April 9, 2009

Faces towards the west

Well that's what it feels like. Apple called yesterday talking about salaries, start dates, and relocations. Allen and I have roughed out our 4,500 mile road trip to get us from Alabama to Silicon Valley while taking in a few sights along the way. Tentative leaving date -way too soon. We're looking at about three weeks here, which to my mind kind of stinks because that will mean missing the bake sale and hoedown that our church has coming up a month from now. I had been looking forward to this party for at least a month, but with our apartment lease running out at the end of this month there's really no good way to stay in town for another week and a half (that we can think of). Once upon a time we could have stayed with Grandmom and Granddad, but they haven't been doing the best lately and Allen agrees that would be much too large an imposition. On the positive side though our itinerary includes Mt. Rushmore, Yellowstone, Zion, and the Grand Canyon (north rim). We've got two weeks and Apple will even cover some of our expenses (ie gas). So now I just have to figure out what to take, what to store, what to give away, and what to pack for our road trip. Allen isn't quite so sure about this whole road trip thing (what will we look like at the end I wonder?) but agrees that it's a wonderful opportunity to see a lot of places we've never seen before and revisit a few I enjoyed seeing with my family. So long as we keep a sense of humor about things and don't let ourselves get too rushed I think we'll be ok. Considering that our itinerary includes several days marked out for simply wandering around, I don't think we'll get too frazzled. We won't be able to visit the Rocky Mountains, but I also discovered that Mt Whitney is within a three-day or weekend trip's reach from where we'll be living.

All the same I'm not thrilled about moving so very far away from everyone and everything I love. I wish there was a wormhole somewhere a couple hours east of town that would put us out somewhere in the Sierra Mountains. It'd make it much easier getting to and from Mamaw's that's for sure. Unfortunately no such thing exists, and as is I really don't look forward to saying goodbye to all these wonderful folks.

4 comments:

Tom Cannon said...

Three weeks! Yikes! I have equal parts of absolute chagrin and joy.

Soundtrack for you:

http://twurl.nl/w5ittb

Anna said...

We did a three week car-camping trip several years ago when our kids were 10, 8, 6, and 4--almost the same itinerary you've mapped out! It was exhausting but fantastic, and we all wish we could do it again.

Serena said...

I'm very excited for you! Both for the road trip and your new home!

Natalie said...

I'd love to have three weeks to see all this! That must have been quite a journey.