would rendezvous with us as we turned back west. I said OK and the kids and I were on our way, praying that Lance and George could find some way to get rid of the fuel so we could actually start our trip.

Thankfully, a man, who I assume was the owner of the gas station, offered to take it off of his hands because apparently he knew someone who would be able to use it. So Lance got to work transferring the fuel from the trailer into his empty barrel he put in the guys shed out back. Must have looked very suspicious. Lance had to give him the one empty barrel he had which was the only one he really wanted to keep, because it had “sentimental value.” It was the first piece of equipment he had when he started his whole bio diesel project. Yes, I'm serious. So now, several hundred pounds less, Lance and George headed up the road. I really didn't want to say it, but I just have too. Lance, “I TOLD YOU SO!”

We finally joined back together somewhere in Suffolk, Virginia, just in time for lunch, at a Chick-fil-A. So 1 o'clock, there we were, finally leaving Hampton Roads ready to start our voyage. Lance, me, and the kids in the motor home and George and Renee in the Yukon.

Now, this next story might be a little TMI for some of you, but I can't help myself. I decided to keep driving because I knew Lance was tired from running around since 6:00 in the morning so I figured he could try to rest a bit. Not 30 minutes after eating lunch, Lance decided he wanted to try out the toilet. And not just to go pee, mind you. He sat there for what seemed like 15 minutes just taking his time. Meanwhile I'm screaming at him at the top of my lungs from the driver seat and hes pretending not to hear me. I was ready to kill him. He couldn't hold it until the next rest stop, he had to make the rest of us miserable and suffer through his stench! Thats what I get for trying to be thoughtful I guess!

The rest of the day was great, Driving through Virginia is very beautiful. We stopped for dinner at, of all places, Walmart. We weren't all that hungry so it was mostly just snacking while getting a few needed supplies. An hour and a half later, back on the road! We made it to Asheville, North Carolina at about 10:45 where we called it a night for our first experience in a KOA campground.

Not bad for a first day!

On Our Way

So, I guess you can say we survived our week and a half in the trailer on base. I don't know that I could have done any more.

When we were first checking in the lady at MWR told us we might have to play musical house because she didn't have a trailer open for the length of time that we needed. We were not very excited but thankfully someone canceled their reservation and she graciously worked out the list so we wouldn't have to play musical house after all. We didn't have all that much stuff but moving everything out of the fridge alone, would have been enough of a hassle.

We would have had to move into one of the older trailers that when she was describing it to me she said something to the effect of, “It looks like there's mold on the walls, but it really isn't. Its just an old stain that they tried to remove that wouldn't come out.” And, “We already know about the holes in the walls, they've been there for quite some time, you know how those boys can get sometimes!” Instead we stayed in the new trailer that had a sign posted warning us that some of the materials used in the construction of the house contain and emit formaldehyde and that small children were among those at greatest risk who could be effected by this. Gotta love a plastic house!

From what I gather, the new people checking in are supposed to assume the renters before them swept and mopped the floor before they left. Clearly, the people who stayed in the house before us, did no such thing. After the first day, poor Brett, crawling around, was filthy! His hands and knees were practically black. He enjoyed it, finding all kinds of new discoveries, always with a smile on his face. Every night, Lance and I were laughing so hard at each other because in between taking our shoes off and getting into bed, our feet had collected God only knows what. So instead of climbing nicely under the covers we first got on our hands and feet at the foot of the bed and swiped our feet back, much like a dog would, you know, trying unsuccessfully to bury its excrement on top of that nasty bed cover, like you'd find in most cheep hotels, that thing thats probably never washed. So we adapted the name “Doggy Dance” for it. Every night we would double check that the other person did the “Doggy Dance” before getting under the sheets. Very romantic, I know! I absolutely hate the feeling of dirt and crumbs in the bed. Needless to say, I swept and mopped the entire house on the second day!

Lance and I officially decided we can not share a double bed! After being used to sleeping on a King size bed for 6 years, going down to a double just doesn't work! We need our space! Lance almost went to sleep in a different room one night because we were over it, but we were both so tired that night that I don't think we moved after our heads hit the pillows.

Otherwise, the house was great. The kids both had their own rooms, and we even had cable! Sophia became obsessed with the show Yo Gabba Gabba. You may have heard of it, DJ Lance pulls these characters out of his boom box and they come to life. I'm not sure of all the names, but the girl's name is Foofa, who I swear they meant to make look like a foopa! And another ones name is Toodee. Sophia didn't think I was serious when I told her the name. She kind of looked at me embarrassed when they said it on the show. The kind of look like, “Mommy, why did they give him a name, where in my book, means fart?” Every time we came in the house, no matter what time of day, she would glance at the clock on the wall and come to me and say, “Mommy, both hands are at the bottom” because she knew the show came on at 6:30.

We closed on our house on Thursday. What an awesome feeling that is. I love looking at our online banking now that zeros are in place of those “amount due” columns!!

After the closing, we went to a friend's birthday party back on base. Sophia got a “Happy Birthday” balloon and cute little watering can with a tiny terracotta pot and some seeds to grow flowers. She wanted to plant the seeds as soon as we got into the house. So we couldn't disappoint her. She's not quite old enough to understand the concept that it takes time for the flowers to grow. So she sat there for probably 5 minutes waiting for a flower to grow up out of the soil. She even pulled up a chair. It was too cute. So that night, Lance went outside and dug up a flower from outside and put it in her little pot in the window. You wouldn't believe how excited that little girl was when she saw the plant the next morning. “Mommy, IT GRRREEWW!! When I was sleeping!!!”

