Getting There

Finally, it seems like things are getting done and we’re getting a little more settled in each day. It’s amazing how smoothly things seemed to have gone for us in AZ. We sold our house in 2 months, sold our car in one day. Sold many of our belongings very easily on craigslist and made some good cash for them. And then we moved here and it seems like there was one roadblock after another. As much as we tried to get things organized in advance of moving here, it still took awhile to get things like Dish and Cable set up. Then there was the car situation. My car that was being transported from Phoenix arrived a week after their guaranteed arrival date and many many frustrating conversations with that company. While waiting for my car to arrive the AZ registration expired on it, so it was top priority to get it registered once I had it here. But first we had to get our drivers licenses and insurance. The day we went for our licenses we waited about 2 hours and then their computer crashed and they told us to come back the next day. After we got that straightened out, the next day, I went to get it registered. But the title I got from the bank was incomplete, so they told me to call the bank and come back when I got a new title or letter from the bank. Why couldn’t anything just go easily so we could cross it off our list?

This week seems to be going a bit smoother. We finally have 2 cars! We drove out to Pittsburgh on Saturday to pick it up since the dealerships out here didn’t care enough to make us a good deal.

I did get what I needed from the bank, so I went back and was able to get the car registered. Today I dropped the car off for inspection and emissions testing (something we didn’t have to do in AZ). It passed! Today we also went and opened checking and savings accounts. That took about an hour to do, but it felt good to cross off the list! There’s not much else that we need to run around and get done on lunch breaks or in the early morning. We need new cell phones. We get crazy looks when we give out our phone number with a 480 area code. It’s such a small town that they don’t even expect us to say an area code since everyone has the same one!

I’m thinking about getting an iphone. I’m not usually big into getting the last technology and gadgets (that’s usually Justin), but I think an iphone will be tons of fun. Will it be worth the extra $30 monthly fee? We’ll see.

Internet

I think I mentioned in a previous post that I started working from home this week. At first, we were scheduled to have wireless internet connection through the Cresson Borough in place before the week began. However, with the trees there was not a clear signal for us to get that. Plan B was then to get cable service from Comcast. Because we moved in over the July 4th holiday weekend, we couldn't actually get in touch with anyone from Comcast until Monday, July 7th. One of our kind neighbors did not secure their wireless, so I was able to tap into that if I sat next to the window in the closet storage room. Well, that only works some of the time. If it's rainy, cloudy, or even a slight breeze I get disconnected. After a lot of frustration the first few days, I would drive down to the library that offered WiFi and work from there. Only problem with the library is that I can't make or take any phone calls. The soonest Comcast could schedule to come out to start service is Tuesday, July 15th! On Thursday, we had the idea to come into campus so I could work out of Justin's office. We weren't sure what time the office would be open, so we thought we'd have breakfast at our only fastfood restaurant in town, McDonald's. I remembered seeing a lego table there, so I knew that could keep Paige busy too. And they advertise WiFi so I could work for an hour or so before driving into campus. As soon as we get to McD's I start looking around for a power outlet. My laptop has a battery life of about 20 minutes max. I couldn't believe it, but there was not one outlet in the entire McDonald's seating area! How could a restaurant advertise WiFi but have no outlets? I asked the cashier/manager person. I should've known better. She said she didn't even know what WiFi was. She "hates computers". I tried explaining I didn't need help with the WiFi part, just the outlet to plug in. She seemed thoroughly confused. Maybe she hates electricity too.

Today (Friday) I decided to come back up to campus since it worked out fairly well yesterday. Only thing is you have to walk through a classroom to get to Justin's office and class was in session this morning. So, today I'm at the campus library...for now. Until I have to make some calls. Cross your fingers that Comcast comes out and everything is set up and ready to go on Tuesday!

Edit: Here's a picture of my makeshift office while we were waiting on Comcast installation.

