1575 miles later

My view for the three days.

They really did so well! I can't complain at all. These pictures are a little off because well I was driving.  Don't worry this was in wide open spaces.

We left Colorado on July 17th to begin our 23 hour drive across Kansas, Missouri, Illinois, Indiana, Kentucky and West Virginia. Mind you we had already driven 3,500 miles this summer so what was 1,500 more? When I look at those numbers I can't believe how much we drove this summer!

Goodbye Horizon Middle SchoolWe had lunch with some of the teacher Mark worked with.  There was a lot of turnover at his school this year. I think at least 8 teacher left. Crazy. It really wasn't awful but we are so happy to have moved on. 

 We stayed with our good friends the Pitcher's Wednesday night.  Mark and I had driven out from Utah 2 days prior so we could clean out his classroom, get the oil changed in the Highlander, and load up the moving truck. Mark's mom kindly drove the Sonata out with Jared and Lydia a day after us.  Jared and Lydia really needed a break. When we were taking about Mark and I leaving Jared had a little breakdown and said he could not travel the next day.  Poor guy! I don't blame him. Luckily Sue had offered to come out a day later so they could have a day to swim and play before three long days of driving.  Our original plan was for Mark to drive the moving van with the Sonata on a trailer. Sue and I would drive the Highlander with Jared and Lydia.  The night before we left Mark and our friend Nate spent 2+ hours trying to get the car on the trailer only to find out that one of the securing chains was broken!!  They were so mad! I felt so bad. Not only did they spend all that time on it but it was basically pouring rain on them the whole time.  It was very frustrating. So our new plan was for me to drive with Jared and Lydia, Sue to drive the Sonata, and Mark to drive the van sans trailer.  It worked out fine and Sue was such a trooper! She had already driven the whole day before to get to Colorado and was not going to drive for three more days. We don't know what we would have done without her being so willing to help us out.

We left a little later then planned Thursday morning since Mark had to drive across town (35 minutes there and 35 minutes back) to drop off the trailer but we were on the road by 9:15 and there we stayed for the next 8+ hours with a little lunch break.  Jared and Lydia actually did really really well in the car.  They were pretty seasoned car travelers by then. They would play for an hour or so then we would watch a movie and by the time the movie was over we had about an hour till lunch.  After lunch they took a 1.5 to 2 hour nap then either watched another show or played or both. They were such troopers.  We are lots of snacks and I listened to lots of my old CD's I hadn't heard in ages.  I was slightly nervous about driving so much by myself. Mark typically drives most of our long road trips but as long as I had songs to sing and snacks I was okay.  Our first night we stayed in Kansas City, Missouri and Missouri was surprisingly a lot prettier than I though it would be.  Once we got to the hotel and ate dinner we headed down to the pool to get some energy out.

Then we repeated this the next day and the day after that. The last day we only had to drive for 6.5 hours so much nicer then 8.5 hours. The second night we stayed in Lexington, Kentucky.  We had light rain showers through most of Kansas and crazy rain through Kentucky and West Virginia.  If someone were to ask me about Kentucky I would say it had a lot more trees and rain than I expected. Each of theses states, except Kansas, were a lot prettier than I expected and had way more trees. It really was a pretty drive for the most part.  And so much corn!! It was kind of crazy how many huge corn fields we drove past.

Kansas

Indiana, corn! 

West Virginia (more rain)

We got to our new place around 2:00 Saturday afternoon. Mark picked up our key from the drop box at the leasing office and met us over here. Mind you we had never set foot in this house.  Mark's friend from Turlock (who lives here) kindly checked it out for us and gave it a green light.  Some men from our new ward were waiting to help us unload.  Sue took Jared and Lydia to a nearby park (so helpful) and I helped unload and direct where to put things. Seeing all our boxes all over was a little overwhelming but I knew we would get it organized. We are so grateful for all the help we were given and how welcome we have felt.  Our cars ran smoothly, we didn't get lost or separated, and we all arrived in good spirits. Were so happy to be here!