The trip across America

The morning of our move, we woke up early and said goodbye to our house.  😢 

saying goodbye to our home of twenty-five years

We left later than we would have had we not needed to pick up meat, which is a very strange item to need before you move across country. Back in December, before we knew we were moving at all, we bought an 1/8 of a cow from a local rancher. It was to be available in mid-February. 

shaking on a good deal

However, the butcher was unable to do his job in the expected time, and the meat did not become available until the very morning we wanted to head out. Then we packed our chest with dry ice, filled it up with the cuts of beef, and strapped the chest to the back of our van. And there it remained until we arrived at the rental house in Florida, four days later.

Hence, off we went eastward on the I-10 through the Southern California desert.

just desert

From where we live, it takes three hours to exit Cali. It's all desert. No one lives there. Arizona is all desert, and with the exception of Phoenix, it hardly appears inhabited. By the time we got to the end of Arizona, it was sundown. 

beautiful sunsets

And thank God we had a short drive through New Mexico - and that it was nighttime - because there is nothing to see. Then we arrived in El Paso, our first stop over, after twelve hours of driving.

nothing to see here

After a short visit with my mother-in-law, we headed out again. This drive took us through most of Texas, which includes desert, a little rain, and then lots of green. After a second day of driving twelve hours, we stayed in Beaumont, Texas.

more deserts

more rainy

more green

We were able to sleep in a little longer because our third stop over, after driving through  Louisiana, Mississippi, and Alabama, was Pensacola, Florida, only six hours away. 

more trees

trees and water

more water

While we were driving through Alabama, we received a call that our two cars (which were taken by auto transport three days before we left Cali) arrived before we did and were an hour from our rental house. We had to ask our son (already in Florida) to meet the transport at a Walmart in Sarasota, and we would have to pick up the cars after we arrived in Florida.

There go our vehicles off to Florida.

The fourth and final day we drove six more hours to our destination. We were so excited to drive to our rental house. We immediately liked the community, which is very rural and quiet and peaceful. We can hear the crickets and birds and cows mooing. It's just perfect.

long shadows and looming rain clouds

However, being that we are in a rural area, it also takes a long time to drive into town. It took even longer to drive into Sarasota to pick up our other vehicles. In fact, we had to do it over two days. We were mentally and physically exhausted and drained from the four day drive, and we haven't had much sleep because we do not have our beds. The container with our furniture won't arrive for eight or ten more days.

Things are coming together, and I know there will be challenges and trials and conflicts. 😬 But it is all part of the adventure.

Well, here we go . . .