Marathon
So now that the moving truck was gone, and the house cleaned out, we figured we could just sit back and enjoy the drive down to California. After all, the hard work was done, right? Little did we know what lay in store for us…
We left Edmonton around 5pm on Friday and decided to stay overnight in Calgary, get a good rest and then split the remainder of the drive over the next couple of days. In total, it’s about 2800 km from Edmonton to Anaheim where we’d be staying before we headed to Temecula. So we figured that from Calgary, we could drive 13 hour days for the next 2 days and we’d be there. Unfortunately, no one told that to the people at border crossing…
When we got to the border, we waited in line about 45 minutes, and just before it was our turn, I think Christine’s exact words to me were, “I don’t think this should take more than 5 minutes, right?”
Mistake #1: Not doing our homework on importing a vehicle to the US
You’d think that a Canadian vehicle that was actually manufactured in the US wouldn’t have any issues. However, after waiting at the crossing for well over an hour, we were told that since there was no verification that the vehicle met US DoT regulations, we had to go through an additional process which involved us having to wait for an additional 2 HOURS in Coutts. If you’ve ever been to Coutts, you’ll agree that killing 2 hours with 3 small children, in a full out blizzard is no easy task. We figured this was a good time to give the boys free reign on their DS’s and iPhones. Also, I figured I might as well take the boys to get a bite to eat.
Mistake #2: Picking a bad time to try something new
I would say that between Christine and I, I’m definitely the more adventurous one. Enter Zestos, THE restaurant in Coutts. (Aside: You know a town is small when you go into the bathroom and there is a sign there telling you that this is the only public restroom in town open 6 days a week, so please keep it clean.) Since eating out for our family usually consists of pizza or anything with the letters “Mc” in it, I figured it’s time to start broadening their horizons. So after facing much resistance from Christine, I finally prevailed and took the kids in to get something to eat. To make a long story short, Dylan, Ty and I ended up eating and the food was decent (Jayke decided he didn’t like anything on the menu and went back to the car). Unfortunately, a ways after we left the border, Ty started complaining of stomach pain and we were really worried. This culminated with him throwing up into a rubbermaid container which was the only thing in the vehicle we could find. This happened, not once, or twice, but I think I lost track after the 5th time. The evidence seemed to point to Zestos which made me feel like a pretty big heel, and even worse, made it appear that I should have listened to Christine and not gone into that restaurant.
So moving on…we agreed that after losing over 4 hours at the border, we should just drive through the night and take turns sleeping so we could still reach our destination by Sunday night.
Mistake #3: Moving down in winter
Driving conditions were pretty bad and the fact that it was cold and snowing on the drive didn’t help. Road conditions were pretty bad through the mountains in Montana so that didn’t help. Also, I regularly checked the odometer and outside temp gauge, and at one point, we had travelled about 1500km south and the temperature was almost exactly the same as it was in Edmonton. So why were we doing this again?
Mistake #4: Being too ambitious
Things were actually going not too badly. We had driven through Saturday night and had gone through Montana, Idaho and were now most of the way through Utah. Unfortunately, that’s when Jayke’s stomach started hurting. In case you think that was a result of me taking him to eat at Zestos, let me remind you that he didn’t actually eat anything there. This was just probably car sickness. Before we could get to him with the rubbermaid now known as the “barf bin”, he threw up in the car. Now imagine us being stopped at a gas station, me trying to clear barf off the seats with paper towel from the gas station bathroom (you know, the kind of paper towel that doesn’t actually absorb any liquid), Christine undressing Jayke outside where the winds were gusting up to what felt like 90 km/h, it’s still below zero degrees, and we’re hoping the dog (Charley) doesn’t jump out and make a run for it. This wasn’t exactly how I pictured it going when I signed up for this.
Enough of the sob story though. In the end, we did make it to Anaheim, and there were some other memorable moments on this trip:
- Driving through the mountain range in Montana was absolutely breathtaking even in the middle of the night. With the full moon, we could see enough to be in awe of God’s creation. Christine actually said that was where she would want to live if it wasn’t for the weather. Guess you can’t win ‘em all.
- The mountains in Arizona/Nevada were also amazing.
- The boys got fingerprinted and had their mug shots taken at the border (the guard was humoring them, but made it memorable nonetheless)
- Stopping for supper in Barstow, we got to eat in perhaps the only train station in the world to be converted to a McDonalds. A real treat for Ty who loves anything that rides on rails.
- Driving 26 hours straight stopping only for food, bathroom breaks and gas is something we won’t forget, and hopefully never repeat again.
- Finding out that California is home to the town with the strangest name possibly in North America – Zzyzx (go ahead and Google map it if you don’t believe me)
Here are a few pics of the trip.
Goodbye
Leaving Edmonton today was very sad. I spent part of the afternoon at the boys school and saw just how much they were loved by their classmates and teachers. I know how much they will miss their friends and we are so thankful to have been part of such a wonderful school community.
After school was over, we went home for the last time to pick up a couple things and Charley (our little dog). As we were standing by the front door getting ready to go, Ty leaned on the railing and said “I’m hugging the house.” We took a picture outside and started to get in the Sequoia. Dylan went over to the side of the house, took off his glove, bent down and made a handprint in the snow. It was so touching. He got in the truck and was acting really grumpy so I got out and went to his door. I told him it was ok to be sad and as tears began to fill his eyes, the ones in mine spilled over.
As we began our journey, there were more tears as Phil and I talked about our life in Edmonton and the unknown ahead. Not helping was every time Ty asked on the drive to Calgary, “How much is it going to be ‘til we get home?” as this would bring a fresh batch of tears.
Our Jayke, who is our most “even” child is sad about not seeing his friends but he was just happy that we were all together as a family.
We are leaving behind some of the most amazing people who have impacted our lives and we are forever changed because of them. We hope it’s not really goodbye, just ‘til we meet again.
Why?
Since this is the question I get asked the most about our move, I thought I’d start off with this. It started on a beautiful summer day in August, 2009. Discomfort. No, it wasn’t because of the temperature outside and I don’t remember if I woke up feeling that way or what part of the day it started, but that’s what I was feeling.
I’ve come to realize more and more how short our life on this earth is, and I wondered if the life we were living was the life God really wanted us to live. Or was it just the status quo because that’s what was comfortable. God has given us this one life to live - shouldn’t we live it to the fullest? Should our life be an adventure? Just because life is short, I don’t think that gives us license to be reckless, but since life is short, shouldn’t we LIVE it?
So Phil and I began to discuss what kind of life we wanted for us and our children. We talked about things we always wanted to do and about the dreams that our children have shared with us. Some of those dreams had a better chance of being realized if we lived in the USA so we began to talk about moving. Now, like most Edmontonians, every January or February we always talk about moving somewhere warmer, but this time was different. It wasn’t to escape the cold, but to start an adventure – a new country, new experiences, new people. We researched for months, different states, cities, prayed for guidance and always kept coming back to California. It seemed to have everything we were looking for in terms of climate, things to do, good schools and opportunities for the kids to pursue their dreams. So we narrowed our search more and found the city of Temecula. (I always tell Phil I kind of wish we had picked somewhere like San Diego because almost no one has ever heard of Temecula.)
So once we decided where we wanted to go, we had to figure out if we could go. God opened the door for Phil to work for his company from California and on August 30,2010 we received the news that we had been approved for a 2 year VISA. It took over a year from our first conversation for the door to be opened and now we are only a few days away from beginning this new chapter in our lives.
As we start on this new adventure, we want to encourage you to live the life God gave you. It might not mean moving to a new country, that’s our journey. But maybe there’s something you’ve always wanted to do and never thought you could.
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