The move - Thank you John and Connie!!

At the end of June, Matt flew out to the Spokane house and helped me finish packing for three days. The first day we finished the backyard - which looks fabulous. We are so disappointed to have worked to hard on it, and that we will never have the chance to enjoy it! We did learn a lot about planting trees, putting in planting borders, laying sod (and the all important soil prep), drainage strategies, lavender cultivation, successful rock garden plants, large rock moving techniques, and and aspen tree growth rates, however! We hope to be able to implement our knowledge in a new yard some year soon! The second day we picked up the two rental trucks and trailer (2 26 foot trucks, and one 6x12 trailer), and packed up the first truck. Friday we worked on getting the second truck and trailer packed. Saturday, we were supposed to leave at 8:30 in the morning (after turning over the keys to the new tenants), but didn't get everything packed and CLEAN until 7pm. Good grief. John, Matt's friend from ReliOn, came over Saturday morning as he had agreed to drive one of the trucks (the animals were all packed in the 4-runner, so we had three vehicles). He ended up staying all day to help, and the family came over to help too. I cannot thank Connie and John enough. I would have lost my sanity without their help, and their positive can do attitude.

I ended up giving away patio tables, wine barrel planters, wheelbarrow, potted trees and plants, perf pipe....etc to neighbors. Fortunately, our renters were understanding, and came early to begin painting in the rooms that we had cleaned out already while we continued to clean and pack. The kitchen and garage were the last to go and it was all we could do to squeeze in the last few items. The trucks were FULL!

Unfortunately, we had arranged for people to help us unload at the storage unit in Portland about the time that we left! We called ahead and thanked them for their willingness to help, and indicated we were not going to be there until early Sunday morning if we chose to drive through the night.

We decided to pull out and just get going at 7pm. After saying goodbye to all of the neighbors, we took one look back, and then proceeded on our new adventure. No tears this time, but it was sad. We got to Tri-cities a couple of hours later, and stopped at the Evil Empire (Walmart)to evaluate pet status and get some food. Just to give you an idea of the crowded conditions, John had two bird cages in his passenger seat, I had two cats (Linus and Hobbes) in my passenger seat, and Matt had Sabrina (cat), Tillie (dog), three cages of rats, the aquarium, and one cage of 12 finches in the truck. Everyone seemed fine, and we were about to depart, when I noticed that the fish tank rocks had shifted slightly (we had left in enough water to cover the rocks, about 1/3 tank), and so we got out the flashlight to make sure all inhabitants were safe. Upon closer inspection, we found that the tank had cracked and sprung a leak!!!! Matt went back into the store to purchase a new tank (a 10 gallon) and a towel, and then we debated about the next course of action. Finally, after much discussion, the engineers convinced me that it was a slow leak, the crack in the glass was complete (wouldn't keep fracturing), and that it was unlikely to get worse. So we jammed the towel around the tank and hoped for the best.

Around Boardman, we decided that we needed a short nap, so we all pulled over and slept for about two hours. Let me just say that u-haul trucks were not made to sleep in, especially when you have two cats next to you!! I managed to twist myself sideways and Tessa (the stuffed cow) volunteered to be a pillow. I think I made out better than Matt, who couldn't shift at all due to the critters....

We continued on our way at about 2 in the morning, after calling mom and dad and asking for help to get the pets to Salem (obviously, they didn't all fit in the 4-runner and we couldn't add that many miles to the vans). Dad agreed to come up when we called in the morning, but he hadn't counted on our two hour nap, so by the time we called, it was about 4 am. Since it was essentially morning anyway by the time we arrived (5:30), Mom and dad both decided to come up. When they met us at the storage unit we discussed how to proceed, because the trucks were due that morning at 11am, or we had to pay an additional $300 dollars. We decided just to get started unpacking and see how it went. We must have looked pretty grubby, because Mom just gave us that "look." Everyone was extremely grateful for the food she thought to pack, and we were able to fill (and I do mean fill) our 20x30 storage unit with 20 minutes to spare, and get the trucks back to a u-haul place down the road just in time to avoid the time penalty. So there we were, at 11 am, Matt John and I only getting 2 hours sleep during the last 26 hours. We were TIRED!

Got home, got everyone settled, stabilized the fish tank (in the bathtub), and let the poor cats and dog out. Again, we wouldn't have survived without help, and I really appreciate everyone who contributed to the move!