The Move: Day 5 and beyond

We made it to Cincinnati on day 5. I think this was probably the easiest day of them all. Maybe because we had a familiar place as a goal. We got in after 9pm, but it was still light outside so it wasn't bad at all. We spent the night with Grandma and Pop S. On Wednesday, we met Grandpa and Grammy M for brunch before we headed to Pittsburgh to see Grandma and Papa K! This was only a 5 hour drive. The truck was really acting up at this point. It stalled on us in the middle of the highway a few times. It was to the point that I wasn't even comfortable driving it anymore. I was so relieved when we finally made it to Pittsburgh. We called Penske again when we got in. The technician came out and even took it for a drive, but couldn't find anything. We only had 1.5 hours more to go to get to Cresson, so we just kept our fingers crossed.

On Thursday morning, Justin drove the truck, my dad drove his car and my mom and I with Paige drove in another car. At least this time Justin had some backup if something happened with the truck. We all made it to Cresson and immediately started unloading. It took us most of the day along with my parents to get the truck emptied. The house was packed full with boxes. We went to dinner around 8pm and said goodbye to my parents from there. Back at the house, Justin and I cleared out the bedroom enough to get the mattress flat and we called it a night. Paige slept in a playpen the first few nights until we got around to setting up her crib yesterday.

At this point, we have the rooms in pretty decent shape. Livable at least. We have a room dedicated to being a closet/storage that is still pretty tough to get around in, but the main rooms are good. We still don't have Dish Network installed or even our Internet. As I type this, my laptop is on a box next to the window in the storage/closet room so that I can pick up a neighbor's wireless! Hopefully we'll have internet by mid-week. I'm officially back at work today, and this is going to be pretty tough working like this for very long without my own internet!

Check out the July 08 folder on Picasa for pictures from our trip and our first few days in Cresson.

The Move: Day 4

Distance Traveled: 558 mi
Average Speed (moving): 59.5 mph
Total Moving Time: 9:23 hrs
Maximum Speed: 71.4 mph

Our fourth day was pretty uneventful, thankfully. We called Penske service first thing in the morning to get our headlight fixed, and while we were waiting we had breakfast and took our showers at the hotel. Ultimately, we got out of Amarillo about 9:40--not bad for having arrived past midnight!

Jen and I split driving pretty evenly today. I took the first two hours, she took the next two, etc. After the long day yesterday, we were pretty brief with our stops. We had lunch at Subway with our first fuel fillup, and had dinner at McDonalds (Jen's choice) with the second fill-up. As a result, we made good time, despite brief traffic outside of Oklahoma City and some modest backups during rush hour in Tulsa. We ultimately pulled into our hotel in Springfield at a bit before 9pm. The biggest drama of the day occurred in the parking lot, where I managed to back over one of the pet bag dispensers they had outside of the parking lot. :(

Tomorrow we're going to try to shave another hour off of our start time and leave by 8:30 or so. That's 5:30am Phoenix time! We probably still won't make it to Cincinnati until pretty late at night, but at least we'll get there assuming all goes well. -justin

The Move: Day 3

Update is posted late because of no wireless in hotel last night.

Day 3 Statistics:
Total Miles Traveled: 607 miles
Overall average speed: 57.9 mph
Moving average speed: 59.4 mph

Today, we started with a nice breakfast at Comfort Inn, and got on the road at around 9am. Not bad given how tough the prior few days had been on us! We felt well-rested and ready to get the first full day of the road trip started.

Most of the day was uneventful. We had lunch at Cracker Barrell in Gallup, New Mexico, which tasted freaking fantastic after the debacle in Black Canyon City yesterday. I drove until we got past Amarillo, at which point Jen took over driving. And what better way to get your first taste of driving a 26’ moving truck then to immediately drive into a rainstorm? It was pouring cats and dogs within a mile, but Jen did great and was almost immediately comfortable.

