Cross
Country Blog – REPOST FROM FEBRUARY 2008
Feb 5, 2008
California really didn’t want to let us go, or why I hate Highways 99 and 58-Move to FL Part 1
Where do I even begin with this adventure? I
swear you won't believe it - but you can't make this crap up. On Day zero, we
were packing up the house and cleaning it - we were about a day behind schedule
because we had to get a larger moving truck. Anyways, we were trying to clean
the house and load the truck in the rain, trying to get out of Dodge by 3pm to
get to Mom & Dad's for our going away dinner. Well, 3pm turned into 4, 5,
6, there is no light left and Stephen and I are getting the trailer hooked up
to the U-Haul while freezing our butts off. We finally get all we can done,
then High-tail it to Lyon's to give Elisa back the keys to the house. We had a
very teary goodbye, and I felt so bad that we weren't able to get the house as
clean as I would have liked and the lawn mowed and the last dump run, so I
wrote her a check that she tried not to accept, but I wouldn't have any of it.
Then we drive down to Benicia in the pouring rain - I swear it was so thick we
could barely see the road. So we unpack the frozen food and stuff out of our
pantry and stuff we had borrowed and came in to a wonderful feast of Lasagna.
Kyle was so cute - he had a great last day with his Grandparents, Auntie Di and
Uncle Pauly. Time was getting away from us, so we had to make our goodbyes
short and sweet, and off to the hotel we went at around 11pm. We were way
behind schedule and Stephen said, there was no way he could wake up at 3am, so
we decided we would wake up at 6. Well, the next morning, I don't know if the
alarm didn't go off or Lamont (either me or Stephen, depending on which big
dummy did the thing) hit the snooze/off button. We wake up late, and get out of
Dodge at about 8am. Dad gave me his AAA road atlas and he and I discussed
alternate routes to get down south. I decided to skip I-5 entirely and go 99 to
58 and either down 15 to 10 or 40 to 95 to get to Blythe. Paul re-hooked up the
trailer hitch for us and sent us on our way. So we get on the road and
everything is going OK, but Stephen remembers that he forgot to pick up
walkie-talkies - so we decide to stop in Modesto to get them. We exit the
freeway to Best Buy and I notice it does not open until 11. So, we trudge
onward. We are just barely keeping ahead of the rain at this point, then by the
time we get to Fresno, or for what I will now and forever refer to it as, the
Armpit of California - A.C. for short (yes, pronounced ass), it begins horking
down rain. Now we have been on the road for about 4 hours at this point, and on
a Sunday in Fresno, when you are looking for things open along the highway, be
forewarned that you won't find much. We were driving around looking like
iditos, and I was dying to use the restroom and Stephen was really running low
on gas, so we see a shell station and go fill up. I run in, get drenched
walking into the mini-mart, only to find out that "No-No, miss, no
bathroom" I asked where the nearest one was and the guy points to the
Burger King across the street. Stephen saw a radio shack a couple of blocks up,
but was worried because the U-Haul and trailer had to be backed out awkwardly
and he didn't think he could fit in the parking lot. I said I would stay with
the truck and Kyle and he could take my Volvo to the Radio Shack and get the
walkie-talkies. This exchange between the two of us was basically screaming at
each other while we were both getting wetter and wetter by the minute. Now if
you know us at all, you know we don't fight at all. All the stress of the last
month and getting everything situated was starting to take its toll. So Stephen
takes my car and I try to get my chubby butt up into the 26 foot truck...with a
sidestep and handle bar...and a full bladder...in the cold, pouring rain. You
see where I'm going with this. All of a sudden things got a lot wetter. So
there I am on the step basically peeing on myself, and I am on the verge of
tears when I look over to my son who is giggling at the sight of me trying to
grab the handle bar and the steering wheel to get up in the truck, and we start
laughing hysterically. Stephen gets back and I told him what happened, and we
all had a good laugh. Ok, we re-centered, I changed my clothes, and we get back
on the road.
About 5 minutes later, we are talking on the walkie-talkies, and
Stephen says, "Hang on honey, there's a trucker flagging me down,
something's wrong. I'm about 5 minutes ahead of him at this point, so I ask him
should I come back and he says, "just pull off at the next off-ramp and
I'll give you a SIT-REP in 5 minutes". So he gets back on the
walkie-talkie and proceeds to tell me that the trailer has completely come off
the hitch and the only thing holding the trailer together is the two metal
chains that grip into the back door of the U-Haul. He and the trucker get the
hitch back on, but some things have broken on the trailer. So they patch it up
as best we can, Stephen and I decide to go up the road to get something to eat
and I notice either smoke or water pooling up off the back of the trailer, we
decide we need to call U-Haul for roadside assistance. We see the Black Bear
Diner and decide to stop there...
