The ACTUAL move, or our summer adventure ;)

What can I say? I think I like it here. Sure, we miss our families, and our friends. On the other hand, it is absolutely gorgeous here! 

It's only been 5 weeks today since we all moved into the house here in FL, but it feels like a lot has happened!

I should start at the beginning though. After we had our fiasco with the moving truck, went to closing, and Jason left with our household good, the boys and I spent a couple of days with my parents. I took the mini-van over for an oil change and to have the a/c recharged. Upon inspection, it was determined that the minor accident I was involved in at the school last fall had cracked the rear a/c component that sits right behind the rear passenger wheel well, under the side edge of the back bumper. Since it would be a repair covered by insurance, we would have to go through our car insurance company at a specified place. So I had a tough choice to make. We could either spend an extra week or longer at my parents while the van was in the shop, and have no vehicle to use (I don't feel comfortable installing J's car seat, so I couldn't transfer it temporarily to my mom's car, and we also don't have rental coverage) or we could skip all the visits - my sister and her family in Columbus, OH, my friend and her family in MD, and my other friend and her family in SC - and head straight to FL. Yes, with no A/C. I chose the second option, at which Jason scoffed. 

My reasoning behind it was this: 1. we would all be together in our own home, 2. we could put the van in the shop for however long, and Jason could transfer J's car seat safely to his truck, and 3. at least while we were without one of our vehicles, we (meaning the boys and I) could be productive and unpack the boxes. After texting, messaging and/or calling all 3 of the people we had planned to visit, I let the boys know about the change of plans.

So on July 3rd, we loaded the mini-van with our luggage, and headed out on the open road. I decided we wouldn't take I-75, but instead I-77 to I-95. This route took us through Ohio, West Virginia, Virginia, North Carolina, South Carolina, Georgia, and finally the entire state of Florida. The drive that day was actually very pretty, even with some rain. At one point, the route through the mountains is very winding while going downhill. Surrounded by walls of green, we went through dense patches of fog and rain. While I would have enjoyed the view more as a passenger than a slightly nervous driver, I was amazed by the beauty of it.

Our dinner break 7/3/15

Driving all day, with only a couple of stops for lunch and dinner (and the obligatory restroom breaks of course!), we made it to Statesville, NC before stopping for the night. Since we hadn't reserved a room, I used my phone while sitting in a hotel parking lot to access our hotels.com account, and was able to reserve a room using our single free night. The boys and I went in to get our key, and the woman at the front desk told me had I waited even 5 minutes, we wouldn't have gotten a room there that night. We had gotten the very last one! I'm so glad that I thought to use our free night AND that we actually got a room!

After a somewhat restless night's sleep, we were able to enjoy a hot breakfast and watch the news before spending another day on the road. Saturday, July 4th was a beautiful, hot, sunny day, and as you can imagine the van was a tad uncomfortable without a/c. Luckily, we were able to put the windows down part way while cruising and enjoy the nice weather. 

Nearly to FL, we were enveloped in a torrential downpour. Unable to drive more than a couple of miles before pulling over behind about a dozen or so other vehicles, we waited for the rain to subside, in a now very uncomfortable van whose windows we could not see out of. After about 10 minutes or so, it slowed to a drizzle, I put the windows down to clear them, and we were on our way. Not 5 minutes later we were at the Florida Welcome Center. The boys and I joked about how the Sunshine State welcomed us with rain. HA! 

Florida Welcome Center

After a quick photo op, a complimentary cup of orange juice each, and restroom break, I bought our new SunPass and proceeded to put money on it for tolls. The rest of the drive went fairly smooth, other than being long. We finally got to the house just after midnight on Sunday, July 5th. 

It sure was good to be "home".

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