My little girl and her family packed their bags and moved to Kansas City. You don't want to hear how I feel about this (well, yeah, I know that God is leading them there... I just don't like it...) so I thought I would share with you excerpts from a letter that Stef, her husband wrote to all their friends.We hit the road the day after Christmas. The movers got done loading the truck at about 5pm, we watched it head out, went to dinner, then loaded up the Jeep and the Camry with Neek, Caitlyn, my mom, me, 2 yelping cats in cat carriers and luggage stuffed with a week's worth of clothes. We started east at around 7pm. We stopped at a Starbucks in Victorville to hang with Joe and Becky while they were at Beck's folks, then headed to Laughlin, Nevada for our first stop. Finally stayed at the Riverside. Just as glamorous as it looks, alright...
The next day was a relatively short drive to a place that none of us had ever been, the Grand Canyon. We got in late, after dark, and it was cold. So cold, in fact, that the drinks 
we had left in the cars froze overnight. It was then I decided to replace the shorts I packed with jeans. We hung out and saw the Grand Canyon on Friday, which was breathtaking, much more than I expected. And cold. A harbinger of things to come, indeed.
we had left in the cars froze overnight. It was then I decided to replace the shorts I packed with jeans. We hung out and saw the Grand Canyon on Friday, which was breathtaking, much more than I expected. And cold. A harbinger of things to come, indeed. We then headed out to get to Santa Rosa, NM by the end of the night, where it was cold.Santa Rosa is a hole. Never go there. That picture isn’t it, that’s Flagstaff. Shoulda stayed there...On our way out of Santa Rosa, we found this cool, little dinosaur museum on the New Mexico/Texas border. Caitlyn was itchin' to see it, as she's been enthralled with this creation museum CD series the Meyer's gave her, called Jonathan Park, that takes place at a dinosaur graveyard somewhere in New Mexico, so she was in heaven. It was pretty cool, I have to admit. The town's claim to fame is the museum and the birthplace of Brian Urlacher.
Life on Interstate 40...We got into Pratt, Kansas that night, a small town just south of Wichita. It was, um, cold. And next to a McDonalds, our 4th such meal this trip. Why can't they put a Sizzler on every podunk corner rather than a McDonalds?Sunday was a big day. We got into Kansas City about noon, and were able to show Caitlyn and my mom the house for the first time.
Caitlyn just wanted to have a snowball fight in the backyard. My mom wanted curtains. Neek wanted to get rid of the cats. I wanted BBQ. The cats wanted to stop moving. We wouldn't get our wish for a day or two, though, as we found out from our truck driver that he couldn't get help to unload the truck on Monday, and Tuesday was New Year's day, so we wouldn't get our stuff until Wednesday, which meant 3 more nights in a hotel.We spent the stroke of midnight on New Year's Eve at the movie theater in Country Club Plaza watching National Treasure 2 with Caitlyn. I'm pretty sure Neek, my mom and I were all asleep when the clock struck 12. Happy New Year.
The next two days consisted of hanging curtains and ordering services online while enjoying the chicken noodle soup and free internet at Panera.
Wednesday was the big day, and we were greeted with 16 degrees with a wind chill bringing the temperature to around 4. Yes, 4. And it felt every bit of 4. I think. The coldest I've ever been was when I fell asleep in front of the open Ben N' Jerry's freezer door at Albertsons. Until Wednesday. Neek and I took turns standing out at the truck directing the movers to which room the box should go. By 3, we had everything in the house and in the garage. In boxes, but in the house. Now, the sorting begins. Thursday, Friday and Saturday are all kind of a blur at this point. Unpacking boxes, trips to the hardware store and phone calls to cable companies and telephone conglomerates.
The stacks of boxes are slowly dissolving, services are slowly turning on and tomorrow, Caitlyn starts at her new school and I start at my new agency. We're both in for some adjustments, she is going from a 3rd/4th grade combo class of 6 to four separate 4th grade classes of 20 or more each. Her new teacher is MR. Kort. That’ll be a change, too. I'm going from working on national music accounts to working on local retail accounts. Everything should be slowing down, which is exactly what we want.We tried out a new church today. It wasn't that great. I have a feeling we'll find it hard to find what we had, but we'll keep looking. The pastor at the church we were at today went a little long, the choir was small but talented, the congregation skewed older and the announcements were boring. Oh, wait... We DID find what we had! We'll keep looking... They didn't have Awana anyway.
We also got to see the new Sprint Center in downtown KC today, as my promise to Caitlyn at the outset of this trip was that we would see the Harlem Globetrotters when we arrived, which we did today. Very cool arena. They need a pro basketball team, we'll even take the Clippers. OK, we need a PRO team...We've been exploring the area since we got here, and we've been shocked with how much shopping, restaurants and theaters are around us. It really reminds us of Aliso Viejo, kind of a new feel, even though the neighborhoods are 30 years old. The house is incredible, it's so us, tons of character, great colors on the walls, just a great vibe. And it's right on a golf course: We even got to see people playing the course today, as yesterday the temps got up to 65 and will continue through tomorrow. Just like home. Until it dips back into the 40s the remainder of the week. All the snow melted and we got a taste of what our third-of-an-acre backyard really looks like. I'm going to have to get a lawn mower, me thinks. Or I could just cement it all over right now and get it over with...Thanks for all the support everyone has given us. It'll take some adjusting but we really feel like it's worth it. We've found things are less expensive out here, from the restaurants (average about $10) to the groceries (99 cents for eggs, $1.99 for a gallon of milk) to the gas ($2.65 down the street), which is really nice. The weather is... different... but we're excited to trade the weather for the quality of life we're hoping to find. Now, if I could only find a store that sells 3XL parkas...We have new contact info, some we've shared, some is brand new as of this week, so here you go.
