A Slower Pace

We attained our goal of reaching Louisville, KY safe, on time and as a family. We are very tired but excited. We close on the property and move in tomorrow. We have transitioned from wrapping things up at our old house to travelling across the country to now a new beginning. We did a final walk through of the house and are still pinching ourselves. And the weather forecast for this Sunday is snow. What a nice time to sit together as a family, unpack boxes, hang a few Christmas decorations and watch the first snow from our new house. Although we have been preoccupied with the move this holiday season, it’s beginning to feel a lot like Christmas.

…..Dan at aslowerpace

Driving through the country, I started noticing things I don’t or haven’t seen in the population and land of California. For example, while driving in Oklahoma, I noticed what appeared to be a whisp of smoke on the horizon. What it ended up being was a gaggle of geese flying south for the winter…..so many, that from several miles away, it looked like smoke. Pretty damn cool if you ask me.

A few other things of note:

• billions and billions of stars (not drowned out by light pollution)
• occasional wildlife (deer, coyote, hawks)
• wide expanses of open, nothingness

Some man made things I saw that you normally don’t see as well:

• a drive in movie theater
• a caboose
• one pump corner gas station

…..Dan at aslowerpace

“We come here to remember those who were killed, those who survived and those changed forever.

May all who leave here know the impact of violence. May this memorial offer comfort, strength, peace, hope and serenity.”

Those words stand alone in this post. I will not dilute them with my experience. That will be saved for later. God bless all who were impacted that day.

www.oklahomacitynationalmemorial.org

…..Dan at aslowerpace

We are now in Elk City, OK. (by the way, the Holiday Inn here is nice and has some great ammenities — pool, hot tub, miniature golf, sauna, shuffleboard, etc and kids stay and eat free). The drive was interesting crossing the continental divide in New Mexico, dropping down from the mountains onto the mesas and then to the flat plains.

While driving across that great expanse, I learned that I could draft behind my wife’s Suburban and simultaneously watch the kids’ movie on the DVD entertainment system. If I tuned my radio to the same frequency as the FM modulator, I could even hear it all. I was getting entertained AND getting better mileage to boot!

Somewhere in Texas we crossed the halfway point. We are now closer to our new home in
Kentucky than our old one in California. Weather has been cooperative but very cold. We will have to acclimate.

I have been tracking mileage on both the Suburbans. Kinda interesting. Hers is a new 2003. Mine an old 1990 towing a fully loaded 4×8 Uhaul trailer. She is getting double the mileage although my trip average isn’t much lower than my normal mileage. I guess when the truck is
that large and inefficient there isn’t that much more you can do to hurt mileage. And gas prices have greatly varied. Highest is, of course, California where I paid $2.49 just before leaving. Of course, just across the border in Arizona it was $1.84. The lowest I have seen is $1.55 in Texas. Another benefit of leaving California.

Tomorrow it is my hope to stop and see the Oklahoma City Memorial (www.oklahomacitynationalmemorial.org) . It is a good educational opportunity for the kids as well as a time to offer respects and pay tribute. I expect it to be a touching experience.

Thanks again for all who have kept us in your thoughts and prayers. Our trip has been uneventful in a good way.

…..Dan at aslowerpace

We awoke to a beautiful Mojave desert sunrise. And California was finally in our rear view mirror. It was weird to leave California soil as we crossed the Colorado river into Arizona. And then the thought that at that very moment we were homeless. Not in the sense that everyone uses to describe the poor and destitute. But a family without a home. Usually when we have travelled like this for vacation, we had a home base to return to. And, while vacation was fun, it was always great to get back home. That won’t happen this time.

We met a couple with kids and pets in Seligman, Arizona outside the gas mart.They, too, were moving out of California and relocating their family to Flagstaff. An interesting parallel to our move. And they weren’t originally looking to leave CA but had visited Flagstaff and began contemplating it. Seems they hadn’t noticed the difference in life styles until they actually compared and contrasted them. Similar issues: pace of life, cost of living, time with kids, employment opportunities, values. Again, an interesting parallel. It got my wife and I wondering what the immigration/exodus rate is for California. If anyone has links to facts, data or articles, drop me an email.

