Pictures really can tell a story and I would love to share the favorite pictures of our day. I wrote the memory of when we took his belongings up to him a year ago and helped move the city kids into their new lives and today I write about the day we packed the city kids up for their new summer adventures.
We set the alarm Friday night for 2:30 a.m. and when paper airplane began to play on my alarm I was immediately excited at the prospects of our day. We were jumping into the truck to drive 6 hours up north to pack up our first born son.
The very best time to travel through Los Angeles is 3:30 a.m. it was a breeze. We were in the wide open land in about an hours time. We start in the city for a small amount of time we travel a majority through farmland to end up in another city. The expanse in-between is fairly large. I used to think it was boring and ugly but thankfully years have opened my eyes and heart to the beauty of it’s open space the scent of the sweet soil, the golden expanse with patches of orchards and grapevines all along the way. I have not however embraced the two large dairy farms that we pass coming and going, it’s the smell that socks me straight in the face.
We pulled up to 999 Bush by 9:30 a.m. Traffic is our enemy in Los Angeles and parking is our enemy in San Francisco. We got kind of lucky and the 30 minute meter was open. We plugged that meter for several rounds while one person stayed watch at the truck and the rest of us packed and carried boxes and bags. The 2 hour spot opened and we shifted the truck up to that available meter. That took some pressure off.
There was a moment or several moments of panic when we thought maybe all their belongings wouldn’t fit in our truck and motorcycle man began to make phone calls to U-Haul and Enterprise to get a second possible vehicle. NOTHING was open for our one way trip request and a mini van from Enterprise one way was over $600.00. Praying and believing started to set in like second nature after my first nature was to freak out and panic. Our saving grace was Starshine’s mama who was also making a trip to L.A. and we packed her car full with bags. It all worked out in the end. We got every single belonging out of the 16x16 foot studio apartment into the faithful Ford F150 short bed with a little rack we attached to the back which ended up just holding the office chair, rabbit cage and large area rug. Rich inherited his stellar packing and tie down skills from his Papa Bear and knowing he was equipped with those mad talents took my worry completely away. I knew we were packed safe and solid.
We were out of San Francisco in less than 5 hours and on the road again headed towards Los Angeles. Once in Los Angeles we can be to our suburban little town in about 20 minuets so we always get happy to see the city lights knowing we are almost home.
This week our second born man cub graduates high school and we now have the job of placing all that stuff someplace so we have room to celebrate Dylan’s accomplishments by Tuesday. We are so grateful for a long weekend, we are grateful for traveling mercies, we are grateful for a healthy family, we are grateful for this beautiful life we have been blessed with. WE ARE HOME!