For dinner, we stopped in Tucumcari. Approaching the exit, we saw a billboard for McDonalds that said "Best Service in town". That should've been a sign to us to keep on going and not stop. We first decided to stop at a Chinese restaurant. We walked in and the restaurant was completely empty except for the hostess/waitress and one customer standing at the front desk waiting for his order. The hostess immediately sat us with menus and then we waited. We could see her from where we were sitting and she kept getting calls for delivery orders and who knows what else. After about 20 minutes without even giving our drink order and we noticed at least 3 other orders were going to the kitchen before we'd get a chance to place ours, we just got up and left. After that experience, we knew we wanted something quick because it was already around 8pm and we were losing daylight quickly with about 2.5 more hours of driving left. So we stopped at Pizza Hut. We went to the front counter and stood in line for a bit then realized they had servers at the tables so we sat down. Then we waited. Finally, we went back up to the counter and placed our order up there. Then we waited. About 25 minutes later (when he told us the pizza would take 15 minutes) Jen went back up to the counter to check and see how it was coming. After a few minutes, Jen interrupted the conversation between the waitresses just hanging out there and after acting majorly inconvenienced, one of them turned to look at the kitchen and there was no pizza there waiting. So then she just started chatting with another employee and we decided to leave. Finally, we walked across the parking lot to A&W for quick burgers so we could get back on the road. If you are ever passing through Tucumcari, TX just keep on driving!

By the time we got back on the road it was after 9pm and it was dark outside. We drove for a bit and then we saw a cop who pulled us over. There was one sign when we entered the state about trucks having a lower speed limit than cars, but no other truck was following it so we were just keeping up with traffic. Plus, it was only one sign. Luckily, that wasn't the reason we were pulled over. The cop notified us that one of our headlights was burnt out. He left us off with a warning and we were only about 15 minutes from Amarillo which was our destination, so we continued on.

We had picked up a brochure at one of our stops along the way with some hotel coupons. We decided to give the Fifth Seasons Inn a shot. They had rooms advertised for $38/night with a free Hot breakfast. The picture in the coupon looked nice too. The main hotel was very nice, however the rooms at the $38/night rate were the ones in the adjoining motel at the back of the building. It was kind of deceiving. We approached our room and the door was ajar. That really freaked Jen out. In addition to the hallway room, there was also a door to the outside as well as a door to the adjoining room. The room was very old and not the nicest we've seen.

The Move - Days 1 and 2

While Mom was busy working through her fiasco on Thursday and Friday, Dad was at home packing. Friday afternoon we picked up the Penske Truck, and so I needed to empty the storage closet we were renting before the movers arrived at the house Saturday morning. If 2 hours of heavy lifting in 107 degree weather isn't enough to convince you that it was time to move away from Phoenix, nothing is!

Day 2 began early--the movers arrived at 6am (and I was up until midnight packing...), and they were awesome. If you happen to be in Arizona and need a truck filled, I highly recommend AZ Best On Time Movers. Best $200 I've ever spent--we started with a house full of boxes and still-assembled furniture, and by 8:45 the truck was filled and secure. I could never get the truck packed as well as they did, and even if I could, it would have taken an entire day (in hellish heat) to get it done.

Mom got back in town at 9, and we ended up staying at the house doing final packing (there's always something else to put in a box!) and cleaning until 3. Amazing how long that stuff takes. But anyway, 3 hours late, we passed off the keys to the new owner (Mom got a kiss! No wait--two kisses! Romanians are a loving bunch I guess), we were off!

Things went well for about 30 minutes. Then, the truck started to sputter. Basically, as we accelerated moderately, the engine would occasionally not have power for a half a second. This happened three times just outside of Phoenix, and then another 6 times within a few seconds about 15 minutes later. We stopped in Black Canyon City and called roadside service. It only took them 45 minutes to get there (in the meantime, we had an absolutely terrible dinner at the 4B Cafe--Mom's roast beef was actually green), but the guy wasn't able to find anything. So we decided to keep on going and just see how far the truck would take us. Surprisingly, it behaved very well up the steep inclines to Flagstaff, so we're hoping those problems won't surface again. Our current thought is that the truck was having trouble deciding what gear to be in--and maybe now I better understand how much gas to give it at a given speed.

