Stories from moving

[HoneySpider]

So we had a pretty tight timeframe for getting everything done - Tuesday, I picked my mom and brother up from the airport, picked up the moving truck, and then we had to load everything (including getting a few pieces of furniture over the balcony) and drive ~5 hours. Everything was going well and we might have even been a little bit ahead of schedule. When we were moving stuff we had the doors open so I put the cats in the bathroom, only the one cat is a big scaredy cat and she was freaking out and we were having a hard time catching her so I said well nevermind, she never runs outside, she'll just hide somewhere while we are loading. We had the truck pretty much packed and ... we couldn't find one the cat  Since the house was pretty empty there wasn't really anywhere for her to go. We looked all over inside, all over outside, called her name, tried giving treats and food, nothing. The three of us looked EVERYWHERE. Of course at this point I'm getting really upset because I didn't know what do to - how the heck could I leave my cat? I knew if we left without her we'd never see her again but we also couldn't stay forever. A couple of my neighbors helped look, my brother even went up on the roof. Finally after an hour or so of this we decide well let's finish what we need to do (shower, clean up) and maybe she'll come out.

I'm in the shower and seriously all I could think about was "why does bad stuff keep happening to us?!" I seriously could not believe it and of course I felt it was all my fault because I didn't put her in the bathroom even though my mom wanted to. I get showered and I'm outside calling her again and my mom starts to vacuum in the kitchen and all of a sudden I hear her yelling to me that she has Smokey - turns out, there was a hole under the kitchen cabinet we didn't know about and she was in there....and the vacuum scared her enough to come out. THANK GOODNESS because she didn't make a peep for hours and we never would have known she was there!

Looking for her set us back probably 1.5 hours but ok, not the end of the world. We're finally on the road and my mom and I are in my car and my brother is in the truck with the cats. About 1.5 hours in I get a call from him that it smells like one of the cats pooped. They've traveled long distance before and never had an accident but I'm like ok, well Smokey hasn't gone all day, I'll get it cleaned up. So we stop and I figure out that it's the other cat - and it's not a few pieces of poop, she had diarrhea all over her box It was dark and I didn't even realize it until I picked her up out of the box and she clung to me and got it all over me. (Thank goodness it was an old t-shirt so I threw it out and put on another one) Poor thing must have just been really worked up, she was all wet which must have been sweat and then covered in poop. I tried to wipe her off but it was hard so when we got to the hotel I had to give her a bath. She didn't like that and was screeching and clawing all over me. Not exactly what I felt like doing at midnight after a really long day! But finally she calmed down and they were both really good the next few days. They are already settled into my parents' house now and loving it, it's a lot bigger than they are used to.

Wed night we were in Tenn between Chattanooga and Knoxville and there was some road construction that went down to one lane. We got through that and I pulled back into the right-hand lane (I was in my car, mom and brother behind me in the truck). Now it's late and pitch black out and I don't have the greatest night vision to start with but I think I see something in the road but can't tell if there's actually something there or it's an illusion of some sort. Well in a split second I realize something's there and I swerve out of the way to the left...behind me in the truck they swerved right and then back left into the lane. It was crazy - apparently there were a bunch of cones I guess left over from the construction. We've really lucky no one went off the road (especially in a heavy truck)

Our trip was actually pretty good overall though It ended up being a very long 3 days and we had considered taking 4 days and we probably should have - we ended up driving 5.5 hours Tues, 15 Wed, and 13 on Thurs. Add in all the loading and unloading and we were exhausted. I'm working on getting settled in and figuring out where all of my stuff is going to go and just recovering physically - my whole body hurts right now.

Oh, and I thought of MrsMB as we drove through Tuscaloosa! Boo!
  

[newgirl412]

Wow, that sounds like an adventurous move. Glad you found your cat and the move is all done.

[krystee]

The next DECADE better be super relaxing for you, after all you have been through!! I am so glad your cat was found in time and you are safely home!

[travelbug]

Wow, what stories! Glad the cat made an appearance before you guys left. I hope that you get to relax really soon!

[estrellita]

Wow, what an adventure! Glad you found the cat, poor thing!

[tiptoetulips]

Good heavens what an eventful adventure. I hope things settle and start going your way soon!

[bk1]

So glad you found your cat. How sneaky!

[awick14]

I'm so glad you found the cat. I am glad you are back home with family now. So many hugs.

[melsamoony]

Wow sounds like an adventure. Cats always make things more interesting ;-)

[MrsMB]

So sorry it was crazy!! Glad you found your kittt!!! I'm a little miffed you didn't look me up while driving through TN...but you have SO much going on that I totally understand

I hope you were touched by greatness when going through God's country.....i.e. Tuscaloosa HoneySpider

[HoneySpider]

MrsMB By the time I got to TN I was a disaster, you would not have wanted to see me then

[MrsMB]

Sept 29, 2014 8:41:17 GMT -5 HoneySpider said:

MrsMB By the time I got to TN I was a disaster, you would not have wanted to see me then

I think you're always awesome But I totally understand you had a heck of a trip in front of you!

[HoneySpider]

Sept 29, 2014 8:43:35 GMT -5 MrsMB said:

Sept 29, 2014 8:41:17 GMT -5 HoneySpider said:

MrsMB By the time I got to TN I was a disaster, you would not have wanted to see me then

I think you're always awesome But I totally understand you had a heck of a trip in front of you!

If I am correct in where you live, we were a few hours too far east anyway...no detouring for the weary!

[HoneySpider]

Sept 29, 2014 9:11:14 GMT -5 jjwritergirl said:

Sept 28, 2014 17:20:00 GMT -5 krystee said:

The next DECADE better be super relaxing for you, after all you have been through!! I am so glad your cat was found in time and you are safely home!

This! Get some sleep now

I slept 11.5 hours Saturday night! I can't remember the last time I slept that much.

[katiek]

Sounds miserable, but I'm glad you're there! And I'm so glad you found your kitty!