The Moving Odyssey: Part One

Saturday, May 8: The day began with me still awake. I'd like to think that I've gotten much better in the past few years at not procrastinating, but still there is nothing like a looming deadline to really focus the mind on a task. Laura slept for about 3 hours, but she was up around 1:30am, and we both spent the rest of the night/morning packing up the last odds and ends. At 7am or so, we realized that the last items were finally in boxes and we were done. Laura went down the block to Rincon Market and got me some scrambled eggs with bacon and potatoes, and a waffle with strawberries for herself. The movers came at 9am, and I was tremendously glad that we had spent the extra money for people who knew what they were doing (and had slept the night before) to load everything on the truck. Laura and Samuel went over to visit with our neighbor Marilyn while the movers were doing their thing. I supervised the moving for a little bit, then slept on the floor for a little bit, then went back and forth between our place and Marilyn's. When the movers finally drove off it was lunchtime, so we again got food from Rincon, did some cleaning, and went over to stay the night with our friends the Lymans.

Sunday, May 9: After saying goodbye to Carol and Rodger at their hotel, we got on the road at a fairly good early hour. Gas in Benson AZ. Nursing break in Lordsburg NM. As we approached Deming NM (where you get off the Interstate to take a shortcut rather than travel the acute angle made by I-10 and I-25 at Las Cruces NM), we knew that we needed to stop for another nursing break, but as we turned north we didn't realize that the town of Deming was entirely on the south side of the Interstate. So we ended up having a little break at the side of the state highway in the beautiful countryside of southern New Mexico. Lunch at a Sonic in Truth or Consequences NM. Afternoon break at a pleasant city park in Belen NM because all three of us couldn't stand being in the car any longer. Turning right at Albuquerque NM onto I-40, we climbed out of the Rio Grande valley onto the Great Plains. Gas in Santa Rosa NM, where we saw a beautiful sunset over the lakes. Also in Santa Rosa we found a small community market and bought foodstuffs for dinner. Motivated to get a good start on the trip, we pressed on into the night all the way to Amarillo TX, making some 722 miles on the day, not bad for travelling with a 6-month-old. What a way to spend our first Mother's Day as parents. We spent the night at a Motel 6.

Monday, May 10: We didn't get off quite as early, especially considering the 2 hours difference in time zone between AZ and TX. We stopped at a supermarket in Amarillo and got provisions for breakfast and lunch, hoping to avoid eating at restaurants three meals a day. Our first break was at a rest stop just over the state line in OK, where we found two cute dogs that had apparently been abandoned but were very friendly. One of them licked Samuel's face while I was changing him. I'm not generally a fan of toy dogs, preferring dogs that are big enough to be respectable, but I was strangely taken by these two. One was a brindle-colored pug, the other maybe a Jack Russell? I would have considered taking them home if we had lived nearby (there I've shown my kinship with my Grandma Winnie). Also at this rest stop we ate cookies provided by some very nice ladies from the nearby town of Cordell OK, who hoped to convince us to visit or live there. They were pleasant and courteous, a credit to their state, but we decided to stick with Ithaca anyway. Well, Oklahoma went downhill from there. Samuel began to figure out that his stay in the car seat was going to be much longer-term than he was used to, and began to get fussy. We made stops in Weatherford OK and El Reno OK. He was asleep when we got to Oklahoma City OK, and we drove through the center of town and saw the state capital. Then we headed out of town on I-44 ... or so I thought. About 20 miles later Laura remarked that none of the exits we were seeing were on our AAA strip map, and sure enough I had missed a turn and we were headed north on I-35 rather than northeast on I-44 (see, we really tried to go to MN!!). We decided, rather than backtrack, to take a state highway that presented itself going due east. Soon Samuel woke up wailing and in desperation we turned into the next driveway, which happened to be a church parking lot in tiny Coyle OK. We set off again with baby full and clean. Although Highway 33 did not travel quite as fast as I-44 would have, the scenery made up for it. You never see America as it really is if don't get off the Interstate, and we were glad for the opportunity to do so. We especially enjoyed the vintage downtown storefronts of Drumright OK. We re-encountered I-44 at Sapulpa OK, but Samuel was fussy again so we went right past the Interstate into the town and found a grassy spot where we could rest. By this time it was near dinnertime and we needed a break. We spread out a blanket under a tree and relaxed for a bit. Then we treated ourselves to a few Pringles and set off again. We made our way through Tulsa OK and finally out of Oklahoma, but only barely. We spent the night at another Motel 6, in Joplin MO. We made only about 470 miles today, obliterating our headstart from yesterday (but we sure were glad we had made that good start). We were almost exactly halfway to Ithaca, thus keeping our head above water if in fact we needed to be there on Thursday morning.

Tuesday, May 11: We were up and on our way by 8am, but after two miles I realized I had forgotten to return our room key to the office, so we turned around and went back to Joplin. Since we were back in town anyway we also visited the gas station and the supermarket, and were actually on our way sometime after 8:30am. When we had first gotten up I had called the driver of our moving truck, and he said he was still planning to be in Ithaca on Thursday morning (rather to my disappointment). This meant we needed to make as good progress as possible today. And indeed we started off well, passing through Springfield MO and Rolla MO with only a couple of short stops for baby care. The landscape in Missouri is much greener than what we are used to out West, and that plus our good pace put me in pretty high spirits as we approached Saint Louis MO around lunchtime. A sign warned us that the ring road was under construction, so we decided to pass through the middle of the city. I even thought it might be nice to have lunch under the Gateway Arch (having never seen it before), but a sudden rainstorm (visibility down to tens of feet), though brief, convinced us to head into Illinois before stopping. I was content with the view of the Arch from the bridge over the Mississippi River. Late lunch at a rest stop 30 miles into Illinois. Nursing stop on a quiet neighborhood street, just off I-70 in tiny Montrose IL. We approached Terre Haute IN around 5pm, and needed to feed Samuel again as well as check in with our truck driver. I saw a park on the rather vague city map on the back of the AAA strip map, which we found after making a circuitous route through a pleasant neighborhood. The phone call brought the great news that our driver would be in Ithaca to unload our furniture on Friday rather than Thursday! Combined with the day's excellent progress, this meant that we would be able to detour north to Detroit and stay with Aunt Nancy. We had a few more Pringles to celebrate and headed off to Indianapolis IN, where we had dinner at a Quiznos and noticed that every single employee there was white, while every single employee at the KFC next door (a less highly-skilled job) was black. But that is a topic for another time. We made it as far as Fort Wayne IN, where we again spent the night at Motel 6.

I'll leave today's events, and those of the rest of the week, until I have time to write from Ithaca. We are currently at Aunt Nancy's, having arrived here at 1pm, and are greatly enjoying the relaxation of not being in the car. We plan to set off again in the morning, stay somewhere between Rochester and Ithaca tomorrow night, and meet our new house and our furniture on Friday. Update: Here is part two. 

Posted by Matt on 5/12/2004 10:47:00 PM