The Great Adventure 2013: Days 1 and 2

This weekend, our move to Tennessee began in earnest when we packed up our belongings into a 26 ft Penske truck. We said many heart wrenching goodbyes to many dear friends in Visalia, our home of the last 14 years. We didn't plan a goodbye party so we had to try to fit as many people in as we could in a few days. Marty and I both worked until Friday, so that made it challenging.

Saturday morning we packed and loaded. Sunday we said goodbye to church, cleaned and watched the Superbowl. Monday morning, we waited for the realtor to come get our keys, went to the bank and finally hit the road around noon.  We all decided our favorite memory in that house was when Marty got ''the call' and the many happy memories that followed.

Four people, two trucks, one car and two dogs

Driving down the 99 for the last time was a strange feeling. It hit me many times that we had made the drive thousands of times in 14 years but this time we weren't headed back that way.

We stopped at our favorite rest stop before hitting the grapevine. We ate our last supper of In and Out while walking our dogs. Marty went to get back on the road in the moving truck and it wouldn't start!! We called Penske customer care and they promised to send a mechanic out. Marty told me to go on ahead to Los Angeles to see family. He knew it would be hard for me if I missed out on that.

Elizabeth and I made our way to Whittier, got the dogs settled at mom's house and ran over to my Aunt Alison's to see our family. Marty and Conner sat at the Petro station for over four hours!! The mechanic came but the truck wasn't repairable.  So a huge wrecker came and towed the truck over the grapevine to a Penske service station.  I finally picked them up at around midnight after our break down at four p.m.

This morning, we headed over to the Penske yard where a crew came and unloaded the old truck onto a new truck.

Thank goodness that we went with Penske. They have excellent customer care and have been extremely accommodating and helpful. I highly recommend using them if you're moving across country. Our truck was re-loaded and my cousin Andy stopped by to say goodbye and have a heart to heart. Then we hit the road to my mom's house to pick up her,the kids and the dogs. Marty's mom called at the last minute wanting us to come say goodbye also. So we drove to her house before hitting the road finally around 1 pm. A much later start than we intended. The silver lining was we missed all of the bad traffic.

Taken by Conner on the I-40 east

We drove through the desert, the first time for the kids going through this part of California. We stopped at the Barstow station and pushed our way through to Kingman,Az. We are staying on Route 66 tonight and heading to Amarillo,TX tomorrow.

As we crossed the border to AZ tonight; E said that she felt a weight lift off her chest and that she is really excited for the new adventures ahead. I must say, I felt the same exact way. We finally after 18 years of talk are following our dreams and making them happen.

We are hoping for a smooth trip the rest of the way. We have some long days ahead of us trying to keep our  scheduled arrival date a reality. Please keep us in your prayers and thoughts as we make our way across the US. The journey has only begun.