We Made It!

Sorry we haven't put up a blog in the last two days. We arrived on Thursday night and started moving in right away! We didn't want to spent another night in a hotel or sleep on the air mattress. We wanted our own bed!

So lets rewind a little and go back to Thursday morning. We got up early with the intention of stopping at the Grand Canyon. I took a quick shower but didn't dry my hair...big mistake! We stayed the night in Flagstaff, AZ...did you know it was 20 degrees in Flagstaff on Thursday? We were freezing and not as prepared as we should have been for that cold, considering we came from Jersey. We stopped to get gas and I pulled to close to the pump. Long story short we took the car off the trailer and the trailer off the truck and moved everything manually just like our first night. We lost an hour and half so no Grand Canyon but I got a nice head cold from being outside with wet hair! Ironically the only person to help us was a man who use to live in New York!

So I drove through Arizona and crossed the state line into California! I can't speak for Lenny but I know for myself it was a very overwhelming moment. All those long hours and bumps in the road paid off! We were in our new home state. 3 time zones and 2800 miles from all of our friends and family. From that point on I think we were like kids in a candy store, just in awe that we really did this. We continued  on Route 40 to a state line checkpoint, the only one we encountered. We stopped in Needles, CA to switch drivers and gas up. What a change in the weather I think it was 56 degrees in Needles. The longest stretch of road with no exits or rest stops was from Needles to Barstow. Mostly because you pass through the Mojave National Preserve and then there is the Marine Corps Air Ground Combat Center Twentynine Palms. We started to see palm trees and before we knew it we were on Route 15 and 2 hours from "home".

Ok so I know I said the longest stretch was from Needles to Barstow, well the closer we got to the apartment the longer it seemed to take. But we made it. Signed our lease and started unpacking the truck so we could get to the bed and then we called a night. Oh and by the way Rob thanks for all your boaters knots, Lenny was not a fan but I didn't have a problem. We'll be sure to hold on the that rope for you when you and the family come to visit.

We woke up Friday morning and looked out our bedroom window and saw palm trees and mountians! It is beautiful. It is cool at night and warm during the day. It was 78 degrees yesterday which is cold for Californians. It was weird for us to being wearing tee shirts and shorts and almost everyone else is wearing sweatpants and hoodies and Uggs. We worked hard all day and unpack the truck by 1 and brought it back. We thought we got rid of a lot of stuff before we left, we were a little off on that part. So our apartment is filled to the brim with boxes and now its time to organize and find homes for everything. We do have a storage unit that is decivingly big. Good news! Penske is going to pay for a new front bumper!

We still have so much to do. We will probably have a few more blogs over the next week or so as we explore our new home. After that Lenny will take over the reigns and i will start my own separate blog that I will update weekly. I hope you have all enjoyed our journey thus far. It has really be amazing to have you all share in the journey with us. All your feed back and warm wishes have been wonderful. Although you are all so far away, it gives us peace to know that so many of you care and are generally interested. Thank you again for all your good vibes and love. While at moments it has been hard to be so far away, we can be at ease knowing that we can all still interact via social networks and emails. Oh and if any of you have an Xbox 360 look for us online, LennyBreaks and ColleenBreaks. If you have it with Kinect, bonus video chat!

Home Stretch!

We are so close to our new abode! We finished Texas and New Mexico today. We are staying the night in Flagstaff, and it is actually really cold. I always kind of associated Arizona with being warm, but there is ice and even some snow on the ground. We are actually about 45 miles away from the Grand Canyon and we are thinking it might be worth the quick detour.
The scenery changed today. New Mexico was quite flat at first, we even saw our first tumbleweeds. There is something beautiful about the simplicity of the landscape. You could look out over the land and even the canyons and find peace with the lack of strip malls and chain restaurants. The end of daylight brought lots of beautiful canyons with sunlight pouring into all of the spaces between the rocks. It was a truly amazing sight.

The exits have become a little more spaced out and at night it is almost completely black. The stars are so much easier to see and you can see so many of them.

Fatigue has set in. We are tired more often and the aches in our backs have become greater. It will be worth it when we arrive in La Habra. I don't really enjoy driving but man will I be stoked to drive my car again.

Long Day

A lot of the houses in Arkansas had a lot of junk in their yard.
I liked to call them "Outdoor Hoarders" This was a clean one. 

The days are starting to run together at this point. We did the most driving today. We made it all the way from Conway, AR to Amarillo, TX that's 562 miles! We are starting to get a little punchy, snippy at times. We are more than half way to our final destination. I will be so happy when I can drive my car again and don't have to have all my bones jostling all over the place being in that truck.

It rained for most of the day, of course during my drive. Towards the end of the day the sun did come out and we were able to get video of the sun setting. Oklahoma was quite beautiful. During the drive there would be signs that would tell you when you were leaving and entering each Indian Nation. I would love to go back and visit when we have the time and energy to explore it.

