Guess where we are?

DENVER!!

It's pretty crazy that we're actually here, made it in one piece, and finally have our new (rental) house looking a little more like home!

Recap: We left early last Thursday morning from Grand Rapids. Jon drove the Penske truck with my car towing behind. I drove the pickup truck with the dogs in the back. We were packed to the tippy top of every available space - we even had to leave some stuff behind! And here I thought I did such a great job of decluttering!

The first day's drive was fine. We drove about 14 hours, and besides a little traffic jam outside of Chicago (Jon commented via cell phone that he felt just like he was in a wagon train, seeing how slow we were going!), we had no problems. The dogs did pretty good and we ended the night in York, Nebraska.

The next morning we did see some weather reports that there was snow in Northern Colorado, but didn't think that much of it. After driving a few more hours, we stopped at a gas station outside of North Platte, Nebraska to fill up. It was sleeting, windy and cold by this point. The ladies at the front counter were talking about a highway being closed but it didn't sound like the one were were on. They asked where we were headed, and when I told them Denver, she laughed and said "No you're not!" - it WAS our highway that was closed a few hours ahead due to horrible icy conditions and semi's rolling over left and right. Luckily a trucker told us about a different way to go, through Kansas. So we backtracked a few miles and headed down some really cool 2 lane roads. Everyone always said that Nebraska was flat as a pancake and boring... not when you get off the highway! It was really pretty and would have been even more so if it had not been so cold and rainy and windy!

All along the way I kept in touch with my mom, sister, and Guy. They kept track of the weather ahead and Guy was our own personal GPS navigation system - he directed us to another route to again miss the really bad weather. Thanks to our own little Grand Rapids Storm Team! :)

To make a long story short, the drive didn't get much better when we finally made it to the highway. Now there were 80 mph gusts of wind, and it was sleeting, raining and/or snowing. The 5+ hour drive we still had in front of us was pretty crazy and I know Jon was having a hard time keeping the truck on the road.

BUT - we made it!! In once piece!

To add insult to injury, the rental was not in quite the shape we had expected when we arrived. Let's just say that it needed a LOT of work before it was ready to be occupied by human beings :) Luckily we had a great crew of family and new friends to help us unload everything, clean everything out, and get a handle on what to do next!

I admit that the first night both Jon and I had about 28,479 thoughts of "WHAT THE HECK WERE WE THINKING?" but things have been looking better and better. We were able to tear out the 30 year old rust colored carpet from the house... it probably harbored about 654 diseases, parasites and bodily fluids. Let's just say Violet wasn't getting anywhere NEAR that floor! So for the past two days we've all been busy ripping it up and then crawling around on the floor like so many crabs taking out the staples. We are not quite sure how we'll ever thank Trent, Mike, Heather, Joanne, Scott and Tim for all their help! I don't think it was quite what any of us had in mind when they said they'd help us move in!

But finally today I have the kitchen about unpacked and it looks *gasp* like a real kitchen! And the rest of the house is really coming together. The dogs are happily sleeping in their usual spots in front of the couch, Violet is happily asleep in her crib upstairs, and Jon and I are about to sit down and open our last bottle of wine from our trip to Italy a few years ago in celebration.

Cheers!
jesi