Well let me just say that packing was an adventure…. Glen bought a 26′ gooseneck flatbed trailer that he enclosed temporarily for our travels – we LOADED that as well as a 26′ U-Haul. We were packing from the 13th of May until about midnight on the 15th of May. UGH!!

Day 1:
We left PA on Sunday May 16th. Glen and his cousin Jonathan as well as the two dogs headed out in Glen's truck and Austin, myself and Mr. Bear (the hamster) headed out in the 26′ U-Haul… We were packed tight in both the back and the front of both vehicles… We left at noon and drove until about 2:30ish a.m. We stopped in a Gas station parking lot and slept until about 5:30 – 6:30 a.m…. We made it through Chicago – we hit some interesting highway that night – let me say WOW!! We hit some switch backs that were just as long as the trucks and were narrow and to beat all they were two lanes – so of course the 18 wheelers were just so anxious to pass… Needless to say that there were no sparks at any given time and I was so glad that Austin was sleeping and not asking questions during this adventure… 🙂 It was wild though in the same sense… 🙂 Also while riding earlier in the day – Glen experienced some strangeness with his truck – his truck started to lose power which it quickly regained and then seemed fine… Figuring that maybe there was just junk in the fuel – we didn't pay much mind to it…

Day 2: We hit some more interesting highway…. Bouncy – Good Grief… I had to sit at the edge of the seat because my feet were getting bounced off the peddles. We drove for miles like that – crazy…. I felt like a little kid with short legs… We then drove on until about 4 pm where we stopped and napped in the sun on a little hill at a rest stop – WOW – the sun and fresh air felt great….

We continued to drive at this point until about 9:30 – 10:30 pm where we exited a ramp to find a place to sleep for the night and get a shower..

Day 3: We got back on the road I want to say around 9:30 – 10:30 am. We got a good breakfast in our bellies and headed out for another long day of travels… Austin has so many things to play with and keep him busy. He only watched 4 movies and he did that between days 1 and 2. Glen's mother Glenna bought Austin a license plate game which we played the whole ride, but after day 3 that was the only thing that Austin worried about. The rest of his time was spent just taking it in and asking LOTS of questions. We had a blast he and I. He is a great traveler thankfully and we totally enjoyed everything along the way… We drove till about 9:30 – 10:30 pm – we had stopped to eat earlier in the evening and pushed on only to make it half way up the ramp to get a hotel room where Glen got a flat tire…. We changed the tire on the ramp and exited to sleep in Bozeman, MT. We were getting close… In the midst of our day – Glen also experienced his truck acting a bit strangely – again losing power – only to regain and continue trudging on..??

Day 4: Glen and Jonathan rotated the tires on the fly in the hotel parking lot before we started out today. We drove until about 4pm where we started to have some major troubles with Glen's truck… We were traveling up some major mountains when his truck really started spitting black smoke and losing power… At one point we actually pulled over and contemplated a tow or trudging on?? Being our location we decided to trudge on…. Then again we continued to have difficulties just not quite as bad. While I was driving I googled Chevy/GMC dealers in the area on my blackberry (thank goodness sometimes for technology) and found a dealer not 40 miles away. So we trudged on and safely made it to Kellogg, ID… A mere hour from Santa, ID…. UGH!! The dealer could take a look at our truck in the morning so now – find a hotel room that will take 3 adults, 1 teen, 2 dogs and a rodent… 🙂 Well – we found one…. $52.00 a night no less as well….. And we ate in and slept well….

Day 5: Well – we got the BAD news in the morning…. $4,900.00 to repair Glen's truck – all 8 injectors went at once…. OUCH!! So what to do…. 1st thought – see if they will offer us a rental so we can get to our new home…. We got one lined up and then started to ponder the option of another vehicle (which we would need eventually anyway – just weren't planning so soon)… Well we considered trading Glen's truck as well however their offer made us choke…. So we started to look at what they had on the used lot….. Well imagine this…. I just sold my F250 V10 before leaving – now they have an 2001 F250 V8 Powerstroke Diesel – the only thing missing was the sunroof as far as the features I had on mine and the price was good being the truck only had 51,000 miles on it…. More than we certainly wished to spend right now, but what are ya gonna do…. So we started the paper work…. They thru in the gooseneck hitch, but the parts wouldn't arrive for installation until the next day…. So back to the hotel we go and another night of take out….

Day 6: On the road again…. We were so thankful to be on the road again…. Austin was just dying to get to Santa, ID…. As were we all… Glen's truck was left behind in a secure lot so that we could pick it up later once we unloaded everything…..

So this was our travels…. Crazy – expensive, but we made it…. We connected with the realtor and got back to our land by about 5 pm on Friday the 21st…. WOOOHOOO!!! It is just AWESOME!!!

They offered us to stay in the church parsonage that was vacant at the time, but we chose to sleep on the land…. In the half loaded down gooseneck trailer… A bit on the chilly side, but WOW…