On the road again...

Day two – November 26
Today’s trip started from Mt. Juliet, TN about 20 miles on the east side of Nashville.
We only covered two states today: Tennessee and Arkansas.
Thirty-eight different license plates and three Canadian provinces. Those that stood out were Alaska, Alberta and Ontario. We are only six plates away from getting all fifty states: Hawaii, Idaho, North Dakota, South Dakota, Wyoming and Rhode Island.
The last half of our ride through Tennessee was very wet, at times we drove through pouring down rain. We had to be careful driving through Nashville because there are several interchanges that connect to I-40 in and around the area. Once we got past Memphis the weather cleared up and it got cold. Then, we entered the most boring part of our drive so far. Arkansas. East of Little Rock was very flat and very wet. Lots of water: rivers, lakes, streams and random overflow ditches. The highlight of the first half of Arkansas was the XXX 24 hour Adult joint. Once we past Little Rock the scenery changed drastically. We saw lots of hills, trees and lots of trucking companies.
Fun sites of Arkansas: A hearse pulling a pick-up truck by a seatbelt. The gas station in a small town to get gas was an interesting adventure, the building was run down; the trash was overflowing out of every trash can in and out. The bathrooms were the worst experienced so far. The toilet in the ladies bathroom wasn’t even attached to the floor. We also saw three cars with no license plates, four deer and smelled one skunk.
The next part of our adventure is approximately 600+ miles and has us driving through four states. So far was have driven over 1100 miles and have just under 1200 to go.

And so our trip begins...

Day one – November 25
Today’s trip started out from my parent’s house around 7 a.m.
States covered: Maryland, Virginia, West Virginia, Tennessee.
Thirty-eight different state license plates, and two Canadian provinces.
Smelled three dead skunks.
Saw three major accidents.
Got stuck in traffic several times (one because of a major road closure in Knoxville).
Total miles covered yesterday 725. We have 1600 more to cover to be broken up into three shorter segments.
Pictures to come.

ta ta for now

After much thought, Scott and I decided to ship my car across the country. We researched several companies and started making calls. The first company I called was great, they answered all my questions and easy to work with. When it came time to pay I ended up getting no response. So I began my search again. We ended up going with Door-to-Door Transport, a family owned company.
They sent a flatbed truck to my house to pick up my car and take it to the big truck that will be officially taking my car across the country. I watched as the man drove my car up the ramp of the truck and hooked it up. Then she ride off in the sunset (well the rain).
I hope my car gets there in one piece.

It's just stuff, right?

One thing that we decided is that when we move we are not taking everything with us. We are moving from a three bedroom house to a two bedroom apartment. This means we have to sell, give away or trash our "stuff". It has been a little harder than we thought to do this. Not the selling of our stuff but putting a value on it.
Do we keep this or that.
I have created an inventory of almost all of our stuff: furniture, DVDs, electronics, kitchen stuff, video games and miscellaneous things (hockey equipment, pictures, sports memorabilia, etc). I found this is a great way to see what we have and evaluate if we are going to keep, sell or give away/trash.
Making a list of belongings was easy, choosing what we are taking with us and what we are selling for giving away is not so easy.
It's just stuff, right?
Well one would think, these things we buy are a backdrop of who we are, our personality. You don't realize what kind of attachment you have for an inanimate object until it is gone. Grant it, I am not heart broken by any stretch of the imagination but the memories associated with that object, how and when you got it, what was life like when you got it and what you did when you had it all come back to you when you have to decide to keep or sell something.
A really good example, Scott had promised me that I could get a bedroom set when we moved into our new house. I was so excited, a week after we closed on the house, I was still recovering from my thyroid surgery so I was spending the day with my mom. We wander around some shops in Vienna, VA (where we used to live). We came across a furniture store that was going out of business. Mom and I decided to go and check it out. As we were walking through the store I spotted a beautiful bedroom set the fit both our personalities and styles. A $8700 bedroom set was now on sale for $3000. I am talking well made, hard wood with good craftsmanship and it was a great deal, I couldn't pass it up.
The memories associated with this are shopping with my Mom (which I love doing) right after my surgery, moving to a new house, spending every night with my husband sleeping in that bed and how great it looks in that room.
It is just stuff, right? Like Scott's dad said "Scott, it is just a piece of furniture, not a family heirloom."

Change

Change - n. -new experience; variety. Well new experiences are coming. My husband got an amazing offer with his current company to take a job with the Telecommunications Department with CVS in Scottsdale, AZ. So this east coast girl is moving to the Southwest! We are looking to move out there around the end of November.
Until then it is a lot of hurry up and wait as we get ourselves ready for the "BIG MOVE"!