Checking in from Fort Worth

We left on Tuesday afternoon shortly after 4:30 PM with no hassles. I'm a little bummed that I didn't really get to say goodbye to a couple of people before blowing out of town but that's just the way it had to be. I was very sad as we pulled out of Chandler...I love Arizona and of everywhere I've lived, it's really the place where I feel most comfortable and feel most like "the real me." I could definitely see coming back here to live some day, and I'll most certainly be back to visit. Is it March 2006 yet?

Tuesday was a short night, as we were both tired. We stopped at a janky hotel in Wilcox (I think?), near the Arizona/New Mexico state border. Chalk up night number two in a row of crappy sleep for me. Meanwhile, my driver was up and getting ready by 5:20 AM. He's an early riser. Me...not so much. But he's driving so we're definitely working on his schedule, so we were in the car and on the road by 5:45 AM. The highlight of the morning was definitely the McGriddle sandwich that I scarfed for breakfast. How have I not had one of these before? Absurd. I could practically feel my arteries hardening but it hit the spot.

Through the day, we burned through seven CDs of the audiobook to Ian McEwen's novel "Saturday," about a day in the life of a London neurosurgeon. It's a little dry but well written and entertaining enough. I napped off and on throughout and clearly I didn't miss much. I think that the author went on for a good ten minutes with an in-depth description of the protagonist's fish stew recipe. We saved the last two discs for tomorrow and I'm eager to see how it ends.

I thought that we'd end up stopping early in Abilene but Dad was feeling good and wanted to get to the eastern side of Dallas tonight so that we wouldn't have to deal with AM rush hour traffic there tomorrow. But we ended up calling an audible after a fresh-faced Texas Highway Patrol officer pulled us over, informing us that one of the lights on the tow dolly was out. Honestly, the guy looked about 12. But he let us go with a warning and we decided not to push our luck so we're set up at a Courtesy Inn here in Fort Worth...and with internet access for the first time since we left. Beautiful!

We should arrive in Little Rock tomorrow morning, based on Dad's insane schedule. He's hell bent on getting back to Memphis in time for a good dinner with some good wine with Mom, and man, does he deserve it. He's been absolutely awesome about everything. Me? It looks like happy hour with the Hillises in Little Rock!

Moving Out

Things were clearly going too easily yesterday so today we got a few wrinkles thrown at us. Last night, we checked into the Windmill Inn, a little hotel right down the street. Dad went out, picked up some KFC, and everything was grand...and then my right foot started absolutely killing me. It's a weird pain that I've had off and on for a while (before the knee injury), most often after being on my feet at work for a while. So how does it possibly crop up now? Who knows. And like an idiot, I forgot to bring my pain pills with me last night so I just had to deal with it. Throw in the extra-mushy, very small bed and the end result is that I got maybe two or three hours of sleep if I'm lucky.

I came back to the apartment at around 7:30 this morning and the movers arrived shortly after that. Until today they thought that our stuff would be the only load on the truck, meaning that we'd get to unload in Little Rock on Friday or Saturday, which would be perfect. But today they just found out that they need to pick up another load in Glendale tomorrow and then drop it off in Oklahoma before ours, meaning that now our stuff is scheduled to arrive on Monday. It's not a huge deal but it's definitely an inconvenience, as it guarantees that I'm looking at spending the whole weekend at the in-laws' place in Little Rock, plus I have to get someone (probably Dad, again) to help supervise the unloading on Monday. Have I mentioned that I still haven't even seen where I'm going to live, aside from a few digital pictures?

Dad went to uHaul and picked up the tow dolly early this morning with no problems. He got the Focus rigged up very nicely...and then promptly managed to lock the keys inside the car. I think the confusion came through having two sets of Ford keys that look almost identical, or at least that's his story. So now he's off to the dealership to pick up an extra key before we hit the road, which is fine. He needed something to keep him busy today anyway.

If all goes well, it looks like we should be on the road some time this afternoon. I don't know exactly when, or how far we'll get today, or even where we plan to stop for the night. But the move really will have begun.

Packing Day

I had my final visit with Dr. Seipel here in AZ today and he said that the knee looks good and we are cleared to hit the road. And he gave me another nice Vicodin prescription just in case.

Part of Beth's job package includes full service moving, including packing...beautiful! I hate moving, which I know is strange since I manage to do it so much. But I absolutely hate it and it always stresses me out. Well, not this time! The packers are here as I type this and they are great. It's three guys doing a very meticulous and solid job of packing up all of our junk. Two of them will also be driving the truck to Little Rock, and it sounds like right now they plan to leave sometime on Tuesday afternoon or evening, which means that Dad and I will probably be getting on the road at the same time. We're just playing it by ear right now but it looks like everything could get packed today and we might end up at a Chandler hotel for the night. Tomorrow, Dad picks up the tow dolly from uHaul so we can tow the Focus behind Gus. That should work fine.

The Red Sox won their annual Patriots Day game today, which has an early start due to the Boston Marathon. It sure is weird having a game start at 8 AM local time though. I think I went to a Patriots Day game at Fenway against the Blue Jays back in '82 or '83. Okay, clearly I'm rambling now. I'll post another update soon.

My last weekend in AZ

Next week I'm moving from Chandler, Arizona to Little Rock, Arkansas. I love it in AZ and I really don't want to leave but my wife got a great job opportunity there so we can't pass it up. One of my former co-workers suggested that I start a blog so my friends in Arizona can keep up with me and stay in touch--thanks for the idea, Stephannie! So here it is.

My Dad drove out to help me with the move since I'm still recovering from knee surgery and I can't move around much yet. He drives a Ford Expedition and today was the first day that I sat in the back seat to see how comfortable the upcoming 1,500 mile trip will be...and it wasn't bad. Beth has a Ford Explorer which is pretty roomy but Dad's car, affectionately named Gus, has about eight extra inches of room, and in this case it's a huge difference.

The packers arrive on Monday to pack up everything we own, so that will be interesting. They have said that they pack absolutely everything so we really haven't packed anything at all...not that I could if I wanted to. Which I don't. =) But it will be interesting to see how this whole process goes, considering that all I can do is sit around, watch, and point at stuff.

I'm getting really bored with sitting around doing nothing. I've read probably half a dozen books over the last month and today I watched four, yes, four baseball games on TV. Now, I'm as lazy as anyone and I don't normally mind sitting around doing nothing but this is definitely pushing it. I'm actually looking forward to getting on the road. Although I'm not really sure why.