Lots of rain

It's been a long day so this is a short one. Good night all!

BTW this is what the Car looked like after the damage from the tow.

Ouch! Poor car. 

New Time Zone!

Today started better then yesterday, we were able to leave at 9:30 instead of 10 Lol! We made it through all of Tennessee and most of Arkansas. Tennessee was pretty much the same as Virginia...lots of cow! Driving the truck and towing the car is a lot of work and it takes a toll on your body. You fell every bump and I don't think the seat was designed to be comfortable. I think if it was more comfortable we could probably drive longer than we have been. Some how I manage to be the one stuck driving up and down the steep terrain, that is very exhausting. We made it through our first time zone though so it wasn't all bad. We crossed the Mississippi River too! It was overcast most of the day so the pictures aren't too great.

Sam has been really good. He spends most of his time sleeping in the space between the seats, where we made him a makeshift bed. He only really gets anxious when we stop at gas stations but he is otherwise doing well.





There are moments in the drive where you think "I can't wait to get home!" Usually the vision in my head is the one of the house on Attison and then I realize that is not our final destination. I try to picture what our new living room will look like so it's going to take some getting use to. The drive isn't easy, but the end result will be worth it.

Nashville!

We are happy that so many of you are following along on this journey with us by reading the blog. So keep the comments coming they help keep our day interesting!

Almost Fell in Love with Virginia

Today started off earlier then yesterday which is a good thing. There was a hiccup that prevented us from leaving until 10. Last night when we pulled into the hotel, we pulled into the right parking lot instead of the left. That does not seem like a problem until we realized that parking lot was not a pull through and we could not reverse the truck and the trailer. We wound up taking the car off the trailer and turning the truck around that way. So the next morning we start to put the car on the trailer again and the front end gets stuck and it CRACKS! It's not bad but it still hurt to watch. We will post a picture tomorrow.

As we drove through Virginia we thought is was beautiful, but it seemed like we were never going to get to the end. When you are driving from New Jersey to California driving through one state for most of the day is very frustrating and leads to cranky pantsness.On the upside Lenny was able to take a lot of pictures during my shift of driving, there were lots of cows, everywhere. We trooped through it and made our stay for the night in Knoxville, TN.

It has been an experience thus far. Although we aren't sight seeing it is a great experience none the less to make this drive as a family. We even got Sam to lay down on the floor of the cab for most of the drive instead of our laps. It's a new adventure for all of us. It's been great for us to be able to just drive and not have anything pressing on our mind and be able to laugh and enjoy each others company.

Every mile closer to California a little more excitement builds up and a little more stress falls away. We can't wait to start the new day! Of course we miss all of your faces like crazy but it is awesome knowing that so many of you want to read the blog and share in our journey.

On The Move!

We are on the road and following our dreams and it seems so surreal. Over the past week I would drive down Hooper and realize this is my last trip down here. I won't be stopping at that Dunkin Donuts anymore where the guy always has my coffee ready for me. There are so many emotions it's hard to pinpoint them all. Even packing up the house was surreal, you look at all these rooms and think "What could have we done differently to make this work?" I really don't think we could have done anything differently. It was a dream crusher. I think sometimes that from the moment we walked through the door the odds were against us.  The day after we moved in my Aunt Kathy lost her battle with cancer. A few months after that Lenny's younger cousin passed away suddenly. A month after that Lenny's job implemented a company freeze on all salary increases and did massive lay offs. Yes Lenny made it though multiple rounds of lay offs. Yes I was able to recover with a new job that I was extremely thankful for. With out that job I would not have learned some new and wonderful things not only about myself but about The Rathgebers as well. I know that this all seems like normal flow of life to have highs and lows. But during all this time and even to this very day Lenny and I were struggling with something deeply personal that we tried to keep mostly to ourselves. After our first Christmas in our new house we had decided to move on to the next step...kids.

I had thought really long and hard about even mentioning that part. By now a handful of people know. But it can still be very difficult to talk about. So we started trying to expand our family and month and month...nothing. Months turned into years and now here we are 3 years later and nothing. Yes we saw doctors and had procedures and testing done. The answers to all our questions were just more questions. We fall into that percentage of couples who have unexplained infertility. So lump in those big fat negative tests in with everything else and there were moments when the world seemed like it was ending. And I was always looking for those little miracles, especially when Vinnie passed away. I had never wanted that plus sign more then I did at that moment.

But it took all of those things to happen to push us to where we needed to be. So maybe the house wasn't a dream crusher after all but just a stepping stone to open our eyes and follow our hearts and dreams.

So here we are moving our life across the country and following our hearts. I just want to thank so many people for all their well wishes. We have been surprised and touched by this outpouring of luck and love that has been headed our way. Thank you all so much. It is really late now. I will follow up with another post tomorrow.