Update In Transit

Saturday the 27th, we left Reno around noon for the long trek to PA. We left a lot later than we thought, due to issues with shipping Lara's car. One quick lesson we learned, there are only a handful of reputable auto transport companies, and there are an abundance of those that yank your chain!

The three days on the road were. very. very. long. Each day was about 10-12 hours long of driving and making pit stops for gas, letting the dogs out to stretch their legs, and to eat. We stayed 2 different nights are La Quintas, since they take dogs in for free, have free WiFi, and have a breakfast to boot. A big win for our family! We made nightly stops in Rock Springs, WY and Omaha, NE. On the third day, we went off route to check out the Spam Museum in Austin, MN.

It was a lot to go out of our way to see it, but Lara was adamant about going. I think it's because she knows how much Spam played into my past. Most impressions of Spam are negative, but if you are/were from Hawaii, having Spam in the pantry is like having bananas or bread on hand. Lara wanted to make sure I saw the Spam museum and it was a blast :) There are 10 flavors of Spam - 3 I've had most my life, 1 I have no desire to eat (I've never liked bacon or bacon flavored anything), 2 a co-worker bought for me as a going away gift, 1 I sampled at the museum, and the rest we bought to try out :)

Eventually, we made it to Dekalb, IL, where Lara's mom's farm is located. We slept about 11 hours the first night we got here. Exhausted. Hercule (our old dog) slept a day and a half. We spent the yesterday doing errands, and then I had a car issue pop up. The car was having a difficult time starting the whole trip here; we got an oil change here in Dekalb, and they said a cell in the battery was dead. After a $150 (lame) battery replacement, the car seemed OK....for about 10 minutes. Then, a new issue popped up, forcing us to cancel our Chicago plans (check out Sears tower, Gino's East Pizza, a water tour of Chicago buildings, a trip to the Field Museum, but most importantly, seeing my good friend getting his MD/PhD in Champaign, Cerj). Back to the car - it would stall every time we put the car in gear (reverse or drive). After panicking and checking out the Suzuki forums, we decided to clean out the mass air sensor and to replace the air filter. We couldn't do it until this morning. After we did that, the car was fine. a $10 fix! What a relief!

Lara and her mom tried to make my birthday as special as they could with Chicago being cancelled. We had pizza from a place I wanted to try - Gino's East - with candles! We also saw two movies and had apple pie with ice cream to top it off.

Our last day on the road was a blur. We got to Altoona Thursday night, and stopped by a Walmart to buy a rug and two long pool floaties on the cheap because we forgot our air mattress for the first night in Altoona. We didn't want to spend money on a hotel because of the cost setbacks with my car. Oh my God, that was the worst sleep I've had ever. We still laugh about it when we think about it. We used our bath towels as blankets!

Next day, we had movers help us move into the house. It took 3 hours for them to get all the stuff out of the truck, and now we're spending all weekend unpacking. Lots of unpacking, and a lot of boxes are going to the attic. Most of our boxes were comprised of books...so many friggin' books! Those are going into the attic until we have a permanent place. No way am I packing those things up again in a year or so just to move and unpack them again.

Yesterday it hit us how homesick we were. I miss everything about Reno - not just our friends, because that is a given. I missed our creature comforts too - our drafty old rental house, the guys at work, my reproductive endocrinologist and the staff, my gym, etc. I'm not sure if pregnancy played into it, but I spent have of the latter day just crying off and on for no reason. It's like it just hit me all at once; we're somewhere new and we have to start all over. Square 1. I'm really glad I had Candy Crush to keep me distracted from my thoughts and text chats with a couple of good friends last night.

Today was better, not great, but I find myself feeling better as the house gets unpacked and as we explored the area more. I also talked to my sister, who isn't the most positive or optimistic person, but getting out everything I'm feeling in a raw way really helped me get the last bit of 'woe is me; where the hell am I?' out of my system. I'm certain I'll cycle back and forth for a while until we've really come into our own here. Altoona will never be like Reno, just like Reno was never Las Vegas. But, I'm determined as hell to make this place feel like home.

Photos of the house to come when it doesn't look like, as my mom says, 'a typhoon was in [my house]'. =D