As I’ve talked about before, moving day can be a mixed bag of emotions. We can be sad for leaving the place, and people, we are with, while still be very excited to arrive at our new destination. This was 100% the case when we pulled out of Ririe Reservoir. Saying goodbye to Steven & Linda wasn’t easy (okay – totally sucked!) – but we hadn’t seen our niece and her kiddos in two years! That’s a LONG time!

Another part of the leaving we weren’t excited about was the 1000+ mile trip we had in front of us! Most full-timers we know don’t travel this way – just driving like mad men for 1000 miles, but we’ve done it a few times when the situation calls for it.

We first tried to align Elks Lodges along the way, and while there were some, their locations just weren’t going to work. Instead, we chose Walmart’s for the three nights we would be spending on the road. Bill actually looked back to double-check – and that was a record breaker – three Walmart’s in a row!

Knowing we aren’t generally good about leaving early (we really have to work on that!) our first Walmart was 251 miles away in Rock Springs, WY. Our drive was a gorgeous one – through Swan Valley, Alpine, and Pinedale.

Our second day was 354 miles of I-80 interstate, landing us in Sidney, NE – a new state! Bill decided to cook after we went in and shopped a bit. As per our usual, we watched some TV before turning in for the night.

Day three was more of the same boring I-80. Road conditions were ok and after another 350’ish miles we stopped for the night in Lincoln, NE. (Anyone considering a Walmart in Lincoln NE area – check Allstays – they don’t all allow overnight parking – we stayed at the one on Andermatt with no issue)

Our final drive day was a short one by design – we knew it would be more – actually ALL – back country roads that we wouldn’t make good time on. I ended up being so glad it was only 131 miles – the weather and road conditions were horrible! We don’t mind back country roads – but Rt 77 from Lincoln, NE and Manhattan, KS was so bad! Pot holes were pretty bad; the lack of proper grading may not have been noticed at all if it weren’t for the torrential down pouring rain! I was following Bill and since the truck/rig is about 27,000 pounds, he wasn’t hydroplaning at all, but my little CRV, even equipped with Michelin tires and all wheel drive, was being tossed around all over the place! I slowed down in a lot of spots to 30 miles per hour, radioing Bill that I couldn’t go any faster. We were already, even in the good spots, traveling 10 or more miles per hour below the 55-65mph speed limit.

I’ve rarely been so relieved to arrive at a destination! We were arriving a day ahead of our reservation, but I had checked online and knew our site was available. Bill pulled into the dump station while I went ahead to double check on the site location. By this time, the rain had all but stopped – thank goodness! Parking and setting up in rain is so not nice!

It took no time at all for me to reach out and let everyone know we had arrived a day early and arrange to go see them!

Our solar install clients arrived two days later, and after Bill helped them get parked (it was their first time backing up their brand-new just-drove-it-off-the-lot 40′ 5th Wheel!) we left them alone to set-up.

Our great-nephew, Will, plays football for his school, and we were excited to be able to see his last game! It was a bit of a project to get to watch as it was an away game on Fort Riley Army Base. We had to stop at the “Visitor Control Center” to show ID and get special passes.

Since we’d seen her last, our great-niece, Avianna, has gotten her driver license and first car, so it was a weird feeling when she came over to visit and she took me for a ride to show me her first college apartment. Kids grow up so fast!

Will, who’s 13, wanted to come for a sleep-over, and we happily obliged. We had offered earlier in the week for him to come, but weren’t sure he’d want to – being he’s 13 and all. In the morning, we went over to help Bill put together panels for the install.

After deciding on a menu for that nights dinner; we headed to the grocery store. We were happy to find bundles of firewood, as almost more important than dinner – was a campfire and s’mores!

Bill and I were very happy to have everyone over for dinner and a campfire. We enjoyed the s’mores and the fire helped keep everyone warm on the chilly night.

The following morning, I packed a bag to start a two day day drive, by myself in my car, to PA. As I had briefly mentioned in my previous post, my son’s difficulties weren’t fully resolved during that visit, so I wanted/needed to return.

After I left, Bill carried on, finishing the install and enjoying more visiting with our family and taking care of Callie. Our solar clients took him out to dinner, which was so nice of them! He also got taken to lunch when long time blog readers, Mark & Karen, arranged for a meet-up. I’m happy for him he wasn’t completely on his own.

One awesome thing about arriving in PA when I did was I got to go to a couple of appointments, meeting the Doula and midwife, where I got to hear the heartbeat! That was so cool!

As I get this post ready to publish, I am still in PA. Bill has moved on to our friends in AR. Michelle and I had an awesome visit with Billy, and I’m going back later this week. This will be the longest Bill and I have been apart in a LONG time, but for now divide and conquer is the order of the day!

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