Update

Currently we are waiting on loan documents to come via FedEx to sign and send back.  It would have helped if the bank had sent it to us in South Carolina rather than the new dwellers of the old house in California last week.  Thanks bank!  We had the house inspection yesterday, that went well, only 4 minor little things that need to be repaired prior to closing.


I have a job interview in the morning, it's just to get a job really.  Shift supervisor back at the base exchange.  I am looking at some other opportunities, but that won't happen for a little while, so just getting some sort of income at this point is all that matters.  Sitting around the hotel is not paying well, and isn't very exciting.  So hopefully I can go work at the store for a little while until this other thing hopefully happens.

The tempo has slowed somewhat

This past week has been more relaxed, well after Wednesday it has been anyway.  The first part of the week was filled with stress of deciding between houses, but we finally came a decision on that on Tuesday.  I had no idea how stressful the whole process of home buying could be, but it's HUGE.

Wednesday morning I drove to Columbia for the first time (about an hour away) because I got a call on Monday asking me if I'd be interested in working for an insurance company.  I had no idea and didn't want to turn down a potential opportunity without hearing them out so I accepted.  I drove an hour to the office, in my business attire as requested.  I was directed to a conference room with 8 or 9 other people and was immediately on guard about the whole thing.  It turned out to be an informational meeting to tell us how glorious a job as a sales agent for Banker's Life and Casualty company could be.  I am sure that for some people it is glorious, but going into homes of senior citizens whom I do not know to "educate" them about life insurance and medicaid just doesn't seem to be my cup of tea.  So I drove an hour back home.  They said that they would review our resumes and call back people who they were interested in to return for a more formal interview later in the week.  The good news is, I did get a call back, which is nice of them and shows that I have a good resume, but I respectfully declined.

Chris was out at the squadron acclimating to the new office and people for a few days this week and he starts officially on Monday.  I have been sitting here reading job listings and applying for things that seem even moderately interesting.  I had to apply for unemployment today, I know that I have paid my taxes and it is something that I am entitled to, but it just feels kind of demoralizing.  But hey, if California pays me for merely searching for a job for a little while, I guess I can live with it.

William is bored, I try to get him jumping and active by flinging "Da Berd" toy for him, but he mostly lays on the bed or under it.  He's fine, but just looks unimpressed with the whole hotel thing.  Unfortunately he has at least a month of it to go before we close on the house.  So do the rest of us...

Update

The past few days have been busy ones. Yesterday we went to the storage place and dropped off all of the UHaul contents in our temporary storage unit. Straight after that we went to the realtor and started looking at houses. From 1:00 to 4:30 we looked at homes, and made a top three list. Today we began again at 10am and looked at 3 houses and then we came to "the One". After finding "the one" we had a few more to see, but they just didn't compare to that one that we pretty much fell in love with. We went back to this office and filled out a bunch of paperwork and made an initial offer on the house. Now we are in a waiting game. I really hope we get it its a totally awesome house, I kind of love it already. Think good thoughts for us. I'll be sure to let you know.

Day 10

Finally, 7 days after leaving California, we have arrived in Sumter South Carolina,and Shaw AFB where Chris will be stationed for the next few years. We are staying in a hotel for awhile until we choose and purchase our new house.
Have no fear, this is not the end of the blog. I will continue to update through the rest of the moving process.

Day 8 and 9

Sorry, I didn't feel like posting yesterday so this is a recap of the past two days. 
Yesterday was Monday, we started the day in Yukon, OK after an early cat wake up and had a dull drive through OK and part of Arkansas.  We ended the day in Little Rock.  Our hotel was right next to Hooters, so of course that was what was for dinner.  William slept the whole night for the most part, but I kept waking up every time the AC unit would cycle on and off.  Those things really just need a fan setting that stays on all the time.
Today was a long day that involved two major cities.
Heading out of Little Rock was easy, the drive through the rest of AK was pleasant, lots of nice foliage with the trees changing colors.  We hadn't seen actual autumn for at least 3 years, although Colorado doesn't have much in the way of foliage either, so it has been a long time since we have seen the fall colors.  It was a nice change.
Memphis was where we encountered our first real hang up of the trip.  The 2 Way radios stopped working about the time we got to the interchange from I-40 and I-22 and the GPS decided to direct us through some crazy route.  We pulled over and figured out where the heck we were going after a few minutes and also changed the radio batteries.  We figured out that we were actually right on course and were headed in the right direction.  Somehow I didn't realize that we would be going through Mississippi on this trip, I guess I forgot about that state, but we were in it for the majority of the day today.  Mississippi eventually ended and we started into Alabama.  Birmingham was the next challenge, to go from I-78/I-22 over to I-20.  It was dark and unfamilier and the connection involved a fairly lengthy stretch of highway that was littered with stop lights.  The whole time I tried to stay right on the tail of the trailer, I did not want to get stuck at a light while Chris kept going.  We stayed together the whole time, phew!  Then finally got to the exit to go to I-20, I was relieved to get back on the interstate, but of course there were still some lane changes and merging and what not before we really got going in the right direction toward Atlanta. 
After a tense bit of traveling we finally got to Leeds, where our stop for the night was planned and made it to the Days Inn.  My legs were like noodles when I got out of the truck, from being all tensed up for the past 45 minutes or so.
Tomorrow is finally the last day of this arduous cross country journey, it'll be a long one, but the end will be the goal. Well, the temporary goal anyway, we'll be in the right city, but then the house hunting begins.  Atlanta should be the most major challenge tomorrow, but we are staying on the same highway right through the city, so it should go smoother than Memphis or Birmingham.
I can hardly wait to get to Sumter, so I can finally see this new place.  It has been a long time since we have moved somewhere that we haven't ever been to.  Well, Chris did spend a few weeks there last year for training, but I've never been there at all.

