Welcome to...um...your new home?

Well...after two days and many "adventures" (i.e. screw-ups) we are here. Our trip began with an "emergency" stop at Wal-Mart in Gaylord for an iPod car charger where upon we discovered that Sam had figured out how to escape his car seat. Man that kid has a devilish sense of timing. And that was the good part of our trip.

Stuck in bumper-to-bumper traffic just north of Ann Arbor, the Nissan overheated and had to pull to the side of the road to cool down. As the traffic was not moving, we elected to "borrow" an illegal turn-around and head back to the first exit to follow an "alternate route" (i.e. short cut/get lost) and, while following a detour because the road we were supposed to follow was closed. discovered that the oil light in the Nissan was flashing. It burned up all its oil overheating. We are now 2 hours behind schedule, have not left MI yet, and I am sitting under a tree because I cannot have the car or the A/C on. Shit. (And...and honorable mention goes out to my brother, Matt, who not only risked trouble at work by taking my call to his cell, but who answered my questions about what had happened and who explained some things to watch for and some things to try, and who also called twice more that day to make sure we were running okay.)

We managed to make it as far as Charleston, WV, where we spent the night - all 6 of us in one room. It was snug!

Today, we began the day with a call to the trucking hub to find that our stuff would not be arriving at the house today, despite the 90% assurance of the delivery at the time the truck took off. If we had wanted to assure delivery today, it would have been an extra $400 - too much.

So, Owen and I took off with Sam because we had an appointment with the realtor at 3 and so were on a pretty brisk schedule. We arrived at 3:05 and signed the lease and then were at the house by 4 to meet with the cable installer. Unfortunately for Tom, who was driving the Nissan, it overheated again in the 105-degree heat and so he had to drive through Fayetteville with the heat on and the windows down to keep the engine cool. I swear, if Owen asks for any more repairs to that car, he's going to be buried in it sooner than he'd like! Anyway, Tom gets the platinum traveler award.

Sam gets the golden traveler award for being generally good-natured the entire trip and for never throwing one of his balls at the driver. He traveled exceptionally well. I also have to give an assist to Grammy's hand-held DVD player and the Wonder Pets, without whom/which we would have likely left Sam with the hitchhiker in Tobaccoville this afternoon (that is actually the name of a place - I did not make it up to be offensive. I don't have to make things up to do that.)

So...we are here, in a suite at the Comfort Inn because a.) we have no furniture at the house yet and b.) it was so hot today that even after running for close to 5 hours, it was still 85 degrees in the house. The low tonight is 80 - not exactly window weather.

The invitation is still open - come and visit! and don't forget to email me if you need my address.