Adventures in Moving

Moving is always an adventure with pitfalls along the way.  This move was no different.  My husband found himself in the doghouse for a while.  I had spent about a month packing boxes like a crazy woman.  It's amazing how much stuff we accumulated over the four years we were in Nebraska!  Todd called me from work one day to inform me that he had not read the transfer paperwork thoroughly and his company had hired movers for us!  WHAT?!? Not only had I wasted all that time packing but now I wasn't sure we were going to be able to leave Nebraska on time.  We were trying to make it to Utah for Christmas.

Todd must be a sweet talker because the moving company expedited our move and we only left a day later than planned and he got out of the doghouse with me.  I think I was just so happy I didn't have to pack any more boxes!

We decided to pull a trailer behind our van so we could bring a few things with us.  Because we were moving over the Christmas holiday, it would take the moving truck a few extra days to deliver our things.  One of the most important things we brought in the trailer was the Christmas Tree!  I thought it wasn't a big deal to not have a tree but when the kids overheard me talking about it one day they were shocked.  So the tree come with us, as did a couple beds, and of course the Christmas presents.

So, we loaded our four kids and the dog in the van and headed west.  We left about 6:00 pm on Saturday, Dec. 22, 2012.  The journey would take two days, or so we thought!  We drove for a few hours that night and then stopped for the night.  It had been a very long day of packing our trailer and van and supervising the movers packing the big truck.  

The next morning, Sun. Dec 23 we headed out for what we thought was the last leg of our trip.  It was a beautiful sunny day and we made a few comments about how lucky were were to have had such great weather to travel in.  I mean, when you move in December, who knows what kind of weather you are going to get!

We decided to stop at Chimney Rock in western Nebraska.  I had always wanted to see it as it was a major landmark the pioneers used on their journey west.  Sort of fitting, don't you think?  It was a nice little stop to let the kids play for a few minutes.

Notice the beautiful blue sky and the kids don't even have coats on!  It was a little windy but we had grown used to that.  Nebraska is ALWAYS windy!

We continued on, getting more and more excited about our destination.  While in Wyoming at a gas station I just had to snap a photo of  this truck!  Hmmmm, wonder what they are having for Christmas dinner?!?

I mean really, only in Wyoming!!

We finally crossed into Utah feeling a sense of home.  We just couldn't wait to get there.  It was getting dark as we came down into the Bear Lake Valley.  It had also started to snow.  I just thought it was that mountain pass and once we were down in the valley it would be fine.  Silly me!  It began to snow harder and harder and as we started up Logan Canyon things got really bad.  We were only an hour from home but our poor little van could not pull that trailer up the mountain!  The roads were just covered in snow and ice and things were deteriorating quickly.  So there we were, stuck on the side of the mountain!  Poor Todd, got out and put the chains on the van but we still didn't move.  We were literally STUCK on the mountain.  We were not going anywhere and I was really worried!  I didn't know what we were going to do.  Todd finally used gravity to get the van going in the right direction and got us back down the mountain.  Yay for my smart engineer husband!!

And as it just so happens, Todd's dad has a cabin at Bear Lake!  How lucky are we???  So, we headed for the cabin to hunker down for the night.  It was FREEEEEEZZZZZZZING in the cabin but we built a fire and snuggled and eventually got warm.  We scrounged around for some food and found some really yummy chili in the freezer.  Thanks for the good food!!  Ahh, adventures!!

Bear Lake storms do make for beautiful mornings!  We got up the next morning, which happened to be Christmas Eve, to this beautiful sky.  We went back and picked up the trailer where we had left it and headed over the mountain.

We made it home about 11:00 am on Christmas Eve.  Just enough time to set up the Christmas tree, run to the grocery store, and prepare for our annual sloppy joes by candle light!  But I guess that will be a post for another day!