June 2, 2014

This is the day we start on our new adventure!!  Mover helpers came to load the Uhaul van and were beyond belief with their courtesy and efficiency and general goodness to us.  We had to go pick up the van early and bring it to the house to load and then after it was loaded, we had to go get the tow dolly attached and drive up the pickup onto it.  The movers packed the van perfectly, all the way to the top and all the way to the back leaving just enough room to let the door down and latch.  We didn't show them the mantel in enough time to get it into the van because it was too wide to fit across the back.  It had to go into the back of the pickup with the exercise bike.  I wish I had thought to take a picture of those wonderful men.  We were just concentrating on getting everything we wanted into the van and leaving everything else.

About noon we were ready to go!  Fifty years ago this day we started off on an adventure together, moving to San Diego, beginning a new job, starting a family, trusting in each other and in God that things would work out right.  Now we were starting on a new adventure, trusting in each other and in God that all will work out well and happily.  It took some practice getting used to the van and it's quirks, but Jer got it down and was awesome at driving it with the tow dolly trailing.  I'm so glad he likes to drive and didn't need me to help out. 

We drove through some really pretty country and planned to stop in Shiprock for the night but they didn't have any motels.  We were really tired by the time we got into Gallup at 10 that night and drove into the first motel we saw, signed in and hurried into the dining room just before they closed it for the night.  It was Hotel El Rancho, Charm of Yesterday, Convenience of Tomorrow!  It was dedicated to the movie stars of the past, walls covered with pictures of so many that we remembered and some we didn't.  Each room was named for a movie star.  Our room was the Hedy Lamar.  It was old, old, but the plumbing worked and the bed was comfortable, so we had no complaints.