The Move

The move to Michigan was an adventure.  A few days before the move, Rich completely threw out his back.  On moving day, he couldn't lift a thing.  Despite getting rid of a ton of big stuff, we didn't do a good job of getting rid of enough small stuff, and things were really tight.  We ended up getting rid of a bunch at the last minute, and stuffing Rich's car full as well, which we were towing behind the moving truck.

My parents were kind enough to make the trek with us and help us get settled.  I'm so grateful for their help.

We got off around noon on Wednesday, June 13, and made it to Cheyenne, WY.  The plan was to make it to Rapid City, SD, to see Mt. Rushmore, but we just weren't able to get an early enough start, and we had a hard time finding a hotel along the route, so we ended up going to Cheyenne.  We stayed in an old hotel we bid on through Priceline; it really surprised us by being more of a downtown type hotel and didn't have a parking lot; kind of a problem when you are bringing along a truck containing all of your worldly possessions.  There was a lot about 3 blocks away that we had to park the car and truck in.

T,he next day was Rich's birthday; not much of a celebration during a move.  We got off the next day and headed due north to Mt. Rushmore, making no forward progress.  We parked the truck in a scenic overview spot, and went and saw the mountain.  We were all feeling a little grouchy by this time, so I don't think we enjoyed it as much as we would have hoped, but we saw it and we were there.  Here's the proof:

That night, we ended up at a Holiday Inn, a really nice Holiday Inn, which was good because we had to stay an extra day...  My dad was driving the truck for us that day and kept saying it felt like it was missing.  We called Penske, who sent out a mechanic that night to take a look at it, and sure enough, one of the cylinders wasn't firing, AND he told us we had overloaded the truck.  REALLY?  This was about 11 pm.  So, Penske had it towed to a weigh station, and we spent the remainder of the night worrying that the truck breaking down was our fault and we'd have to come up with $20K for an engine rebuild.

The weigh station people said that we didn't actually overload the axles, but the truck needed repaired.  So, Penske hired a crew and we spent the majority of the next day unloading our old truck and putting it on the new.  Even worse, the guys they hired were tow truck drivers and day laborers who didn't know what they were doing.  We thought we'd sort through and get rid of a few more boxes while we had the chance, but despite our efforts, the broke a bunch of stuff and couldn't get everything back on.  So, once again, we found ourselves getting rid of more stuff.  Guess that's one way to get rid of junk.  I can't believe I didn't take a picture of this process.

The next day we drove to LaCross,WI across the Mississippi.  That was my mom's first time ever seeing it.  We got to the river during a DOWNPOUR, the kind you only get near large bodies of water.  I was driving the mini van, and I was nervous.  But, we made it and stayed in an okay Days Inn.  There was a Bass Fishing tournament going on, so the hotel was just full professional fisherman, and the parking lot was full of their boats.

Someone along the way had recommended we take the route through the Upper Peninsula of Michigan, and we took their advice, which added another 3-4 hours to the trip.  We drove all through Wisconsin along the shore of Lake Michigan and through the UP.  Beautiful!  We also got to stay in a hotel on the beach with a balcony. 

The boys got an early start with the moving truck the next morning for the final leg of the journey, and we followed a few hours behind.  The bridge between the UP and the rest of Michigan is pretty awesome.  It's 4-5 miles long.  Crazy.

We arrived at our house around 3pm and the truck was already unloaded.  Our ward had gotten 7-8 people there to help, so they had the whole thing unloaded in an hour and a half.  Amazing.  Rich did too much and hurt his back again.  He was laid up for the next day or two again.

Eventually we got the house unpacked and picked up some furniture from Craig's List.  And now, we are settled in our new home.  We are making friends and really like our neighborhood.  It's so nice to be in a house again, but we miss our friends and family back home.