“That Took A Little Longer Than I Thought”
April 1, 2011
The above statement is what comes out of Wooster’s mouth for almost everything that we partake in or try to do. He always seems astonished that “it” always takes longer than he thinks things should go.
On March 28th, we had Ruby’s baby dedication, packed the rest of the afternoon and night. Plan A was to leave on Monday morning after Ru finished eating at 6am. Fast forward to Monday afternoon at 3:30pm and we were finally on our way to Kansas in the midst of plan ZZ. Yep, we had been through the alphabet once and were on the double version. Long story short: Loaded the rest of the junk, big trunk sunk in the monsoon covered ground, Travis (husband’s brother) and Kevin (husband’s cousin) engineered a bridge system and got the back end out, then the front end. Then Uhaul trailer had a rip in a tire. We got that fixed in Athens and then were on our way. We finally stopped in Jasper, Alabama at 10pm eastern time. “That took a little longer than I thought”, said Matt.
(Yes..I secretly openingly love his Jeep. I will have one of my own when I grow up…maybe when I’m 80…but I will have one)
(backend of the truck before the bridge system and before the front of the truck got stuck)
(Working the bridge system. )
We pulled out of Jasper, Alabama around 8am on Tuesday, March 29th. After 1200 miles and four states we are finally in Kansas. We reached Byers, Kansas on Wednesday morning at 3:15am. As we were unloading the mattress and box springs, Wooster lovingly said, “That took a little longer than I thought.”
Along the way I only had two heart stopping moments. Although I did have some heart quickening moments. But two moments stand out the most. Somewhere in Alabama, Hub the Dog decided that inside the dog box was not as lovely as outside at the gas station. He chewed through the dog box door and wire. He jumped out and was running around the gas station parking lot. I would have taken pictures but I was on the other side and could not see anything. I found out after when Matt came to debrief me on the ordeal. My heart felt like it stopped when he said: “Hub got out”. The rest of the statement followed with “I got him put back.”
The other moment came when riding down the road. I had gotten comfortable enough in my 14 foot Uhaul, to be driving with one hand on the wheel, when my best friend “Trucker Man” came up on my right side to pass. I casually looked over at him, basking in my multitasking skills, when he honked his big horn and was waving. “Ahhh yes. I am that cool.”, were my first thoughts. Then Trucker Man started waving frantically behind me. Yep, you guessed right. I thought that the car had come off the trailer and was taking out cars behind me. I quickly placed both hands on the wheel and started my merge to the shoulder. I called Matt and was alerting him, as the Trucker Man was doing the same thing to him. No worries though. The alert was only for a safety chain that had come undone and was hitting the road. The car was safe, I hadn’t taken out multiple motorist and I was still a good driver. All was well.
On a side note: I HATE Oklahoma roads. Most were being worked on and were terrible. Think Mississippi roads to the tenth degree of worseness (IF that’s even a word). On the roads that were being worked on, a driver only had a little path to drive between the retaining walls and traffic barrels and uneven highway. With the rain, and driving a two wheeled trailer, it was a little unsettling. And it was bumpy, very bumpy. We are lucky that Ruby doesn’t have shaken baby syndrome.
The house is coming together as we speak. We got most of the stuff in on Wednesday. The Owner came by and helped on Wednesday night and made the comment of “It looks like an Arkansas yard around here.” We had ALOT of stuff scattered around the yard. On Friday we spent most of the day becoming Kansas residents. We got our cars inspected, got tags, changed drivers licenses, changed insurance companies, got a bank account (where I had a job offer…I declined). On Saturday we went to The Walmart (as the banker states the name of the big grocery store). We spent the rest of the day arranging junk. “It took a little longer than I thought”, stated Matt.
Sunday morning found us visiting the First Southern Baptist Church of Pratt. There are two worship services with Sunday School in between the two. We just went to Sunday School and second service after that. The people were really nice. We visited in the 30 year old class. There were about 15 people in that class. We went to lunch with the 20 year old class. They too have about 15 people. Most of the mom’s that I met were stay at home moms and all the men work in the agriculture field (vets, agronomists, hay managers, hay consultants, etc.) One couple is from Tennessee and is ecstatic that someone sounds like they do.
Matt’s first day of work was on Monday, April 4th. He spent most the morning filling out paperwork, peeing in cup (no THAT didn’t take all morning) and getting acquainted with some of the tractors. The afternoon was spent plowing a field. He got home around 6:30pm. Since we are in April he should be working from 7am to 7pm. That work schedule will last until October. Second day of work finds Matt chopping down corn stalks. He is prepping another field for plowing. He’ll be on the tractor from morning to 7pm again. After finishing the field he’ll have to go check pivots.
As for wildlife we’ve seen in one week: female pheasants, mulitple types of hawks, Matt saw turkeys in the edge of the fields yesterday, and we have a slew of new deer tracks in the yard and side yards every morning.
The house is coming together slowly. I worked in the bathroom and Ruby’s room most of the day on Monday, April 4th. Tuesday is finding me apathetic to the whole junk stacks, box pile ups and paths of furniture. “That took a little longer than I thought.” stated Marci.
