A few weeks ago we packed up everything we own and moved across the country! We've been planning it for what seems like forever, so it's crazy that it finally happened. But here's how it went.
We packed up our stuff in an ABF semi for it to be transported across the country. And by we I mean Jake and one of our home teachers. I mostly provided moral support. It was a pretty long and frustrating loading process, but in the end we got through it. We then loaded up the car with our camping gear, clothes for a week, and all the other things we didn't want to put in the truck (computers, the tv, etc.) and drove off. The car was completely packed, but we were excited to be moving. We stayed the first night in Colorado so we could see our families and then took off driving east.
Here's a picture we took after stopping for lunch in Nebraska the first day. We were clearly both excited to be there.
The first night we stopped at a very well maintained campground about 30 miles into Iowa. The bugs there were loud and super obnoxious and it was humid beyond belief, but we did have a great view of the stars so it was a great night. We had a competition to see who could see more shooting stars. When I feel asleep we were tied at 10 stars each.
The next morning we woke up really early, excited and ready to get back on the road. We packed up the gear, got ready to take off, and realized that we had a flat tire. Unfortunate! So we unloaded everything from the trunk of the car (including camping gear, our bags, the tv, and numerous cleaning supplies) to get to the spare tire and found that our tire iron was missing. Double unfortunate! Since we didn't have many options, Jake went to a nearby tent and found someone to borrow a tire iron from. He got the spare tire put on, we reloaded the truck and set off to find someone who could sell us a new tire.
We had to go through a couple of small towns to find one, but we finally found a truck stop that had a used tire that fit our car. We got the new tire put on (after having to unload and reload the truck again to get the flat tire out) and took off again. This put us several hours behind where we wanted to be, but we were once again on our way. Later that day we made a stop in Nauvoo to see the city and, of course, Holly who was there serving a Nauvoo mission as a Young Performing Missionary. We found Holly playing on the band wagon outside of the visitor's center.
She was so cute with her trumpet and outfit that matched everyone else! You can see a video of the band playing on their wagon
here. We had dinner at the Hotel Nauvoo with Holly and her companion and then took a few pictures.
Because of the tire set back we didn't make it to Nauvoo until after all of the sites were closed, so we had to be content with walking/driving by some of the places. We walked around the temple grounds and took a few minutes to look at the Red Brick Store and the Mansion House.
We'll have to go back another time and really explore the city. But this trip we had already lost a lot of time so we got back in the car and kept driving. We drove until we got tired and decided to stop at a hotel for the night. The most disturbing thing about the hotel was that the water came out of the faucets yellow. It was seriously disturbing to get a glass of water from the faucets that looked like this:
Yes, it really was that yellow. Yikes. However, it was nice to be in an air conditioned room with a bed. I guess you can't have it all. The next day we put in a full day driving and got all the way to West Virginia before we camped for the night. We actually had a blast driving all those miles. We bought a charger for the car that adapted to a normal outlet so I could keep my ipod charged and playing and Jake was able to do some computer programming as we drove. Good times for everyone.
That night we camped at a more run-down campsite that was even more humid and had even more bugs than the previous one. Yuck. Fortunately, the next day we only had a few more hours to drive which got us to our new apartment! We were a bit nervous, having never seen the apartment ourselves, but it turned out great. It's bigger than our last one, has more kitchen and closet space, and even has air conditioning. Basically, we're living the dream.
Now that we've had this great adventure we're getting settled into the area, Jake has started law school, and we are overall loving our life!
It's a penguin humidifier! We haven't gone so far as to name it, but it definitely does make our nights significantly more comfortable.
The gingerbread men were delicious (because Emily is an amazing cook!), so much so that I ended up eating them before I even got home.
Hot wings and celery. It wasn't quite Willy's Wings, but it still made him happy.
After (ok, not the best after shot, but I forgot to take a better one):
This is Jake and Elder Laughran. Laughran is a missionary going home (to Australia) in 5 weeks, and is posing here in his patented "Last Transfer Pose."
We had a fantastic time at the zoo, looking at the animals and visiting with each other. It was especially fun knowing that the zoo is FREE.
The next morning we woke up really early, excited and ready to get back on the road. We packed up the gear, got ready to take off, and realized that we had a flat tire. Unfortunate! So we unloaded everything from the trunk of the car (including camping gear, our bags, the tv, and numerous cleaning supplies) to get to the spare tire and found that our tire iron was missing. Double unfortunate! Since we didn't have many options, Jake went to a nearby tent and found someone to borrow a tire iron from. He got the spare tire put on, we reloaded the truck and set off to find someone who could sell us a new tire.
We had to go through a couple of small towns to find one, but we finally found a truck stop that had a used tire that fit our car. We got the new tire put on (after having to unload and reload the truck again to get the flat tire out) and took off again. This put us several hours behind where we wanted to be, but we were once again on our way. Later that day we made a stop in Nauvoo to see the city and, of course, Holly who was there serving a Nauvoo mission as a Young Performing Missionary. We found Holly playing on the band wagon outside of the visitor's center.
She was so cute with her trumpet and outfit that matched everyone else! You can see a video of the band playing on their wagon here. We had dinner at the Hotel Nauvoo with Holly and her companion and then took a few pictures.
Because of the tire set back we didn't make it to Nauvoo until after all of the sites were closed, so we had to be content with walking/driving by some of the places. We walked around the temple grounds and took a few minutes to look at the Red Brick Store and the Mansion House. 
We'll have to go back another time and really explore the city. But this trip we had already lost a lot of time so we got back in the car and kept driving. We drove until we got tired and decided to stop at a hotel for the night. The most disturbing thing about the hotel was that the water came out of the faucets yellow. It was seriously disturbing to get a glass of water from the faucets that looked like this:
Yes, it really was that yellow. Yikes. However, it was nice to be in an air conditioned room with a bed. I guess you can't have it all. The next day we put in a full day driving and got all the way to West Virginia before we camped for the night. We actually had a blast driving all those miles. We bought a charger for the car that adapted to a normal outlet so I could keep my ipod charged and playing and Jake was able to do some computer programming as we drove. Good times for everyone.
That night we camped at a more run-down campsite that was even more humid and had even more bugs than the previous one. Yuck. Fortunately, the next day we only had a few more hours to drive which got us to our new apartment! We were a bit nervous, having never seen the apartment ourselves, but it turned out great. It's bigger than our last one, has more kitchen and closet space, and even has air conditioning. Basically, we're living the dream.
"You would make a good lawyer."
Pictures of some of the monuments
