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Tuesday, April 29, 2008

We made it!

And it only took 15 days to move two adults, two kids, one dog, one cat, three vehicles (one disabled) and a trailer 3125 miles from central Mexico to San Juan Island WA!

Apart from the first night out when the truck’s fuel pump died just outside of Monterrey and the next day when the Jeep’s battery gave up the ghost in Del Rio we were miraculously free of mechanical trouble. The VW camper aka Toady rolled right out of the shed where it had been on blocks since 2001. And, though the shed it had been in was riddled with Black Widow webs there was no sign of any inside.

We had no real problems towing either the trailer or Toady though the truck was pushing itself toward its limits on the big mountain passes we had to cross in Idaho and Washington. We had great weather all the way through though the temperature went from 95 degrees in Uvalde TX to 45 in Fort Stockton overnight. We saw gorgeous red rock desert in Bluff UT, high plains in New Mexico, snow 15 feet deep at the top of Snoqualmie pass above Seattle and now, the most beautiful area yet, the fabulous mix of farmland, pine forest, sea coast and snow-capped mountain views that make up San Juan Island. We even got to meet up with a real live Dingo in ABQ! That was cool. It was one of those experiences that is just what you hope it will be. It felt like Sparkletruck and I had known each other for much longer than 1 lunchtime, as I suppose, we have. But it was cool. And somewhere I have a picture which I will load when I find it.

The house was in vastly better shape than any of us had dared to hope. It was relatively clean, mold-free (thanks to our intrepid real estate agent and her husband) and within the first 48 hours we had power, heat, hot water and a stove to cook on. Our visions of camping in Toady and a tent in the yard have come to nothing, we’re each in comfortable bedrooms on cozy mattresses on the floor.

The pond at the house has been a pleasant surprise too. We knew it was there of course but had never investigated it’s depth or clarity. It turns out that it is crystal clear and very deep, well over my head in the middle. We also discovered a floating raft with a paddle that the Bunny has taken to paddling around. She is also an avid angler as it turns out. She has a rod and reel and her first stop on this first Saturday was the edge of the pond where she cast in for over an hour in hopes of bringing in a fish. So far we haven’t seen any but we are planning on having it stocked, with what we don't know.

So it has been a week full of happy discoveries and relative calm. The Bunny is already deep into the first grade here now. We arrived last Tuesday, by Wednesday morning she was begging to go meet her new teacher so we stopped in to sign her up and on Thursday morning she started. The best part is how happy she is getting on the bus when it stops at the end of our driveway!!!! She has already said that she likes this school even more than her old one, I think it was the huge library that won her over but she seems to have already made some friends too and is just as happy as can be. And that tells us that as crazy as it sounded for us to up and leave everything we had been doing, it was the right choice.

1 comments:

CC said...

I'm glad to hear the bunny adjusted so quick... I had a feeling that would happen.

Love, CC