The last few days we spent trying to get organized into the motor home and the trailer we're pulling behind the Yukon. What a feat that was! Thankfully we managed to fit it all in! Getting the Jetta inside the trailer with no ramp was no easy task. Good thing Lance is very inventive. If you ever want to know how he got it in there, you'll have to ask him! Its too much for me to try to describe, and you' re probably already getting bored with this one, so i'll finish up...

We said our sorrowful goodbyes last night to some of the greatest friends we have ever had. You know who you are!! We love you, we miss you already and we can't wait for you to come visit!!

Monday, May 17, 2010

Ready to go!

Sorry we've been so bad at posting new stories, but a lot has been happening in the last few months!
First, for those of you who didn't know, we are moving to Sitka, Alaska! (Yes, just like from The Proposal.) We are all very excited! Even Sophia, who just turned 3, on Friday, gets excited every time someone asks her where we are moving too. "To AlaaSkuh!" she says with a huge grin on her face! She can even point to it on a map if you show her one!
So after we found out where the Coast Guard was to be stationing us next, the planning begun!
First things first, Lance had to get qualified for the new job he will be taking over once we arrive at the new Air Station, which took him away from us for 5 weeks down to Pensacola, Florida (Lucky!) We got to visit him for a week for Easter weekend which was a blast, aside from the headache of trying to travel by myself with the 2 kids! But it all worked out beautifully...Papa picked us up from the airport in Orlando and we got our first taste of what traveling in the motor home (which we purchased from Papa & Grandma) will be like. Lets just say, it took A LOT longer than expected. You don't really realize how much time you can actually lose going 55-60mph as opposed to 70-75mph!! 10 hours later...we made it to Pensacola for a fun week!
After being back in North Carolina for a few days, I unpacked the bags only to pack them up again to head to Connecticut for a few weeks to spend some much need time with the family! Mom was gracious enough to fly into Norfolk as me and the kids headed north, only to get in the car and head straight back to Connecticut, so she could help me along for yet another 10 hour car ride. Not to mention, she had had surgery on her foot only a few weeks before. Thanks mom! Always good to be home.
We got to celebrate with GG for her SURPRISE! 80th Birthday Party, and even got a visit from Adam (from Florida) and Jack (from Springfield College) for all of about 12 hours!
We did get another quick visit with Lance, because unfortunately his Grandfather passed away. He flew into Boston for a weekend trip so we could go up to New Hampshire to visit his family and attend his funeral.
So, how, you are wondering, am I going to get back to North Carolina? Becky, my sister-in-law, along with her 2 year old daughter Izabella joined us for the car ride! Certainly surprising both Becky and I, all 3 kids did absolutely wonderful!
Back in North Carolina, Papa and Grandma joined us again to help keep an eye on the kids while we started getting ready for the movers to come. Lance and Mimi drove up from Florida together so we could celebrate Sophia's 3rd birthday at The Little Gym. What a great party that was. "Stress Free for parents!" is what they advertised and that is exactly what it was. All I had to do was show up with a cake and we also had some wraps and little sandwiches from chick-fil-a! Sophia was as happy as could be, being the star of the show!

We got one more evening with Lance before he was off again for another course down in Mobile, Alabama. Conveniently the week the movers were to come!
I couldn't help but laugh on the day they arrived because the 4 guys were all gung-ho thinking they were going to get the whole house packed and loaded on the truck in one day. At about 1 o'clock, they decided to "work as hard as they could until 6, and finish up tomorrow by 1 or 2" It took them all day to pack only the garage and the master bedroom. Granted we had the garage stuffed full of all our attic goods and extra clutter we had cleared from around the house during the period of trying to sell the house. So I knew they had their work cut out for them!
The next morning they didn't show up until 11, apparently because of a "mandatory meeting" they had that morning, but really I knew it was because they were hung over from the night before drinking too many margaritas! (Cinco de Mayo). So there was no way they were going to finish by 1 or 2!
They were at the house until 8:30 that night! They head guy was saying "this should have been a 3 day move, 2 days to pack and 1 to load the truck."
15 crates later, the house was all packed up and bound for Alaska!
Lance came home the next night so we spent the weekend trying to organize our things that we had left behind, things that we'll need for the next 3 months. We went to the Hail and Farewell for Air Station Ecity, exactly what I needed after that week! phew! Even more greatful that I got to send the kids home with my in-laws so Lance and I could enjoy the evening with friends, who we will certainly miss! Good times had by all that night!
One final course for Lance. This time he was off to Washington DC, but this time we got to go with him! We left North Carolina that Sunday, Mother's Day, after a nice brunch at Montero's Restaurant. We dropped Becky and Izabella off at the airport, and headed to DC for the week. We got to go to the Reston Zoo which was mostly a petting zoo. Sophia had a great time feeding all the animals!
We spent the week relaxing, playing, visiting friends, and, oh yeah, shopping!! Something I don't normally get here in North Carolina. There was actually a Target less than 5 minutes away! I think I was there every day! And that other little favorite place of mine that I know I was at every day...Dunkin Donuts! I gotta get my fix before I don't see one for 3 years!
Friday was Sophia's 3rd Birthday! I can't believe it! We spent the day, after Lance got out of class, walking around the monuments, then headed down to visit Jim and Grace who took us all out to dinner and for some more shopping for the kids.
We left Saturday afternoon and headed back down to North Carolina. We decided to sleep in the motor home for the first time to see what we were in for. It went pretty well! Both kids slept right through the torrential rain and thunderstorms! I didn't unfortunately! But my wonderful husband let me sleep for a few extra hours in the morning, Thanks honey!!
I know I barely have even mentioned sweet little Brett. He is growing so fast. He just started clapping his hands which is so cute. His hair is finally growing in, and its curly and blond! He's just about ready to walk now, he will be turning one on the 27th!
So that pretty much brings us up to date as far as the beginning of our moving adventure!
Stay tuned for more to come!!