We decided to leave Friday afternoon instead of Saturday because the roads were looking bad EVERYWHERE. I'm talking Southern OR, Northern Cali, Northern NV (inconvenience #1). So Friday it was. We stopped to get gas before actually getting on the freeway and on our way, of course, but we had trouble with getting the gas in the moving truck (inconvenience #2). Got that taken care of without too much hassle and we were off. The weather was alright on our way out of WA besides heavy rain and slush. We stopped off in Oakridge, OR around midnight. Saturday we drove in snow all day. The Willamette Pass had lots of snow but the truck and the car did just fine. The other drivers on the other hand...Cameron was driving in front and saw a semi slide off the road and flip onto its side, breaking the windshield. Everyone was fine and the cops were on their way and so were we. Just a little farther up the road we find ourselves in a very long line up of cars. Through the grapevine we find out that there was an accident involving a semi and another accident involving 2 cars. That kept us waiting for about an hour or so (inconvenience #3). It gave the girls time to get out and play in the snow. We were going to try and make it to Reno that day but as we got closer to the pass there were weather warnings and chain restrictions. So we turned back and stayed Saturday night in Susanville, CA. I have to tell you that if you ever find yourselves driving through Susanville you NEED to stay in the Best Western. It had THE BEST beds I've ever slept on in a hotel. Just had to put that in there. Sunday we made it through the pass and Reno with no problems. That night we stayed in Las Vegas. We woke up Monday morning ready to get to Bullhead City, AZ. It took us about an hour to get there. Our travels were finally over! Yay! But it turns out our troubles were not.
We filled out all the paperwork for the apartment but they forgot to tell us that we needed to call and have our electricity and gas turned on before we could move in (inconvenience #4). They let us move in anyway, but we were still without power and heat. We walked to the apt and it was dirty. The carpet and linoleum were stained (inconvenience #5). It just wasn't what I wanted to walk into and I about had an anxiety attack. We walked back down to the office and they sent us to another apt that was MUCH better with brand new carpet and linoleum. The apt was still smaller then both of us had thought but it was taken care of. We had to go get the power and heat for it. I don't know if anyone else in Bullhead has internet because everyone and their dog was in line to pay their bills. I had to wait for a customer service rep first because I couldn't get a hold of anyone on the phone. I think I waited for 20 mins before giving up and driving down there (inconvenience #6). The gas company wasn't any better (inconvenience #7). Again, a line full of people waiting to pay their bills and one lady to do the job. The electric co. would turn our electricity on the same day but I would have to pay extra. We had been in the car for 3 days. Needless to say I pay the extra. The gas co. could fit me in on Wednesday...the day I went in there was a Monday. That means that we were without hot water for a couple days (inconvenience #8). By the time we got done with everything it was about 4:30 and we hadn't eaten anything since breakfast. We didn't get a hold of anyone from the ward to help us move in before we got here and we couldn't get a hold of anyone that afternoon so Cam and I started hauling stuff ourselves, to the 3rd floor (inconvenience #9). Now, I'm strong...but hauling a dresser up three flights of stairs strong? I don't think so. We gave up when it got dark and decided that we'd pay for an extra day on the truck and do the rest tomorrow. Luckily, we got a hold of the church and they would come the following evening. By this time things were starting to look up. Cameron and I hauled out what we could and waited until that night to get the rest of the big stuff in. That was about 9:00pm. We had to get the truck back that night because Cameron had to be at work early. We were about to be completely DONE with the move, but no. It couldn't go quietly into the night. It had to give off one more little hiccup. The truck wouldn't start. The battery was dead. We jumped it and got it back to the drop off location. END OF TRIP!
Now that we're here things are settling in to place nicely. The town is small and has a large population of old people and "country folk" (PC term I guess). The weather is better then what we left and I can pull out my flip flops so that makes me happy. We're getting geared up for our first Christmas by ourselves and I'm kind of excited about that. Our ward seems very nice and very eager to have 4 new members. I think we increase the ward by 35% (just kidding...kind of). Cameron is really enjoying working for this company. They're laid back and appreciate the work he does. I think we'll be okay here. So I'll end this very long post by saying:
HAPPY HOLIDAYS from our family to yours!