Day 7

Today was quite uneventful, but that's a good thing. Driving across the square part of Texas was kind of long and boring, and the first half of OKlahoma was pretty dull as well. Looks like severe weather ids predicted for tomorrow, we'll be high tailing it out of this state.
We are over half way now! 3 more days of driving, yeah!

Day 6

Easy day today. Got up after having a good sleep for all of us and got going at about 10:00. There were some small snow flurries that were no big deal, but holy smokes was it COLD! 31 degrees is not something we are used to, william had never felt that temperature before. Brrrrr.
We stopped at a little Indian market and bought some items of jewelry and a decorative tomahawk.
Moving on, we arrived in Tucumcari, NM at about 5:30. Nice and early, finally some time to relax for a few hours.
Sunday will be more of the same. We are heading to Yukon, OK for night 4. At the end of tomorrow we can say that we are half way there.

Day 5

Friday began rather early since William felt we needed to be awake before dawn. I guess he was unsure about his first stay in a hotel room and couldn't sleep. We got up, got ready, and went to eat breakfast. On the way walking back to the room, Chris did his safety check of the Uhaul. He noticed a spot on the trailer tire that was bubbled out. This caused immediate concern so we called Uhaul from the Uhaul dealer across the street. They said to wait and they called the mobile repair person and sent him to us with two new trailer tires to replace the passenger side tires. We waited about an hour and a half for the guy to show up and change tires in less than 5 min.
Finally, we were on the road at 11:00. Our goal was to reach Gallup, NM. We took a detour trip and took historic Route 66 for a part of the way. We stopped at this cute little store on Route 66, it was like a museum but everything was for sale. All old things from the days when Route 66 was the place to go. Just like in "Cars", with the old timey cars and signs and all of that. It was rather cool.
We debated going to the Grand Canyon, we wanted to, but it would have been 5:00 by the time we got there, and there was a snow storm in our rearview mirrors baring down on us. So we pressed on to Gallup and rolled in at about 8:30.

William had a good day on the road, with only a few mild outbursts. Then he slept through the night like a good boy.

Day 4

We had a stressful start to the morning, scrambling to get the rest of the house loaded into the truck before turning in the keys at 0900. We got it all done, and loaded William into the carrier after giving him a benedryl tablet. The benedryl was totally useless, and possibly made him angrier.
We got on the road at about 1230 after a final lunch at Chris' favorite burrito place. There was insane yowling coming from the cage behind me for about 3 hours. Around Santa Clarita he fell silent. It was rather alarming how quiet he was and I kinda started worrying about him. Anout a half hr later, he started meowing again, then I wished he'd go back to sleep. LOL, make up my mind right!
We stopped in Victorville and took him out on his harness, he was freaked out by the wind and the truck noise on the nearby highway. He jumped back in the truck on his own and willingly got back in the carrier.
After leaving Victorville we made the long haul to Needles, CA. I thought the Mojave desert in the day time was boring, its not much better in the dark. We managed to get behind a big rig going our speed and fell in behind him for most of the way.
Since the U-haul can only only go about 55, due to the trailer, it makes the going a bit slower than normal.
We rolled into Needles at nearly 10pm, got in the hotel and freed the beast in the room. He's a happy cat now. He ate a good dinner, drank a bunch of water, and went potty a few times, now he's laying on the bed. Until tomorrow, when we do it all again, and again, and again x 6.

Day 3 - reality sets in

Today was a long day of waiting and watching. The truck loaders got to the house at nearly 1000 and didn't finish until after 3. It was a bit complicated, as they ran out of room on the giant truck that they brought, had to call in another pick up to load some stuff in to get to the warehouse to rearrange some stuff. Last I saw, our bed was trapped to the back of the 18 wheeler, i sure hope it all gets to SC, especially our bikes.

William was locked in the bathroom during all of this, so he was bored and confused all day.

We get on the road in the morning, first overnight is in Needles,CA. About 397 miles from here, think happy thoughts for us, and William.

Day 2

Today was the packing up the house day.  We started by loading the TV's and the pile of things that we had gathered in the middle of the living room into the U-Haul.  It's loaded to the gills.

The moving company showed up at 1000 and finished at about 1500.  It went well, they got everything boxed up and placed for tomorrow morning when the moving truck comes to load it all up.

William had a rough day, strange people in the house, lots of noises of the screeching of boxes being taped up and he was locked up in the bedroom most of the day.  He ran through the house a few times, but was freaked out by everything and decided that under the bed was safest.  He's been sleeping it off since they left, since he missed out on all of his normal napping.  Tomorrow night the house will be empty, he has no idea that his couch and La-z-boy chair will be gone.  This is only the beginning, I hope he handles it all.