we have arrived to west texas.........

i thought this shirt was very appropriate

for the 523 mile "journey"

loading up in nacogdoches
ONE was NOT enough............his and hers :)
we are now living in MIDLAND, TX USA -- although it feels like we traveled to another country along the long way ..... and what a long way it was. we took out in BOTH our trucks on the afternoon of june 9th. i say BOTH our trucks because when we started loading on friday the truck that we "thought" and were told by Uhaul that would hold ALL our belongings --- well -- it DID NOT -- so on saturday morning we had to go rent ANOTHER big truck to get all our stuff in ... and we filled it up. so, when we got both trucks loaded down -- thanks to all of you that helped us -- especially bob -- he had bruce's 26' truck loaded to where you could not even stick a toothpick in it! haha it was unbelievable! i drove a 24' truck and we had to leave my car behind. (we will finally pick it up this friday from bruce's parents) we headed out feeling like the beverly hillbillies -- i would not reccommend this mode of moving to anyone -- but it did save us about $4000+ -- so now all said and done -- i guess it was worth it. but it was not fun by any means -- here's just a clip of the first 60 miles --- i had trained Sadie, our-2 yr. old border collie, in a dog crate all week -- well when we had to switch to the truck cab, her crate blocked my vision in the right hand mirror -- so she had to come out to the seat -- well, riding in a car is not something that she has done much of -- so she was all over the place -- under my arms, on my back, up on my neck -- and all the while I am "freakin" over driving this big ole truck --- and then it starts pouring rain and i don't have a clue where the wipers are --- rule #1 -- when you drive a truck --- check out all the controls and fix your mirrors BEFORE you start out! haha -- needless to say, i was quiet stressed. when we got to Crockett, i got the pills out and sedated ms. sadie mae, checked out my controls, fixed my mirrors and we continued on to georgetown. things were much better the next 3 hours. we spent the night at bruce's parents (about 200 miles) and then went on in to midland on sunday (about another 325 miles) -- sunday was a VERY long day. started out at 8:30 am and got to midland about 5:30 pm. (with a lunch stop with our very good friends randy/kathy in san angelo -- thank you!) i have never prayed so hard and for so long as i did on this trip. it was so scary at times and when i followed bruce it always looked like he was going to tump over to the right at any moment or go off the shoulder. my knuckles were so sore from gripping the steering wheel so hard and my neck and shoulders so tight and tense from that big ole steering wheel. all in all -- thank the good Lord -- we made it in one piece -- furniture and all. we closed on both houses on that monday, june 11 and had some LEE football players at the new house to unload us. there are boxes EVERYWHERE and we are unpacking slowly. thankfully, neither of us has to report to work until later in August -- so we have the time to go slow. i miss nacogdoches terribly and all my friends -- but the weather here is wonderful!! i look forward to the day we host one of you in our new home. i will post pictures as i get them -- i don't have a digital anymore, so the pics are slow to come as i finish up a roll on the "old style" camera. these are pictures from when we arrived -- my FIRST time to see the house finished -- it was beautiful!!!