We ended up staying in Flagstaff, which is pretty darn far from our original goal of Albuquerque. But late departures and truck troubles will do that for you. But it's ok--we'll just have to make up time over the next couple of days--we had a lot of buffer worked into this trip anyway. In the meantime, Flagstaff is absolutely gorgeous tonight, and Mom and I got a chance to chill in the hot tub for a few minutes before coming back to the room, writing these posts, and now--falling asleep!

::pushes publish, shuts laptop::

Weather

There are some things about Phoenix I will not miss.

Preparing for the move

We only have one more weekend left to get things ready for the big move. Unfortunately, that means this past weekend was pretty hectic. Luckily on Saturday, Paige took a 3 hour nap. We got a ton of stuff packed and I really started to feel like we were making progress. We also went to storage on Saturday (and Sunday) to go through some of the things in there that we'll want to sell this coming weekend at our moving sale. The more we can part with, the better. We are a bit concerned everything might not fit in the truck. So far, through ads on Craigslist and to ASU grads, we've already sold our grill, entertainment center and curio cabinet. We also sold the fishtank to the new buyer of the house. (Update: we also have sold the birdbath and our loveseat to buyers from craigslist).

I think Paige is starting to feel the effects of the move. She seems to be needing a little bit more attention than normal. And if she's not getting attention, then she starts getting into trouble. If there's one thing in the room that you don't want her to touch, she'll be all over it. The other day she managed to open the oven door while I was baking a casserole (update: to clarify, she only got the door about part-way open, and we were on her in a second!)! So now we don't let her go into the kitchen if we can help it. When we were at storage this weekend, she would take off running just so we would chase her. It's scary there too, because you can't see around the buildings, so if she gets too far from us she could run out in front of a car.

Father's day was very low key. When dad woke up, we gave him his presents. He got a bike seat for Paige to go on the back of his bike, a wireless controller for the wii, and a new tie. After gifts, we went out to breakfast and then headed right over to storage before it started getting hot out.

Next weekend will be our moving sale and we'll finish packing just about everything up! Time is going by really fast.

Our New House

Technically, it's not going to be "our" house since we'll only be renting it, and it's definitely not a "new" house. We found a cute little 3-bedroom, 1.5 bathroom house for rent in upper Cresson. Really nice neighborhood, and it's a charming little house. The bedrooms are tiny as all heck, so we're going to have to use two of them as a "suite" of sorts...one for the bed (which will barely fit), and one for our dressers and a computer desk. Paige gets the third bedroom. Unfortunately, that means no guest room, but there's a bed and breakfast a mile down the hill that looks pretty nice.

The house is in great shape, which we couldn't say for a lot of the places we looked at--some were real dumps. This place was completely remodeled about 9 years ago, and they're repainting it and replacing the carpets for us. Windows and such look good, and there's blown-in insulation plus a "new" (ca. 2000 or so) furnace, so it should be fairly energy efficient. And it's in a neighborhood where we'd seriously consider buying a (bigger) house, so this will be a good chance to try out the area. We really like that it's ~12 minutes from campus, and only ~15 minutes from Altoona's shopping district. And the fact that it's a stand-alone house is a big deal, as we're pretty sensitive to (i.e. easily annoyed by) noise from neighbors.

We didn't get any pictures of the interior, but here are some of the exterior. Click on them for a larger view. And check out Picasa for more pictures from our PA trip.

Our House

This has been a huge week for us. We had an offer on the house that we accepted. We're trying not to get too excited about it until after we close (which could be a few more weeks from now). We have the appraisal and inspection coming up this week, so I think we'll at least be a bit more relieved after those happen.

I took some pictures of the backyard and put in the scrapblog below. We are definitely outgrowing this house, but at the same time it will be sad for us to leave it since it was our first house and everything Paige has ever known.