On the Road Again

We are on the road again! We sold our cute little house in Memphis and loaded the Penske and headed out to Raleigh, NC. What an adventure the last few months have been!! Our move was motivated to be closer to our family. So here we are in Raleigh, well kind of. We can't move into our apartment until January so we are a bit nomadic these days.

The trip to Raleigh was pretty uneventful. Andy drove the big Penske truck and pulled out car behind it. Amazing that they just let you drive those things without any questions or driving classes. I think when all said and done with the car trailer attached he was longer than an 18 wheeler. I drove the explorer and had puppy as my faithful companion. This drive was a bit similar to the drive we did when we drove from New York to Memphis, but this time we had cell phones. A bit different to be able to communicate. I have two funny stories from the trip:

1. We drove to Knoxville the first day and then spent the night to break up the driving and so we could watch the SEC Championship (War Eagle!). We woke up early the next day to get a jump on driving. After I showered and was getting ready, the electricity went out. It was 6:00 in the morning! What a weird feeling! All those thrilling movies come to your head and you think someone is going to bust into your room and kill you. Hubbie and I just sat there for a moment. What just happened! After we got over the shock and realized that no one was going to break in and attack us, we tried to gather our things and get ready to leave. I mean you want to get out of those places. Hubbie still needed to shower and so it was quite the challenge to gather our things, have Hubbie shower without light. So with our cell phones and the light of the computer screen we gathered our things. It really was quite comical! We come downstairs to find out that the electricity was out on the whole area. We sat down to have some breakfast and while eating the electricity came on. Yeah!! The front desk staff didn't know what happened, but I didn't care. I just glad to get out of that place!

2. When we came out of the hotel in Knoxville, it was flurry. Not a big deal at all. It was actually quite nice to see some flurries. As we drove toward the Smokies, it started to snow a little bit. As we traveled through the mountains of western Carolina, there was snow on the highway. I getting a little nervous. Not necessarily for me, as we have had practice driving in the snow in New York and I was in the explorer that had 4 wheel drive if I needed to use it. My main concern was for Hubbie in that big truck. We are slowly making our way through the curvy road and going through tunnels. It was really pretty. To see the mountains and the snow. Oh how we have missed them both! Then craziness starts to happen. Hubbie pulls into the totally covered snow lane and starts to pass some cars that were traveling a little too slow for him. I guess he was feeling confident and maybe driving such a big truck like that gives you the "I can conquer anything" complex. Meanwhile, I am freaked out and start yelling, "What are you doing?!?!? Get out of that lane! What are you thinking?!?." I was astonished! In my mind I see flashes of the Penske truck with all our belongings sliding off the road and crashing. As I'm hysterical in my car (I only know so because all the carrying on aroused puppy to sit up and move around), I follow him over. What am I doing?? Needless to say, we both passed the slow cars safely and moved back over. Don't worry, I made a phone call to the driver of the Penske to tell him I just had a heart attack and to stop killing me!!

After we arrived in Raleigh, we moved our stuff from the Penske to a storage unit in our apartment complex until we can move in. What are we doing now? Well, great question. We stayed in a hotel for a couple of days to take care of a couple of odds and ends here and then we went to Western Carolina back to the mountains to stay in a friend's cabin. What a treat! While there, we went on a hike. Another treat as we haven't hiked anything in 3 years. We passed by a couple of waterfalls, pictured below. Aren't they pretty!

I love the ice on the walkway below. We weren't able to venture down due to ice.

This was our first hiking experience with puppy. He was so cute! It was funny to see him navigate ice. The first couple of times, he just pranced right on and then would do the trying to catch my balance dance. Which was hilarious! While on top of the mountain, we kept puppy on the leash as I didn't trust him to not wander off the cliff. For the rest of it, we let him go. He was in his element and loved it! Sniffed everything! It was really refreshing to be out in nature again. This is a picture of me and the pup. He didn't want cooperate taking the picture. Too much to see and sniff!

I'll keep everyone updated on our travels this month. We are now back in Raleigh as Hubbie has an interview.