Wednesday, June 1, 2016

The Big Move: Day 1

We survived the first leg of the trip (which we have broken into five days) from Cedar City, UT to Gallup, NM.

Other than a few unanticipated stops for a tire strap that doesn't seem to want to stay ratcheted on Adam's Passport that we are towing, things have gone very smoothly.

I, of course, have been a basket case at times. During the first fifteen minutes of the drive I received a phone call that turned into a short phone interview and made it into the second phase of the hiring process. Lack of proper cell phone service during a stretch from Kanab to Flagstaff made trying to figure out our housing difficult. At one point I received a phone call that our former landlord needed to fill out a form regarding our rental history, but he hadn't done so yet. I called and left a voicemail which he promptly returned, only to find that the Windows 10 updated had locked him out of his email.

So far Arizona and New Mexico have felt a lot like Utah. Of course, we barely crossed the Arizona/New Mexico border, so I'm sure the landscape will change more as we go, and as we get to Texas tomorrow. It's so strange to drive through places we've heard of but never seen (like Winslow, which every time I say triggers the Eagles' song "Take it Easy" in my head).

We're staying in La Quinta hotels the whole way because of their great pet policy. The hotel here in Gallup even has a little fenced mini-dog park which was nice because the drive so far has been significantly less than dog-friendly. It seems finding dog-friendly stops was an oversight on my part when planning the trip.

We ate at a local Mexican restaurant for dinner, since we figure the further east we go the less access we'll have to proper Mexican food. When the server mentioned that the green chile was a little spicier today we knew we had authentic food, and it was delicious.

Now to prepare for the next leg tomorrow. Over 400 miles today and nearly that many tomorrow. Our Google map told us the drive today would take just over seven hours and it was closer to ten. Tomorrow's drive says just under six, so we'll see how accurate that is.