Traveling Across Country!

Michele and I started our journey from West Virginia at about 1:30 p.m. on Friday, March 7th, after loading up the little U-Haul to transport Michele's work computer, files, and office equipment needed to set up her home working office.  She will set up in their vacant Auburn home until their furniture arrives some time in April, meanwhile sleeping at our house.

For our travels, we also had numerous dog paraphernalia to bring, and Michele wanted to transport her china and crystal herself, as well as the garage shelving, which was broken down for re-assembly back in Washington.  Both the little trailer and her vehicle were full to the brim.  The SUV contained not only Michele and I, but two large dogs in the rear, a cooler, water, snacks, dog food, and luggage!  Sadie, a 75-pound half Australian Shepherd/ Golden Retriever mix, and Remi, a 38-pound Merle Australian Shepherd, were as good as gold on the drive.  Remi slept most of the way and Sadie dozed and got up for a view every now and then.  Both dogs were somewhat exuberant when given the chance to escape from the back hatch during much needed stops and breaks in driving, but they jumped right back in when urged.  After all, they weren't about to be left behind!  

Sadie got more and more excited as she began to recognize the terrain and smells of Washington.  She has always had a sense of when she would soon be arriving at our house when traveling back for a visit miles before her arrival.  Their last residence before transferring back to West Virginia was actually about 10 minutes from our house.  Remi was only eight months old when they left Washington, so he didn't have years of instinct to guide him as Sadie does.

Her husband, Don,  begins his leave before his military retirement in mid-April and will travel to the Northwest with their 5th-wheel trailer and truck at that time.  This month gap in their arrivals back home will allow Michele to have some home renovations completed, such as re-carpeting the entire house, refinishing all wood floors, installation of stone floors in the hallway from the garage entry to the family room and laundry room areas, garage floor finishing, and some wall painting all before the furniture arrives.

Following are a few snapshots I took with the IPad as we traveled and stopped along our way:

Mt. Rushmore (Keystone, South Dakota)

Crazy Horse Monument in the making - in progress since 1948!

Dinner at historic Alpine Inn, Keystone SD