Georgia

Well, we made it to Georgia and are settled in our house.  Our trip here was quite the adventure…

The plan was to leave on Sunday, get to GA and move into our house on Friday, and Ben would start work on Monday.  We also planned on visiting and staying with Ben’s uncle in Kansas for a day.  What actually happened was not quite as planned.

We did not feel it right so skip church just to leave a few hours sooner, so we went to church before heading out on Sunday.  Some people may say that this is what got us caught in the storm and cause our problems, but I believe that going to church that day is what blessed us to stay safe during the inevitability of being caught in the storm.

When we headed out (in a huge moving van with our car in an attached trailer behind) the weather was okay.  As we crossed into Colorado it started to look stormy.  When we got to the point where the freeway starts going over the mountains, we decided it was not too bad and to go on.  Shortly thereafter, the snow storm really go going.  It was also now dark and there is not really places to stop until you get over the mountains to Denver. 

All I can say is that I am glad it was dark, because it prevented me from seeing that the freeway is actually tall bridges through portions of the mountains.  I have learned this since, glad I did not know that at the time.

The snow was getting really bad and I was getting pretty scared.  Jenna must have not enjoyed it much either because at the top of the mountain she threw up all over me.  We found a little pull off to stop.  Ben had to chip away ice on the car to get into the car to get us new clothes.  And there we changed, at the top of the mountains over Denver, in a snow storm, in the middle of the night. 

Somehow we made it safely over the mountain and into Denver.  At this point we decided to get to the other side of town before looking for a place to stop. Well, there is not really anything on that side of town and we ended up stopping at a truck stop for a few hours rest.

We were lucky to make it over the mountain, because many of the roads around the state were closed the next day.  We made it a little farther down the road, which was icy, snowy, and windblown.  Then we had to stop because everything was closed.  Sadly, because we could go no further we were unable to get to Kansas and visit Ben’s uncle.  We were so far behind that there was no chance of visiting them.

The hotel we stopped at was actually very nice, and it was GREAT to clean up and wash the clothes from Jenna’s throw up the night before.

Our journey continued slowly the next day because the roads were still bad.  Half way through Kansas we changed routes and headed south.  We also stopped to set up a bank account (which is a whole different story).

After that things went much more smoothly and I decided I preferred the southern route.  I did learn a GREAT appreciation for the pioneers.  The winds and the storm through the middle of the state were horrible and I cannot imagine to have to walk through something like that.