In other news from the road...

...the cats seem to be having difficulty settling in (yeah, right) and after almost 7 years with Shawn I finally got to have one of his homemade soups. I've heard about them for years, and Joey said he tasted one once in a deli, but I guess it was worth the wait for us. Sunday night's dinner was PotatoLeek and - for those who have been following my road-food-woes - gorgeous ribeye steaks, grilled portabello mushrooms with a balsamic glaze, corn, fresh bread, and red wine. Finally a real meal - the first since our breakfast in Columbus.

The weather is gorgeous today - sunny, blue skies, mid-60s to mid-70s - so we're thinking of going for a hike and walking around town before we start getting ready for our early morning departure. One more night of fun then back on the road. Tomorrow night we'll be in New Mexico, and Thursday we arrive in our new home state.

A Surprise Visit

Our uneventful (just how we like it) road trip found a bit of excitement Monday morning...

Long story short, we wake up hearing footsteps upstairs in the kitchen, the doorbell, and other noises that would lead you to believe it was the start of another workday for everyone but us. Wrong! Things quiet down and a little while later I head upstairs...to complete darkness except for flashing red and blue lights all over the living room. It's 3:20 AM, and I look out the front window to see a fire engine across the front of the house, two police vehicles, firefighters all over the cul-de-sac and driveway, and a hose running from the engine to my right, between us and the house next door.

I called down to Shawn, telling him that I think there is a fire next door, he comes up to see what's happening, then his brother Mike comes down and clears up the confusion.

Turns out mulch in the yard caught fire in the middle of the night, and Mike got a call from a neighbor across the street letting him know that his fence was on fire. As he was hosing it down, Castle Rock FD showed up to finish the job, and everyone went back to bed. Hopefully that will be it for our road trip excitement.

We Made It! Vacation Stopover in CO

After almost 1900 miles across 9 states we finally pulled in to Castle Rock, Colorado at about 8:00 mountain time last night. It was nice to know we would finally be able to relax with family and have some "normal" meals for a few days until we resume our push on Wednesday morning.

Thanks to everyone for all of the encouraging calls, texts, and e-mails - it's made it fun for us to know we're not alone on the journey!!

For those who have asked about the "setup", this is it: everything we own (including cats) in three compact units:

It really has all gone very smoothly, although the Jeep was begging us for mercy when we finally parked here - it seems like such a flat trip, but from the western side of Kansas (the longest state in the universe, by the way, outranking Pennsylvania and Nebraska for us) across the eastern side of Colorado, you are slowly but steadily climbing. She and the cats are definitely thankful for a break from our recent daily routine.

More to follow...

Day 2 - Columbus, OH to Columbia, MO

The one thing that has stayed on track all week was our plan to see Raj, an old friend who left NJ years ago. After our less-than exciting

dinner last night, it was wonderful to catch 

up over a good old-fashioned Bob Evans breakfast. It always amazes me how fast time passes, and, although so much changes, it is so easy to reconnect with people. Hopefully it won't be another 5 or 6 years!

Although our dinner plans with my oldest friend Colleen (since we were 3!!! She left Long Valley when we were 7) didn't work out, it turned out she was off from work today and just happened to be home about to leave for a weekend trip. Since it was literally five minutes off our scheduled route, we were able to stop in and see her as well as her husband Adam and son Jonas. Talk about time and change - I saw him last summer and he was a baby. Now he's walking, talking, and can make just about any animal sound you throw at him. Amazing....and only a year and a half old.

      

After that it was straight to Missouri, driving through Indianapolis and St. Louis. Pizza Hut dinner delivered is a lot more enjoyable than hunted-down vending machine food. The critters seemed to be getting the routine and settled in fairly well.

Tomorrow is our final push to Castle Rock, CO where we'll stay with Shawn's brothers Michael and Joey for a few days of vacation before our final push for.....sounds weird.....home.

