Moving Out

6-18-2001
I am beginning a new chapter in my life. I am finally a college graduate and now have more independence and am about to really start my life. Beginning a career, moving to a new state across the country, and deepening my relationship with Jeff.

We left the buckeye state in the morning hours on June 18th. We said a last goodbye to my parents and then Jeff, Mariah, Morgan, and I got into the Cherokee to being our long road trip with the u-haul hitched to the back of the jeep.

We were heading west towards Chicago. I remember that we did not plan this part of the trip very well. We got stuck in downtown Chicago traffic. We finally got on the road again going faster than 5 miles and bumper to bumper traffic as we were heading towards Madison, Wisconsin. Jeff and I did not have a time limit for the trip and were not really in a rush to drive as fast as we could to Washington. We did however want to spend some time at Yellowstone and see Mount Rushmore. So we did travel faster through some of the Midwest states. As we got farther into the night we were in Minnesota when some excitement on our trip occurred. It was the middle of summer and we had beautiful weather on our trip thus far. When we were in Minnesota it did start to rain pretty heavily and Jeff noticed that there was a fast drop in the temperature. Soon the thunder, lightning, and wind started. It was a bit scary not knowing where you were, not having a GPS to tell you where a hotel might be, and dragging a u-haul behind you. We found a local am radio station and were listening to interruptions in the broadcast from the emergency broadcast systems warning of us of tornados. Again not knowing where we were in relation to the cities they were talking about that the funnel clouds had been located was a bit nerve wracking. We did however find a truck stop and pulled over for the night. After traveling all day I was not excited about getting a few hours of sleep in the back of a Jeep with two dogs and no room to really sleep. I was worried about catching a few zzzzz’s in the service plaza and stayed up for the most part just to make sure no one was looking in through the windows. I was in the driver’s seat before Jeff woke up and decided to let him sleep while I took off down the road.

Day two started with us waking up in Minnesota and driving all the way to the Black Hills of South Dakota. I had Jeff promise me that tonight we would find a hotel and get a good night sleep. I never realized how tired you get when you drive! We were exhausted. When we got to our stopping area it was in the late afternoon. We got dinner and we were in bed and fast asleep by 8:00pm.

Day three started at Mount Rushmore. I had never been there before. It was neat to see. We spent about an hour there before getting back into the Jeep and taking off. We traveled from South Dakota to Cody, Wyoming. My aunt had given me a list of hotels that accept pets. So as we were finding our various stopping places I would call and make reservations for the night. When we decided that Cody would be our stopping point we soon found that our plan was not meant to be. There was a rodeo in Cody. All of the hotels had no vacancy for the night. We were a bit discouraged so we had no choice but to head on. We did not want to continue to late into the night, because of traveling through the mountains. We did end up finding a place called the Goff Creek Lodge. This Lodge is stunning!!! The hospitality was amazing and we were a total surprise to them when we called and needed a room for the night. We were sad that we did not have time to just hang out and experience all that nature has to give at this Lodge. Morgan got a nice surprise when we did wake up. There was a little puppy outside our door that she played with before it was time to head out.

Day 4 started around Cody and we went to Yellowstone. I LOVED it. The mountains, the wildlife, the scenery, the views, the feeling of being in a place that is so perfect is amazing. I also saw old faithful, bison, elk, the Tetons. It was something that I will never forget. We spent most of the day at Yellowstone and ended up in Jackson Hole, Wyoming for the night. My parents go to Jackson Hole every summer to spend time on a dude ranch. I finally got why they go when I was out there. Never having had experienced the beauty of the mountains and nature like that before I was always wondering what the big deal was about the dude ranch and this place that they would travel to. Now I got it!

Jackson is a lovely city and we had fun in the shops before getting back into the car. Jeff and I got determined now that it was Seattle or bust. We got in the car and drove, and drove, and drove, and drove. We got into Seattle sometime around 2 am. I have never been so slap happy, tired, exhausted and unable to keep my eyes open before. Jeff and I were singing to each other and talking about the stupidest things to keep each other up the last hour of the trip. When we got to the apartment we went diving into the bed.

The next day once the sun was up I was up. This is not a common occurrence for me. I felt the need to get the u-haul unpacked. Morgan and Mariah did super the whole trip. Jeff and I grew closer just being in a car that long together and not having anything else to do, but talk to each other about anything and everything.

Things I will never forget about the trip:
Gary, Indiana
Listening to Billy Joel (I’m moving out) over and over
Eating pizza hut pizza outside of the jeep as we looked at the mountains
The amazing beautiful breathtaking scenery
The almost tornado
Almost running out of gas
Jeff and Morgan bonding (Morgan a lab jumping in the front seat to sit on Jeff’s lap every chance she got!)