If you spend enough time with us you will find that we are pretty spontaneous and sometimes a bit over zealous. This was definitely true on moving day! As I shared in our last blog we closed on two homes and started our drive to Tennessee in the same day. The excitement of that morning spurred us to change our plans yet again. Rather than getting a good nights rest and leaving first thing in the morning, we just decided to go!
We said our goodbyes, prayed for safe travels and Jordan climbed into the 26ft moving truck, might I add for the very first time! He decided to drive around the neighborhood a few times until he felt comfortable behind the wheel. He gave the all clear, I started up our Subaru and followed him out of the neighborhood.
The reality of the day hit pretty hard as I glanced in the side mirror to see our old house one last time. Passing by all the familiar places of our hometown brought out all the emotions. We were moving away from our family, friends, church and just the familiarity of our town. I tearfully prayed again for strength to complete the journey ahead and thanked God for providing us a new home with a chance to finally have that farm we have been dreaming about!
Jordan was doing a phenomenal job driving the moving truck and I followed close behind with our two dogs and cat. Jasper, our Bengal cat only made it about 20min before I had to open the crate door and succumb to his protesting. This may not be a popular opinion but Jasper was not going to stop yelling at me, so for my sanity and his well-being I let him free to roam the car. With everyone happy and quiet we could enjoy the open road for a while.
We made our way through Indiana and Kentucky without much excitement. Stopping a few times to stretch our legs and give our fur-babies a break from the car. It was 9:12pm when we finally crossed the border into our new home state of Tennessee! Knowing we wouldn’t make it a full 3 hours without gas, food and a bathroom break we pulled off the freeway once again.
Jordan went to the truck stop and I went to Taco Bell. We planned to meet in the parking lot next door since the firework store was closed and he would have plenty of room to park the truck. Just as I was pulling in a very unpleasant women came out demanding we leave the property right away. We attempted to explain that we were only here to hand off the food and leave. She wouldn’t hear any of it and just continued her yelling. I tossed Jordan his food and pulled around to the other side of the gas station to wait for to leave the forbidden lot. Several minutes had gone by and still no Jordan. I called to make sure he was okay after that very unnerving interaction... and to my horror he was already on the freeway!
To a normal, rational human this may not be upsetting, however I was tired, hungry, emotionally drained and over being in the car. I hurried to the freeway, crying a bit too hysterically trying to find my husband. Eventually I did catch up and I am embarrassed to say that I cried for a solid hour. Oh and I didn’t even eat my Taco Bell!
Once I calmed down it took every ounce of concentration to keep myself awake for the remainder of the drive. After an intensely emotional day I was crashing hard. The only thing I could do to stay awake was focus on the blue tail gate of my husbands truck, as long as I had that in sight I knew I was safe.
We made a quick stop to get the keys from our realtor and she had the most generous gift basket waiting for us. New dog tags for our babies, towels, soap, toilet paper and more! I honestly can’t say enough about our realtor and if you’re looking to move to middle Tennessee reach out and I’d be glad to share her information.
Knowing it would be too late and unwise to go to our new and empty home late at night, we made plans to stay at our friends house. We arrived just after midnight! After nearly 12 hours of driving we shuffled into their home and went straight to bed. Finally rest!