Dan and I had pretty much packed up everything that was packable during the previous week. Our entire house (with the exception of our couch, television, beds and computer) was in our garage. That made thing a LOT easier for us. Really all we had to do was get the big items in, and then the boxes. We were finished in record time. A little over 2 hours later, we're on our way to pick up our oldest daughter from school.
By 12:30 we were officially on the road. Now moving north, at the beginning of March, can be very nerve wracking. Especially when you have to cross mountain passes that contain snow, when you're not comfortable or familiar with driving in the snow. Dan and I had been watching the weather for the hills that we had to cross .. and everything looked good. Well .. at least for the period in time when we would be crossing. If we stayed on schedule, we'd miss all the bad stuff. Our plan was this. Leave Ceres, by noon if possible, and drive to Redding. Spend the night in Redding, and drive the rest of the way to Eugene Oregon the following day.
We got about 10 miles up the road (to the Pelandale exit on Hwy 99 to be exact) before I had to stop to get my daughter something to eat, because she was STARRRRRRRRRRRRRRVING (her words). I beeped my husband, told him I was stopping (remember he's driving the truck) and he decided to keep going. So we were stopped for probably a total of 10 minutes, and we get back onto the freeway. We're off ... for the second time. Pretty smooth sailing. We made it all the past Sacramento before we had to pull over for a potty break. Which if you know my daughter, you know that's an amazing accomplishment.
Back on the road we go. Mikaila decided that she wants to ride in the truck with daddy. So I told her that the next time we stopped, we'd see what he said. We stopped about 45 miles south of Redding, to get a soda (Dan decided to stop with us) and decided that Mikaila would ride in the truck with Mommy. Yes .. you read that right. I, all 5ft 3in of me, decided that I wanted to drive the 26ft moving truck. We only had 45 miles to our destination .. what could go wrong ... right?!
Well .. just about everything. Dan took off in the car .. apparently not having to 55mph was good for him ... he was WAY ahead of me, and the truck started to FREAK out. It felt like it lost power, and the RPM's were going all wonky, and it sounded like the engine died. Then all of a sudden .. it would roar back to life. I tell you what .. that was THE longest 45 miles of my entire life.
We FINALLY make it to Redding, and to our hotel .. Dan gets us all checked in, and I get the truck parked all nice and snug in the back of the hotel. I tell Dan that we're going to need to call the 800 emergency assistance number for Penske, cause there is DEFINITELY something wrong with that truck.
Then all the "omg we're going to need a new truck, and we'll have to unload everything by ourselves" worries start coming into my head. Not to mention .. we haven't even BEGUN to go over any mountains yet .. "how is this truck going to make it over those hills" started going through my head too. Which made the 30 minutes it took for the penske service people to get there .. see like forever.
So the guy plugs our truck into his little computer .. and BLAM-O. It looked like Christmas .. red error messages EVERYWHERE. Greaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaat. Just what we need. They're outside for what seemed like an eternity .. and Dan comes back into the room to tell me that the guy wants him to drive down the freeway for a minute to see if the problem is still there. Again .. it felt like an eternity before he got back. Problem was fixed (THANK YOU GOD!!!) and all was well. Well .. until the next morning that is ...
To be continued ...
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