Last Posting: Made it to Raleigh (Total: 3,081 miles)

I know blogs are absolutely no fun without pictures. So here's a bit of eye candy to keep you focused.

We made it to Raleigh... As Gary mentioned, it was a long last day in the car - about an hour an a half of stand-still traffic on the Interstate 40. Everyone kept getting out of their cars, coming over to see Charley, and offering him water. We watched Charley get ice cold water poured into his mucky bowl and thought "gee, people are nice here" and "boy, I'm kind of thirsty too". Finally, a man started running towards us screaming "we're moving, we're moving". What a sense of comradery. We finally got back on the road. After listening to our recent rest stop purchase Now That's What I Call Music 25 for the sixth time, we finally reached the NC capital. About 6:30 PM EST.

We pulled up to my overgrown lawn and my neighbors were outside to greet us - Amy & Mike. They are super sweet, and Charley got to meet their dogs Bo and Raleigh. We took a hike in the woods, the dogs frolicked in the creek and were immediate friends. "God, it would have been great to get pictures of this for the blog", I said. Mike then proceeded to ask us if he could mow my lawn. I'll repeat his words: "Hey, do you mind if I mow your lawn?".

Cranky Moment: After hiking back, I realized after an hour of running the A/C , the temperature in the house reduced to about 85 degrees. Following was an evening of emergency 911 A/C repair, a heavily panting dog, and a lot of gatorade. $325 later, I am still sitting in a very hot home the following day, waiting for A/C repair guy. Ah, the joys of homeownership. It's going to be a long two years.

Back to the fun stuff. Here are some pics of the house. Floors were just refinished, and looking a lot nicer. New appliances are in (thanks mom & dad!). And there is a shot of Gary in my very bare, cluttered living room. I'm a bit cranky in my unorganized life right now, but fortunately have a lot of free time to figure it out. :)




My backyard is a jungle. Literally a mass of woods and life everywhere. Here is the view from my back deck. It may shock you to learn that this was the draw for me to buy this house. Accompanying this view is an amazing trail that goes back many acres with a lil creek, trails etc. Although Charley keeps sitting by the car thinking that he's going to jump in and we'll head back to San Francisco, I think he really liked the trails. Here's a shot of the trails that lead down from my backyard and Charley's first hike down.




I decided to play hooky today from work and sweat it out with my dog, waiting for the A/C repair guy. My day will really be focused on this - boxes, boxes, and more boxes. I just opened a box and realized that it's not even my stuff. You hope that when you move your life and mistakenly get someone else's belongings, it'd be something cool - a plasma, video games - or maybe something interesting or revealing about them - dirty videos, a bone collection. I only looked through the top layer of the box - it is a footbath. A yellow-stained, nasty, footbath.

It's been so much fun bloggin' this trip! Maybe I'll continue to blog as my life here in Raleigh unfolds. Thanks to Gary for all his love and road work. And thanks to you guys for the all the comments and phone calls that supported us along the ride. Y'all come visit us in the Carolinas, ya' here?

xoxo - Michelle