You are now leaving Colorado

Moving from PB to NY: Part 2

So on day 2 of driving I wake up early and go to the Subaru dealership to have them look at my tire. I pull up at 7:12am and they don't open until 7:30am. I decide to go get something to eat real quick since I didn't have much to eat the night before and I get back to the dealership by 7:26 and there are already 2 cars in front of me. Damn...when I was here just 15 minutes earlier there was no one in line. I wait and finally it's my turn. As I am sitting in the waiting area of the Subaru dealership I am replaying all the memories I have had not only in this dealership, but in this county. It's where I worked last and there is just so many memories that I start to cry a little. It had snowed a little overnight so the mountains were beautiful with their white caps. Turns out I had a nail in my tire and the dealership fixed it and didn't charge me anything for it. I know it wasn't much, but it was kind of a nice goodbye to have something so nice done as we are leaving.

After loading up the cats, dog and birds we finally hit the road. We were having some problems with our bank so we decided to stop at the location in Denver. Good thing we did because the banker helped us immediately and made things much less stressful. Finally around 1pm we officially hit the road for NY.

There is nothing in Eastern Colorado. Nothing. I had told D before we left that I wanted to stop at the "You are leaving Colorful Colorado" sign to take some photos. As the sign was approaching I slowed down and D, not knowing what I was doing, passed me and gave me the look of "what the heck are you doing?". So we pass the sign and that's when she realizes what happened. Oh well...it would have been nice getting a picture, but it really wasn't that big of a deal.

So we are out of Colorado and heading on our way. Around 5:30pm we stop in Colby, KS because I wanted to stop and stretch. I suggest to D that we stop for the night and just start out fresh in the morning. She agrees and we stay at the Holiday Inn in Colby, KS where she had surprised me for Valentines Day in 2011 with a weekend away for us. It was such a great weekend and even though there isn't much in Colby, that town will always hold a special place in our hearts.

A couple hours after stopping I go out to my car to get something and suddenly I was in a major hail storm. I moved the car hoping there was a spot under the entrance, but there wasn't, but I was lucky enough to find a tree that kind of protected my car a little. I still got 2 good dings from the hail, but it could have been a lot worse with the size of the hail. I ended up being stuck in my car for about an hour because of the downpour and the hail.

The next morning we get up and head out. I think I had asked D if she wanted me to set an alarm and she said, no the cats will wake us up. They didn't that morning and we overslept. We were scheduled to be in KC that evening and had plans to have dinner with some of my family. We jump up, load everyone in the car and hit the road. About 90 minutes later we hit Hays, KS where we decide to stop for breakfast. As we are pulling in, it looks like there are storms ahead, so I give Lizzy her calming meds and we head in to eat. After breakfast, D tells me that she is very dizzy. We talk for a few minutes and after thinking about it for a second, I make the decision that we are staying in Hays, KS and we will rest a day. Poor Lizzy was knocked out because I had given her a pill and not only did it not storm it was sunny. Poor Lizzy.  I knew that we had plenty of time to get to NY and her health was more important then pushing to make it there.

One thing that I would like to add...the people in not only Colby, KS, but Hays, KS are some of the nicest people you will ever meet. When we checked into the hotel in Hays, KS around noon on Friday they noticed D wasn't feeling well and quickly got us in the room. At one point I went back to the front desk for something and they asked how she was feeling. Just very nice, genuine people. A few hours after resting D decided that maybe she should get her blood pressure checked. Her blood pressure had become a small issue that last few months we lived in Leadville (due to the altitude) so we wanted to make sure she was doing okay. D looked up and found the local health department because we knew they would do a blood pressure check. So we set up exploring Hays, KS. We did find the Health Department, but they close at 11am on Fridays..and it was around 3pm. So we head to Walgreens where the pharmacist comes out and takes her blood pressure. It was within normal levels for her, so that made us feel a lot better. Again, we were met with such a nice person (the pharmacist) and he even gave us a suggestion for dinner. We decided on something different and went with a Greek/Italian restaurant. Our food was very good and D was quite surprised she found suitable food (for her) in the middle of Kansas.

We got a great nights sleep and Saturday morning came and D was feeling better so we got on the road early and I couldn't wait to get to Kansas City to see my family. Luckily my family was wonderful and agreed that we all could meet for lunch that day. I knew it was going to be an interesting lunch because there was going to be my birth Mom, my brother A and his family, my Ant from my birth father's side and my adoptive Dad. Kind of my two worlds coming together.

