I haven't read this since I wrote it over 3 years ago...not sure I want to as I know I talked about Star and Choncho...but I hope you enjoy our memories.
Written January 20, 2009
While trying to fall alseep last night (after waking at 4:30am that moring with the baby and spending the day with all 4 kids ‘cuz we didn’t think there was school for MLK day…there was) I got to thinking about the long journey we had moving from Idaho to Oklahoma.
Picture if you can (because for some reason I didn’t take ANY pics…phone, camera, video camera…not a one!) a family of 5 and a half setting off for a long move from Idaho to Oklahoma. It is the second week of July, hotter then all get out and I’m 33 weeks preggo with our fourth. O-and we are moving 3 horses, 2 dogs, 2 cats, a goat and all our stuff with 2 trucks (my 4-door big girl truck pulled the horses, goat, 50 gallons of water and 10 bales of hay and various other tack, while Redneck’s big 454 truck pulled a trailer with household stuff, with me at the wheel) almost 1500 miles…all the while it is hotter then 2 mice wrestlin’ in a wool sock. We didn’t use our ac due to towing big loads.
We set off on Wednesday about 11am. Hoping to get 600+ miles behind us, landing at the horse hotel I had picked out. Horses loaded good, goat did too…kids were a little harder but we got it done.
To say I am freaking out at this point is putting it lightly. I was leaving all I had ever known (Idaho, Arizona areas mainly) and my family to move to Oklahoma and be closer to Redneck’s dad and family. My mom was really sad because she was going to miss the birth of our youngest and seeing the kids when she wanted since they were born. Plus dealing with all the craziness that comes with pregnancy and my complicated one at that. I just wanted to get to OK and my in-laws where we were to live for a while and relax until our baby’s birth day…HA!
We made the first day of the trip good. Made really good time with all stops for bathrooms, fill up’s (my truck only has one tank working right now so we have a 15 gallon tank that needs refueling A LOT when towing heavy trailer and horses…every 125-150 miles=$60+ in fuel) and eating. We made it to Wellington, CO and boarded the horses overnight at www.geocities.com/interstate_stables/ with Larry and Marge Enke. They were wonderful and made our horses feel right at home. Star wasn’t wanting to drink water but Choncho and Spirit were doing good, despite the long, hot trip so far. My goat, on the other hand was horribly scared and I wasn’t really able to milk her that night or at all for those three days. She stayed in the horse trailer with the dogs in the parking lot of the hotel. We swam a little and then went to bed to be ready for day 2 of 3.
We left out of Wellington as early as you can after loading horses and other animals and getting all family fed and in the trucks. The second day went good. Though there wasn’t much scenery and it was HOTTER then all get out and my feet were starting to swell pretty good. All animals were holding out good, except for maybe the fat cat who was really hot and I wetted his head more then once…he liked it. On top of the heat, there was also so much moisture in the air, you’d swear you were breathing swap water. We’re from dry ‘ol Arizona where the tumble weeds and dirt have races in the wind, this was new.
We stayed in Salina, KS the second night. I won’t tell ya’ll where the horses stayed because the guy was an ass. Charging us $75 for nothing really. And this is what I HATE the most about people’s perceptions of *Rednecks*. We have Redneck written in BIG letters on the back of my truck and our horse trailer isn’t pretty but it is paid for and structurally sound. Why is it when some people think redneck, they think ignorant, toothless, hoopty driving, no indoor plumbin’ having, inbred ingrates??? That is just some stupid thinking and people need to educate themselves.
Day three started good…but this is where it gets a little Okie-fied and crazy. Redneck had been following me the whole way but when we got to Oklahoma City, he took the lead. Now, mind you he is driving the big truck with a 4 horse trailer and I’m in his truck with the uhaul trailer. He loses me in all the maddening traffic of the city and I don’t catch up to him until we are out of the city. I get stuck behind a lady doing 45 mph and the left lane filled with whizzing cars in a hurry to somewhere, so I couldn’t pass her for about 20 minutes. Of course Redneck was already passed her and down the road. Upon passing her, I see she is on her phone…NICE!!
Redneck took the lead in OKC because he had *a shortcut* he’d been given by his dad’s nephew, who was a trucker and knew all the roads. Our shortcut first took us over the BUMPIEST roads you could imagine and twisty. Okay, that’s fine…it’s hot, late in the afternoon, we’re on a road we’ve never been on that is bumpy as hell and we’re still getting new directions by the minute. The altered directions take us down a 2 lane road, middle of nowhere, that turns into a dirt road RIGHT before you see the big bridge WASHED OUT!!! Guess they’d had a big flood that washed out the bridge and someone forgot to tell nephew. Redneck goes to check out the bridge while I stay at the top of the RAVINE and get to cussin’! He comes back and states that if we keep it in the middle of the ruts in the road, we can make it over the bridge. Not only was I thinking that was the dumbest idea I had heard since deciding to move here, I TOLD him that. I told him I didn’t get this far across the damned country to have my truck wrecked and animals hurt in the middle of BFE and no cell service. HELL NO we weren’t tryin’ it.
So, we turned the parade around and headed back to where we last saw people (in a small town with 4 cops and they were ALL watching the new people from Idaho getting gas, that was kinda twilight zone-ish). Called nephew and he gives us new directions…I’ll be damned, the bridge is out??? Yeah, bulletin for southern OK residents…bridge in the middle of BFE is OUT!!! New directions take us down a new, exciting BUMPY road. It’s getting dark now and I don’t see well in the dark due to my horrible eyesight and night blindness. Needless to say, the bumpy road, 10,000 little bridges and hills and dips had me a nervous wreck by the time we met nephew on the highway. I thought I had felt all the bumpy roads in southern OK…NOPE!!! The bumpiest was the rode to my in-laws. For some reason, someone had decided to patch the road with whatever they had on hand at the time. Or they just left the bigger pot holes for small car fun…or tired horses in a trailer all day fun. And Redneck had to keep up with our escort, even though they were in a car and doing like 40 mph. I didn’t keep up. I had come that far, they could find me if I got lost.
We made it about 9pm that night. Got the horses unloaded and settled in. Star finally drank after we got their own water trough out. She must have missed it. Goat was happy to be out of the dog kennel and trailer and was doing the happy goat jump/dance and bellowing. I was happy to be out of the truck and felt SOOOO relieved that my family made it to OK without any mishaps…kinda. I just wanted to enjoy the ac and get some sleep.
I am so glad we made it here and have enjoyed most of it. Oklahoma is much different then the West but we’re adjusting. Now, if I can just get past the fact that you can’t see nothin’ for the trees…
Tip of the Day: Always carry a map
What a great post to find! I will find some more to post from my *begining* blog.
My Star and Choncho