...but you can't get there from our side of the
road - you have to either make a U-turn or if you are in a big U-Haul, you need
to make a left, left, and left. So, Stephen goes to make a left, and all I hear
is a loud "BANG" and smoke...Stephen blew a tire while making his
first left. So we go down a residential street that has an alley running along
the freeway which is right behind the diner. We call U-Haul, they say they will
send someone out, we go have lunch and Stephen and I get in the front of the
Volvo, crank the heat on high, and Kyle sits in the back to watch "Finding
Nemo" until the mechanic arrives.
The guy gets there, fixes the trailer
and the hitch, helps re-secure the load and sends us on our merry way. With
great trepidation, we proceed. We started off the day 5 hours behind schedule,
then spent another 2-1/2 in Fresno, the A.C. (yes, pronounced ass). So we are
now 7.5 hours behind schedule, and we need to get to the CA AZ border to make
our first pit stop. The problem is we are still in the middle of the Central
Valley. Because the Grapevine had been closed so many days within the last 2
weeks, we decided we were not going that way. So we head over the Tehachapi
Mts. which has a lower summit. The rain has let up a bit and we actually make
good time on 58, until we get about halfway up the mountain. It was sprinkling,
then the sprinkles turned to a light dusting of snow.
Then all of a sudden I
notice that there are no cars in front of me and all other cars are behind me
in the right hand lane. Then the snow turns to hail and it starts coming down
in buckets. The wind is so harsh over the mountain that the hail is blowing
sideways across the highway, and you can't see 5 feet in front of you...and I'm
the lead car of this caravan!!
Stephen, who is well-familiar with driving in
the snow, is on the walkie-talkie, coaching me over the mountain, telling me
how to keep my speed down and not skid, when we finally meet up with the CHP
who gives us an escort off the mountain.
5 minutes later, they completely close
58 in both directions. We decided not to go over the Cajon pass, that we would
be better off going through Barstow to I-40. We only make it to Needles, when
it is 1am and we are just beat. We stop to have something to eat at Denny's and
afterward, we decide to find a motel room there. Stephen forgot his
walkie-talkie at the restaurant, and while I was getting the motel room, he
misjudged the steep grade to get into the parking lot of Denny's and gauged the
trailer into the asphalt and could not get it out.
It is now nearing 2am, and
we had to call yet another tow-truck to help us out. Kyle and I went to the
room to get some sleep, and poor Stephen had to deal with this on his own. I
have NEVER in my life seen him rattled, but when he got back to the room, he
threw his keys and wallet against the wall and cursed up a blue streak. I felt
so bad for him; we all said goodnight, and decided that Day 2 would be
better...but we would have a lot of ground to make up.
Tally:
Rainstorms - 1
Snowstorms - 1
Hail storms - 1
California - 3, Walkers - 0
Tally:
Rainstorms - 1
Snowstorms - 1
Hail storms - 1
California - 3, Walkers - 0
Feb 6, 2008
Day 2 - Move to Florida - How many blankets?
Tally:
Rainstorms - 2
Snowstorms - 2
Hail Storms - 2
Lost Blankets - 1
Feb 7, 2008
Day 3 - Made up time - remember the Alamo!!
I LOVE TEXAS !!!!! Our KILLER ROOM (Thanks Div & Dimple)
overlooks the Alamo - it is our beautiful view from our window.
Tally:
Rainstorms - 2
Snowstorms - 2
Hail storms - 2
Lost Blankets - 2
Did I say I loved Texas??? Moving to Florida, part 3
Feb 8, 2008
Ok, so I know I said I loved Texas. We made up so much time
between El Paso and San Antonio, and only suffered one casualty, the Winnie the
Pooh back up blanket. Poor Kyle was stuck snuggling up with Stephen's
very dirty sweatshirt that was worn for several days while we packed. I
guess it smelled like Dad, so it was OK until we could actually unpack boxes
and find his 32 other blankets. He's really not particular which blanket
he has, just so long as there is something to snuggle up with and chew.
Our little Linus...he's too cute, and was a trooper on this journey, believe
me. So, we woke up in San Antonio super early, and we were all excited
because this was pretty much our half way point. We got out of the city
without too much drama and headed for the border...but had to go through
Houston - we weren't too worried about it because at the pace we were traveling
we should've missed commute traffic. But I did not factor in if there was
road work to be done or any of those kinds of delays. They had all kinds
of roads torn up, detoured etc in the Houston area, and at one point we were
stuck in traffic for about 2.5 hours, only about 5 miles from the Texas -
Louisiana border. Talk about major suckage.
We FINALLY get to the
Louisiana border and find the roads to be deplorable. The roads were
RUSTY. That is the best way I can describe it. I don't know if
Louisiana has red mud (Like Prince Edward Island), but the roads were laid out
in sections and kind-of "bondo'ed" together with asphalt.
