We're here!

Well, we made it!

We had three days to get here so we were able to take our time and stop when we needed to. Unfortunately we didn't leave Fresno until about 4:45 on Saturday afternoon, so when we pulled into Redding at midnight, we were pretty beat. Graham and Gidders were in the Penske, and I had Hannah and the cat in the car with me. Both vehicles were stuffed to the brim (thanks to "packing wizard" Brook!) and we thought the truck might flip a time or two during high winds. God's mercies were definitely apparent!

(Thanks also to Tim "The Move Man" Gilstrap, Marijke "Shrink-wrap Queen" Moes and Rocky "Box Master" Spain for all their invaluable help getting on the road in the first place!)

We had an awesome IHOP brunch on Sunday, then headed for Bend, Oregon. The drive was absolutely beautiful! Mt. Shasta is just amazing, and once we got into Oregon, we could definitely feel the cooler weather.

We made a pit stop at a great little visitor's center just outside of Klammath Falls, a perfect little park for the kids to run and for us to get some free maps. The last hour and a half to Bend was tough for Hannah, and the extra weight of Senjka on my lap made it quite uncomfortable, but we finally pulled into Bend around 6:30 p.m. Graham dropped me and the kids off at Fred Meyers while he searched for a motel. We ended up staying at the La Quinta Inn, which provided several comforts of home (mini kitchen, microwave, two beds, pool...fresh-baked cookies. Gideon dubbed it "the cookie place.").

We left Bend at about 9:30 Monday morning in order to make our 4:30 appointment with the housing office at the university. Hannah was pretty much done with being in the car after the first hour, but finally fell asleep to me singing any song that came to my mind. The only song that would calm her down during any part of the trip was, "If you're happy and you know it," so I think I qualify for the Guinness Book of World Records for singing one song the most times in the matter of three days. Oi!

Anyway, we made it just in time for the appointment, then had about an hour to blow until we met with the Housing Director to move in. Thankfully two of my co-workers were here to help us unload, but we ended up letting them go because the truck had been packed with the assumption that we would be going to the storage unit first. We got most of the important stuff out, then Graham spent most of Tuesday at the storage unit unloading and sorting through stuff we needed. Thanks to his awesome labeling system, the task wasn't as grueling as it could have been.