More asphalt and miles ahead tomorrow. Thoughts come and go as I drive and only a few of them stick enough in my brain to make it to this blog. Too bad I can’t blog real time…..although that’d be scary.

…..Dan at aslowerpace

We’re now headed on our way to Kentucky. I have the Suburban air conditioning on. I am sweating from all the last minute work on the house. December just isn’t supposed to be 83F degrees. As I said before, I think this is California’s way of sticking it to us. I am gonna look at it as a gift…..as a nice path of good or at least tolerable weather all the way to Kentucky.

The last two days have been a blur. I remember something about boxes all around and movers coming and now — poof — we’re in a motel on the road. Luckily the pets are all able to stay in our room and we have internet access. We hit the road early tomorrow to make some decent progress to our goal: our family arriving safely at our new home.

Thank you all for your prayers. I even had a neighbor come by today to say a prayer with me — a very cool parting gift indeed. As the holidays arrive, I offer my prayers to you in return for a safe, joyous and rejuvenating season that focuses on the reason for the season.

Until my next internet access,
…..Dan at aslowerpace

And a big thank you to everyone who has helped us out during our last moments here. Thank you for the visits, thank you for the gifts of remembrance and, especially, thank you for your prayers.

And thank you, Dad, for helping me late last night!

…..Dan at aslowerpace

Today is our departure day. I didn’t sleep as long (or as well as you would in your own bed) but we still have some loose ends to wrap up before we head out. We are leaving a day early to get a jump on the driving. Our hope is to make it to the California border this evening.

This will be an interesting week. So far the weather looks ok for travelling. I also don’t know what internet access will be like so this might be my last post for a couple of days. To keep things interesting, I have replaced this week’s days of the week with states. Instead of Saturday, Sunday, Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday we will have Arizona, New Mexico, Texas, Oklahoma, Tennessee and Kentucky.

I hope to talk with ya before Kentucky (Thursday).

…..Dan at aslowerpace

After getting up at 5am to get stuff done and be at Home Depot when they opened, I ended up at Home Depot when they closed.

The movers have shoehorned everything we own into a semi-truck trailer, my Suburban is towing a trailer-in-training (UHaul), the house is now a shell and we have been doing last minute patch and paint, vacuuming and cleaning.

Highlights of my very busy 20 hour day were:
– having a sandwich lunch with my son while we parked and watched bulldozers
– returning a lost dog, meeting a new neighbor and receiving some very nice custom, signed, horse themed prints that will look very nice in our new home (and mirror the ones at the Disney ranch which they were commissioned for)
– a last dinner out here as a family with my folks
– watching the moving trucks pull away with my son on my shoulders as they honked their very loud horns

And as things would have it, it is a typical December day in California: 78 degrees, not a cloud in the sky. It was as if California was saying goodbye. Or maybe it knew we would miss the weather and it was giving us a "neener, neener" for our last full day here.

Other titles for this post were going to be "Home Depot Frequent Flier", "The Weather Sure Sucks In California", "Hello and Goodbye", and "See Ya Later Isn’t Possible As A Departing Quote". But all in all I chose "Whew" because after such a long day with so much accomplished, that’s what I felt like.

I’m gonna sleep like a rock.

…..Dan at aslowerpace

The packers have come and gone. The movers are now here and almost done. Right now, our home is an empty shell of a house containing an intricate maze of boxes. As of tomorrow, we can be summed up as nomads headed on an adventure.

Being out in front of the house with the packers and movers, I was able to chat with a lot of neighbors that stopped by. It was nice to catch up, say good-bye and exchange emails. I will miss the good neighbors we have who always waved as they drove by when I was mowing the lawn or playing with the kids. Enjoy the weather for us!

In the many conversations I had, a few topics were common threads. Values, family, enjoying life. It made me realize that in spite of our differences, most of us have very similar rootings — to be valued, to love family, to enjoy the time we have left on this planet. In what ever ways you pursue those rootings, I hope you find happiness and contentment.