Hotel Dining - Night #1 on the Road

We finally did it - left our cottage in New Jersey forever and made it to Columbus, Ohio for our first night on the road! Unfortunately delays kept us from dinner with friends, but we'll see another friend who left NJ years ago, Raj, for breakfast tomorrow before heading to Kansas for night number 2.

The upside is that there is a lot around our hotel and that we got a room about as far away from the lobby as possible which made setting up our feline camp quite simple. Breakfast will be at Bob Evans across the street which couldn't be easier, and the room is spacious, clean, and comfortable even though it is a "pet friendly" hotel.  The downside? Wendy's (or anywhere else for that matter) is NOT open until 1:00 AM like those in NJ, and dinner consisted of light popcorn, TGIFriday's Cheddar and Sour Cream Potato Skins Snack Chips, Doritos, and A&W root beer. Mmmmm...nutritious AND delicious!

Our New Addition

When we first met Mija (mee-ha) in March of 2006, she was a three-month old pup who was rescued from the streets of Mexico by a young couple who couldn't afford to keep her.  They took her to the dog park in our friend Mary's town of Chandler hoping to find her a home. Shawn and I were out visiting at the time but up in northern Arizona for a few days when Mary saw her and immediately took her to the vet for medical care. She called to let us know we would be coming back to a new - but very sick - pup, and when we returned, she had a fever of 106 and had to be isolated from the other pets as she got well. She stayed with Shawn and I that night, and we really didn't think we would ever see her again.

When I returned to Mary's for another visit over a year later in July of 2007, I couldn't believe it was the same animal! She was happy, healthy, playful, and extremely smart with lots of energy, and is so friendly and pretty that she really gets (or should I say demands?) attention wherever she goes. She followed me - and then Shawn that November - everywhere and quickly attached herself to us, seeming to become our dog. Mary agreed and has been her "foster mom" since then, waiting for us to add her to our family when we relocate. It's been a long wait for all of us but the time is almost here.

Verrado

A few years ago we discovered an amazing place in the West Valley of the Phoenix area. The city has lots of well-known suburbs like Scottsdale and Tempe, home of Arizona State, but the west side is largely undeveloped when compared to the east.  The University of Phoenix Stadium in Glendale was built and became the new home of the Arizona Cardinals and this year's Superbowl, but not much has been heard about the West Valley beyond that. Many new communities are popping up out there, but Verrado was the one for us.

Just 25 miles west of downtown Phoenix and nestled in the foothills of the White Tank Mountains and the nearly 30,000 acre White Tank Mountain Regional Park, Verrado's theme is small-town America - homes with front porches, a large percentage with garages behind the homes, and every home built within two blocks of a neighborhood park.  It has a traditional main street with a market, pharmacy, bank, coffee shop, restaurant, wine bar, smoothie shop, etc. within walking distance of many homes.  We were fortunate enough to find a place just two blocks away from downtown as well as the health club and pool and just another block or two down from the Raven Golf Club and Verrado Grille (another restaurant). There are almost 40 different clubs of every kind to keep people active and involved, and festivals and other events are a monthly occurrence, including the annual Founder's Day and Experia celebrations with major bands headlining.

Check out the Verrado site for more pictures and info.

It's all finally falling into place!

Well, this is it.  The lease is signed, house is rented, address change is submitted, mail in AZ is on hold, U-Haul trailer is rented, Wrangler is scheduled for shipping...you get the idea.  We leave New Jersey for our cross-country journey (cats in tow with dog waiting on the other side!) on September 23rd. 

The plan is to stay night one in Columbus where we'll have dinner with my oldest (not age, years) friend Colleen and maybe meet our new landlord, one night in Kansas City, and then we'll relax in Colorado for a long weekend with Shawn's brothers Michael and Joey before one more night on the road near the border of New Mexico and Arizona.  We officially make Arizona our home on October 1st.

I figured I'd give the blog thing a shot since it's the easiest way to keep everyone up to date as we settle in to our new life.  Stay tuned for the latest...

Check out more shots here.