Portland to Esko: A Moving Log

Ready, Set, Go


 


You know how it is – those last final details of moving.  Just enough left to do to be irritating.  Almost done, almost done, it becomes a chant (or a prayer).  It’s 8:30, Monday morning on October 3.  As soon as we’re done, we’re out of here.  Before we knew it, it was Noon, but everything was packed, loaded, cleaned and locked up.


 


1,796 miles…here we come.  I’m so tired, that the excitement of this new adventure has almost eluded me, but I’m confident that it will return.


 


Our first stop is in Troutdale – might as well top off the gas tank before we get into some serious freeway travel.  $20.00 – that’s a great deal, if you don’t consider the $41.00 I put in the day before.  It’s obvious at this point that it may have been cheaper to fly the Jeep and trailer to Esko.


An hour and a half had passed, and it started to feel really good just to sit and ride, knowing the packing and that tape-ripping sound were getting further behind us.  It was also time to pay some attention to our special passenger, our cat, Sweetie (she’s a four-paw declaw).  There she sat in her cat carrier between the driver and passenger seats, not saying a word.  I asked if she’d like to get out, so I opened the carrier door, and she quietly slipped out and had a look around.  She didn’t seem to mind being in the car – which was great!  We were well-prepared with kitty tranquilizers if we needed them, but so far, so good.


Bill drove through the Tri-Cities, where we got gas in Pasco ($40.00), and stopped for something to eat.  We didn’t want to leave Sweetie in the car while we went into a restaurant – after all, she’d been so good, it was our pleasure to dine in the car with our Carl’s Jr. Super Combo burgers with Criss Cut fries.  It was about a 720 calorie meal, but we decided it was so good, that we could carry the guilt with no problem.