Turned out to be one of the neatest and most memorable lunches I have ever had.

Stay tuned for more.

Max getting one last look before heading out for our drive

Palm trees in Colby, KS

Amazing storm

Stuck in my car

Day of rest

Topeka turnpike

Moving Cross County

I need to write down the wonderful, scary and sometimes really sad drive we had from Colorado to New York. I want to remember all of the little fun details for years to come.

Day 1: Wednesday, September 14
The moving company was scheduled to be at our house between 11am-2pm. D and I had packed up everything and we just kind of stood around waiting for the movers to show up. Around noon I decided to put the cats in the master bath/walk in closet so they would be out of the way. Our vet had suggested that we give the cats their calming meds the day we are moving so they will be calm throughout the house being packed up and moved out. So we waited...and waited...and waited. A little before 2 we called the moving company, and I think we left a message asking where the movers were. At some point we talked to the moving company and they had just left Denver. So, they were going to be really late. I think they finally showed up around 4:00pm. It took them a little over 3 hours to pack and load up the truck. I'm leaving out all the details about the moving company and the horrible experience we had because it's such a long story and I would rather write and remember all the good and fun little things we did on the drive.

We finally got on the road and left the house for good around 7:20pm. As the truck drove away and we loaded up the cats, Lizzy and our 2 birds the sky opened up and it started raining. As D and I stood in the house  one last time she turned to me and said, "It's as if Leadville is sad we are leaving" (because of the rain). We hugged, turned off all the lights, closed the shades and said goodbye to our home in the mountains. I have only lived in the CO house for the last 5 years...D has lived there for the last 16 and it's the longest she has ever lived in one single home. There are a lot of memories in that home and so much of the beginning of us is in that home. It's the first place we stayed together on our first meeting, it's the house that we fell in love, it's the house where we said goodbye to some beloved pets, and welcomed others into our family. It's also the place where we said our vows to each other and become Dr. and Mrs. We took a few special items from the home (the house # that we bought on our honeymoon as well as the custom made engraved stone that was in the front that had the address---D had it made 16 years ago when she moved in) and there are 2 pine trees in our back yard and it's where the large engraved stone is now. It feels like a little piece of Colorado here on Long Island.

As we drove away from Leadville it started to snow. Part of me was so happy to see a little bit of snow before we left, and the other part of me was scared because it was white out conditions at times and was thankful that I would not have to drive over mountain passes anymore in the snow. As we made it to our hotel I was so relived that we had finally made it and couldn't wait to get in and get settled and go to bed.

About 10 miles outside of Leadville, the tire pressure light came on in my car. When I have car trouble, or electronic troubles, I suddenly become a sailor and every bad word I know comes out of my mouth. Tire troubles is the last thing you want to deal with just as you are about to drive 2000 miles. We were staying at a hotel that was right across from the Subaru dealership where I had bought Max, so I was not going to worry about it for right now.

At the hotel they asked for my name and when they couldn't find it, they informed me that they were sold out. I had called earlier in the day and asked if they had any rooms and they said there would be plenty of rooms later on because it was not busy at all. Part of me wanted to make a reservation, but that would require me walking out to my car to get my wallet to get my credit card, and I was exhausted from packing, etc and what I was now learning was...I should not have been lazy. I look at D like...what are we going to do? The lady at the desk said I should try the hotel next door because they are pet friendly as well, so we waited while she called. Just a side note...it's very hard finding nice pet friendly hotels that will accept dogs over 25lbs and cats and more than 2 pets for a room. After several minutes I walk out and tell D that we should just drive to the hotel. We do and luckily they had a room for us. And they would accept our little menagerie of pets. They give us our room key and we start loading up the pets. As the trip progressed, we got really good at loading up the pets, luggage, but this was the first night and we were stressed, sad and exhausted. There may have been some cussing on my part..lol. We got the first load on the carts and head up to the room. We get to the room and try to key in the door. No luck. We try again and this time it works, but the dead bold is on. Suddenly a man appears and is about as shocked as we are that we are trying to enter his hotel room. I tell D to stay on the floor by the elevator and I will go figure out what is wrong. The manager had no idea who was in the room, but he quickly gave us another room and we got settled in our room.

The bed was uncomfortable and we both laid down knowing this was our last night for a very long time in Colorado. Plus, the fact that this was just the first night of a very long drive made both of us so anxious and nervous..but we were too tired to feel anything at this point.

......to be continued.