The BIG Move

Reggie finally graduated this April with his MBA in Finance from BYU. We ended up getting a job with Chrysler and made the big move to Michigan. They gave us a moving package and offered to fly us out and pay to have our cars shipped. My husband, being a "finance guy", decided that we would make more money driving out. So, in late May we headed to Michigan, not knowing where we were going to stay. Can you say ADVENTURE???? On the first day of the trip we ended up leaving a bit later than we wanted to. We tried to get onto I-80 but the on ramp was closed because they had a search and rescue operation going on. We circled around and finally managed to get on only to be stopped further up the canyon because there had been a big accident with a semi. They said it would take at least 2 hours for them to clean everything up and open the freeway! Because we had such a late start, we were a bit impatient and decided to go up through Weber Canyon (which is about 2 hours out of the way). While we were driving through the canyon, our battery light kept coming on. I thought it was due to the fact that we were letting the kids watch a DVD while we were charging our cell phones. I ended up unplugging everything hoping it would take care of the problem. Unfortunately, all it did was make the children cry.

We made it all the way to Evanston, WY before the car gave out on us completely. We managed to coast into the parking lot of a motel that my dad recommended to us, only to find it disgusting. Our car wouldn't start, so we had no choice but to stay. The next morning Reg went to find someone to fix our car while I stayed with the kids at the motel. I spoke to my Dad and asked him why he would send us to such a place and he said that he hadn't stayed there since 1981 and back then it was nice. Honestly, I don't think it had been cleaned since 1981!!! I scratched all night long!!!!! Anyway, since they didn't have anything for the kids to do, I decided to let them have a bath. In our last apartment, we only had a shower so a bath is a big treat for them! I put them in and left for a minute to plug in my cell phone when I heard screaming..... "MOM, there is something green in the tub!" I ran back in to find that Callan had pooped all over! I hurried to pull the kids out and grabbed the only cup I could find to scoop up the poop and dump it in the toilet. Unfortunately, we were staying at such a nice place that the only cups they had were glass or coffee mugs. Guess what one I used! Sucks to be a coffee drinker! Reg returned about 10:00 with the car fixed and ready to go! Apparently it was the alternator that went out. We tried to get a new one, but they didn't have one for the make of our car in all of Evanston. We ended up having them take ours out and rebuild it.

We got back on the road about 11:00 and were pulled over about an hour later. Reggie was trying to make up lost time by speeding. We ended up getting a $140 ticket. **Remember, the whole reason we were driving was to save money! Nothing else happened until about midnight. Then, Callan started crying and wouldn't stop. I reached back to try to calm him down and pulled my hand back with poop all over it! We had to pull over on the side of the road to clean him up. We ended up throwing away the outfit he was in. The next day, Reggie was pulled over again! The officer came up to my side of the car and asked Reg to get out and wait for him by our trunk. As soon as Reg left, he started asking me all kind of questions like: "Where are you going? Why are you going there? When do you expect to arrive?". After he left, I glanced back and Reggie was sitting inside the patrol car. You can imagine what was going through my head! Since when do you have to get out of your car, leaving your family, and have to sit in the patrol car for going 5 miles over the speed limit!?! When Reg finally came back, he said that the officer just asked him the same questions that he asked me and let him off with a warning. I wonder if we got the royal treatment because I was wearing a BYU shirt and he was a Ute fan! Later that day, a construction truck dropped a rolled up fence in front of us as we were going 70 miles per hour down the freeway. Reggie swerved, but the fence still hit the side of our car! $$$ can you see the money piling up? It wasn't 20 minutes later that a woman wasn't paying attention and decided she needed to be in our lane. The problem was that we were right next to her! All I can say is that I am grateful Reggie is such a good and observant driver. We were going to take a detour to Nauvoo but after everything that had happened so far, we decided to just get to Michigan ASAP.

The next day we ARRIVED, well kind of. We were in the town that we wanted to move to but we didn't have a place to stay. We found a hotel and began our search for a home. A week later... we were still in the hotel and getting desperate. Our stuff had arrived and was waiting for us on a semi. We had to find a place in the next 2 days or it would be put into storage. We found an apartment that I didn't love but one that would work for a short period of time. Reg said we would buy a house by October, so I decided that I could deal with the apartment until then. We signed all the papers and I called the moving company to deliver our stuff. Unfortunately, they had already put our stuff in storage. I couldn't believe it! I should have had a day to spare! They then informed me that they wouldn't be able to deliver our stuff until the 5th of June (they had packed all of our things the 15th of May). We ended up buying an air mattress and some sleeping bags so we could stay in our apartment and just made do until our stuff was delivered! By the time our stuff was finally delivered, we had been living out of a bag for 22 days! Never again will I jump into a situation like this with my eyes closed! I have learned my lesson. It is worth the extra money to go out in advance and find a place to call home! It was quite the adventure. Even though we went through a pretty rough trip, the worst part was still saying goodbye to all of our loved ones! We miss you all!

P.S. we are still calling the apartment home and will for the next year.