Paw Tracks & Trailer Packs

Took Kodi for a walk yesterday.  Since it was around zero degrees for the umpteenth day in a row, not too many other people were out.  I thought his tracks looked cute in the snow so I took some photos.

My Native American name means "Walks With Dogs":

Was that culturally insensitive?  No I don't actually have a Native American name.  Sorry if anyone was offended.  But if I did, that's probably what it would be.

I let Kodi run a little bit.  Man, his stride is HUGE!  He's actually part gazelle.

With my foot in the photo, for size reference:

WHATAREYOUDOING, AND CANIHELP??

That was going to be a good paw print photo.  In the undisturbed snow.  But anywhere Kodi goes, the word "undisturbed" seldom follows.


So we started packing the truck & trailer!  Like, the final pack of everything we want to take to Alaska.  We've been on the road, more or less, since Christmas.  Settling in at our new home sure sounds good.  BUT, the trip there is going to be awesome I'm quite sure.

The trailer couldn't get packed until the modifications were complete.  Give Rich a few days and some building supplies, and he can turn a regular old cargo trailer into this:

What's that, you ask?  What kind of animal do you think would be comfy in such a luxurious space?  What kind of animal is way worth all this effort?  I'll give you a hint, it eats hay and says "neigh".

YES!  WE'RE GETTING HORSES!!  For the first time since high school, I'll finally have a horse of my own.  I can't believe it's been as long as it has.  Not having horses in my life is a hole that I was always aware of for the whole ten years I spent in NOLA.  I'm so excited right now, I think I may explode.

But before I do, meet Stormy!

And Gaefa!

Stormur (Stormy) is a 5 year old Icelandic gelding.  Gaefa is a 7 year old Icelandic mare.  They are at two different farms near Edmonton, Alberta (yes that's in Canada).  We're going right through Edmonton anyway on our route, so we'll go meet each of them, and if everybody likes everybody they'll be coming with us to Alaska!!

I've loved Icelandics ever since I met them on a trip to Iceland in 2009.  I got to ride them at one of those paid trail ride places and I was hooked.  They're sturdy, stocky, fuzzy, smart, friendly, and easygoing.  Plus they have an amazing gait called the tolt, which was developed back in Viking days to be a really smooth gait so the Vikings could ride their horses long distances over rough terrain comfortably.  

This is me from 2009 in Iceland:

I remember telling myself I would have Icelandics of my own one day.  Well, it looks like "one day" might be here!!  They've both gotten their health testing for crossing the border and all looks good.  The only thing left is to meet them.  Whatever the word is beyond excited, like if there's one that means you have butterflies in your tummy and can't sit still, that's what I am.

Emerging From Hibernation

Whew that was rough.  The reason no one has heard from me for days is that some time last week (the days are all a blur) I got REALLY sick all of a sudden.  Those who know me know that I do not get sick, like for real ever.  I think this was food related.  I had food poisoning for sure once before and this felt a lot like that.  After one day of being totally out of commission and another day of gradually getting back to normal, I was finally starting to feel OK and then Rich got it.  Same deal for him- one day totally out of commission, one day of gradual improvement, and finally now we are both alive and well. 

I would post a picture, but it would just be the bed or the TV since that has been our life for the past however many days. 

But there is much to do!  Trailer modifications are progressing, despite the subzero temperatures.  We should FINALLY get the appraisal report for the new house today- seriously is this a master's thesis?  What takes soooo long??  The actual appraisal was weeks ago.

One thing I have been able to do though is study our driving route to AK. The Milepost is a phonebook-sized reference specifically for Alaska and northern Canada travel. Tons of detail on everything along the route. I'm really glad we discovered it.

Oh AND!  Listing of the Willow house is underway.  Many thanks to our realtor Corinne who is handling basically everything.  Anyone want to buy a house??  Gently used, well loved.

Due to our several consecutive sick days, that's all there is to report for now.  Hopefully there will be much more to update on in the next few days.

And the journey begins.

On Sunday, February 15th 2015, I walked out the door of my house for the last time, took a long look around, and left New Orleans for the last time as a New Orleanian.  I know the city will always be part of me, and I'll always be at least a little bit of a New Orleanian in my heart.  As I wrote previously, the 10+ years I lived there were absolutely transformative, in a very good way (in the end!).  I look at it this way: I spent my childhood in Penfield, but I grew up in New Orleans.

On to the next adventure, right??  I can't say there weren't a few tears as we rolled by all the familiar places, down streets I've traveled for the last decade.  But once we got out of the city, I got myself under control and started to get into Journey Mode.  A big step out of the familiar, a leap into the unknown, and one step closer to Alaska!  I thought about all the great things I'm so excited for- HORSES!, mountains, trails, open spaces, non-sweltering summers.... but yeah, mostly horses.  Walking out of my house with my morning cup of coffee to pet the horses in their pasture will be nothing short of a dream come true.