(Since I worked for an asphalt refining company I will devote an entire blog to
various road types at a later date). Anyway, driving down these Louisiana
highways, rusty and all, you could feel every bump with every section. It
sounded something like, "Screeeeeeeeeeech thump-thump, screeeeeeeeeeech
thump-thump, screeeeeeeeeeech thump-thump." Stephen gets on the
walkie-talkie. Those who know Stephen know he doesn't get too
profane..."How the @$% long is this @$$% state? I can't take the
roads - they suck!!" "Sorry babe. Not too long,
hopefully." So we kept driving and making good time. We
decided to bypass New Orleans after talking to another very nice truck driver,
and after Stephen's experience of going into downtown San Antonio with the big
UHaul, we decided that New Orleans would be best left to a trip at another
time. We decided to go up Interstate 12 through Baton Rouge, and make
camp for the night in Gulfport, Mississippi. Baton Rouge was a nightmare
- lots of freeways and lots of zippy traffic - not fun after 10 hours on the
road (yes thank you HOUSTON for putting us 4 hours behind schedule). We
were dreadfully hungry, so we decided to stop in the town of WALKER, LA
(appropos, n'est ce pas?) for a bite to eat.
Here is what we will
describe as the one moment in our marriage if Stephen ever laid the smack-down
to me, it would have been here. We get off the highway, and we see lots
of fast food type places to eat. I don't know what we want, and we are
chit-chatting on the walkie talkies to try and find some place to eat. On
the left hand side of the road, I see a Taco Bell, but there is a big baptist
church directly behind it. My thought is we go into the Taco Bell parking
lot, continue down to the baptist church, park the UHAUL there, and all hop
into my car and we'll find something to eat...umm...yeah...except the road I
see to the Baptist church is actually not part of the Taco Bell parking
lot. I get on the walkie talkie to Stephen to tell him not to turn
in...too late...he is in the Taco Bell parking lot where the only way in and
out is to go through the drive thru - 9 foot clearance...not happening.
Stephen gets out of the UHAUL, asks some people behind him if they would mind
going around, that he has to get his butt out of the parking lot. But he
can only back straight up, which is very difficult to do with the Isuzu
trailing behind at the angle he had to pull in to the parking lot.
Needless to say, after much arguing and negotiating and Louisiana people NOT
being friendly, Stephen decides to go through the drive thru backwards and
goes up onto the grass to avoid the 9 foot clearance. He gets out of
there and I'm sure calls me every name in the book and I see a WAL-MART across
the street. Knowing all people with RV's park there, I figure this is the
place to park. Stephen, not willing to trust my judgement at this point
begins to have a discussion with me about how the UHAUL will not fit in the
parking space that I want him to pull into. I basically scream as loud as
humanly possible "Do whatever the @$% you want to but I am parking my butt
here and I'm going to get some dinner!" Reluctantly, he pulls in
beside me, barely fits into the parking space, we go have dinner, and drive
another 2 hours to Gulfport, where we had the best night's sleep at the Holiday
Inn that we have had the whole trip. We were utterly exhausted. And
we're still married.
Feb
9, 2008
Tampa
-- the Final Frontier....
Gulfport....we
love you. The alarm goes off at 6:30 AM; Stephen hits snooze. Alarm goes off
again...Stephen re-sets, Martha verrrrrrrrrry tired...yes please, reset. We
finally wake at about 8:30 and hit McDonald's (thanks Christy & Jim) on the
way out of Dodge. Thankfully, this leg of the trip was uneventful. The sun was
shining, no traffic jams, smooth sailing baby!! We drove through Alabama, and I
was suddenly nostalgic and wondered how the Lampshire's were faring.
I always
loved John's parents; they were so good and kind to me and really nice people.
We drove through Pensacola, and I pointed out to Stephen where the museum of aviation
history was, but we didn't stop...had to keep plugging away. Our goal was to
just get to I-75.
At about 6:00 pm, we were really hungry and we noticed a sign
for Denny's off the freeway just a few miles from the interchange. We stopped
there, had a nice repast, and got onto I-75 just as it was hitting dusk. About
an hour or so up the road, we hit a major rainstorm; it was coming down in
buckets!! About fifteen minutes later, the rain stopped, and we made it all the
way into Brandon (that is the city right outside of Tampa where we live) where
the entire Myers clan met us at the Walgreens right off of Martin Luther King
Jr Blvd. We drove the mighty beast into The Oaks, and the site of our loving
friends' home never looked so good. Hugs and kisses all the way around, we had
finally made it.
Tally:
Rainstorms - 3
Snowstorms - 2
Hail storms - 2
Lost Blankets - 2
Fights - TMTC
Things I learned:
If you ever get the chance to move your family across the united states in a U-Haul....don't do it.
Caffeine does have a laxative effect.
The asphalt in Central Texas is the prettiest I have ever seen.
Roadkill all looks the same after awhile, until you have seen a bloated beaver.
Where the Atchafalaya swamp is and the Sawanee River is.
The Alamo is not an impressive structure. It is TINY.
Stephen is an awesome driver.
When hail is blowing sideways, it looks remarkably like sand.
Tap Water tastes like sulfur in the south.
Truck stops have the best restrooms, and showers, and laundry facilities.
I actually can watch the movie Cars more than 50 times.
My son can travel well.
If I ever get the chance to move my family across country again in a U-Haul...I won't do it.