But first, we have to get there.  And hoo boy, we had our hands full.  We overnighted in northern Alabama (traveling slow bc of pulling the trailer) and watched the Weather Channel talk about the epic winter storm conditions that were going to be basically across our entire route for the entire next day.  Now I've seen some bad weather, but this was impressive.  All the way from Alabama to Ohio there was snow, sleet, single digit temps, ice ice ice, and terrible driving conditions.  Rich drove through some of the worst winter weather possible for TEN straight hours.  I really don't know how he did it; I would've gotten in seventeen accidents and gotten stuck countless times.  Every mile almost, we would pass another accident or a car/truck/semi in the ditch.  Being that this snow was in Tennessee and Kentucky, who aren't too used to this severe of weather, most of the highway was completely untouched.  No salt, no plowing, nothing.  It was really ridiculous, actually.

This was I-65.  The roads looked like this the entire day.

 

And as we went along, a film of ice kept building up on the truck and the trailer.  It got thick enough that it probably added several hundred pounds of weight, and these bizarre-looking "horns" that probably weighed as much as me built up on the front of the trailer.  Never seen anything like it.  All of the cars got snow buildup on the BACK, which was also weird.

What should've been about a ten hour ride took at least sixteen.  The last 2 hours were on good roads finally, but at that point it was just painful.  I can't imagine we'll see anything worse than that on the road to Alaska.  And even if we do, we wouldn't have to drive through it for sixteen hours, we'd just stop and wait it out.  So anyone who's worried about us should feel better knowing we made it through yesterday.  And we didn't even kill each other!  Or even want to (...I think...). That may have been the most impressive part.  The dogs hung in there really well too.

Now we're in somewhat of a holding pattern until we can leave for the Big Drive.  The house deal is supposed to close in mid-March so we're going to try to time our arrival as close to that as possible.  We plan on spending about 2 weeks on the road.  But for now, no rest for the weary, as Rich has been working on fixing the water supply to the house all day.  (No rest for him, anyway, I already took a nap.  Shh don't tell.)

It's happening. Really happening.

As I sit here, surrounded by an avalanche of boxes and a flurry of activity, it's really sinking in that I'm leaving this place. It's nine years almost to the day that I've been in this house. And my entire adult life that I've been in New Orleans.

I've moved within this city a few times, between apartments before I bought this place. But this is only my second large-scale interstate household move. The first one of course being when I came down here nearly eleven years ago. And this is the first and only house I've ever owned.

There has been A LOT of living that has taken place within these walls. The decade from my early twenties when I bought the place to now in my early thirties has been the most transformative time of my life. It wasn't always easy, at times it downright sucked, but looking back on it now I can see the road that I traveled to get to where I am. And where I am now is a really great place. I'm in a great relationship with an amazing man, we have a beautiful Brady Bunch family of four dogs, and I'm more comfortable in my own skin than I've ever been before.

The opportunity in Alaska is a great one for both of us in a lot of ways. My new job that's bringing us there is a welcome and refreshing change. The team I'm on is great and the work is exciting and challenging.

The house we're getting is going to give both of us some things we've been wanting for a long time.  Rich gets an amazingly awesome five-car garage/shop and I get land where I can have horses! Horses have been sadly missing from my life for far, far too long. I get butterflies just thinking about coming home from work each day to soft muzzles and fuzzy faces. And the dogs will have plenty of room to roam around and be dogs.

The car people came and took my car this morning. The TV people came and crated the TVs, and the packing ladies have been whirling through the house like banshees putting everything in boxes. Tomorrow the furniture people come, then we'll have someone clean the house and spruce up the yard and.... we're gone.

All around me I'm aware of so many lasts: last trip to the grocery store, last load of laundry, last walk around the block with the dogs, and tonight, the last night in my room. This whole thing is exciting, sad, and just surreal. I'm really going to miss this house. I poured so much of my blood, sweat, and tears into it over the years. It's totally unrecognizable from when I bought it (and that's a very good thing!). It feels a little better when I think of the new owner coming in here, falling in love with it, and then enjoying it as much as I have. This is an old house, it has a heart and a soul and a history. It deserves to be loved and appreciated. I wonder how many families have lived here over the 100 years or so that it's been here. And that list includes me and Rich too.

The house actually played an important part in the beginning of our relationship.  Rich was here when I bought it. We redid the kitchen together and I can still remember how much fun we had. Then, life happened, he went his way and I mine, and seven years later we wound up finding each other again. So he was here at the beginning and now he's with me at the end of my time here. Funny how things work out like that.

It all comes down to this: you can't go somewhere new without leaving where you've been. I couldn't be more thrilled about our new adventure and getting to know and love a new place. So I go, not without some heaviness of heart, but also with many valuable life lessons and memories of time well spent, a life well lived.