1 week til "The Move"

[LindaL]

It has been months in planning and now it is crunch time! ONE WEEK until we start our drive across country on our way to our new home in Florida!!! Things have "so far" (knock on wood for our good fortune and that things will continue to go well!) fallen into place and except for last minute packing we are about ready!

We found our place on a visit back in early June. It was a total fluke that we got it and from there it's been a crazy whirlwind! We decided to get a little bit bigger horse trailer so we could fit ALL the horse stuff in it. Found one and bought it before we sold the other one, which caused stress since we had used our moving money to do it!!

Finally did get it sold after we put it in front of a local tack store!

We decided to sell our cart, since we wanted to get a different one anyway and it would take up a lot of room in the trailer...that was pretty easy to sell thankfully! I wanted to wait to sell my car, because we needed 2 vehicles, but by the time I put it up for sale, we started to stress that it wouldn't sell by the time we left and that would put us in a HUGE bind about what to do!

We finally sold it yesterday!!

That lifted a HUGE weight off our shoulders! PHEW! (Trust me, there has been A LOT of frustration attached to the sales of these things with people not doing what they say they would...

)

We also gave away or sold a lot of other stuff in the last few months and now we are down to just the stuff we plan on taking with us and to finish up packing.

My last day of work was this past Friday and Deb's will be this coming Thursday.

We hired a moving truck to load/haul/unload our stuff for us (we found a really reasonable company!) and we will be driving our truck with the trailer...loaded with 3 dogs, 3 horses, all our stuff for the trip and all the horse stuff!

We leave at about 3 AM

on September 5th!!!

We are caravaning to Tulsa (our 10 day "vacation" at AMHR Nationals) with our mare's trainer Syndi kanzler and her crew, so we will feel more confident in our trip.

On Sept. 17th, we will head out from Tulsa and be in Florida on the 18th!!!

I am excited, scared, nervous, anxious, sad (to be leaving my friends and family

) and over the moon happy all in one.....

I need a drink!! LOL!

It's a good thing Deb and I are solid in our relationship, because there has been a lot of :arg!

along the way....lol....but in the end we always...

Will keep you up to date on our travels...and will see a lot of you at Nationals as well!

 

[Shortpig]

Good luck to both of you in your travels and new home. I am very glad to hear that everything is falling into place for your move. I'm sure you will both make some wonderful memories along the way.

 

[Barbie]

Have a safe trip to Nationals and on to Florida - see ya when you get here. Hope you kick some butt at Nationals too!!!

Barbie

 

[Marty]

I'm so happy for you and glad its going great.

Just remember to keep your coggins and health papers where you can get to them easy. You will be stopped when entering Florida.

 

[Mominis]

Best of luck to you! What a great opportunity!

 

[hobbyhorse23]

We'll sure miss you around here Linda (and Deb, of course!) but I'm excited for you and it sounds like things are falling into place. I've found that's usually a sign of something meant to be so I'll keep my fingers crossed and expect to hear about all your wonderful new adventures. Take care!

Leia

 

[Frankie]

Just be careful, and patient!!! I only went from IN to TN,,,but did it with 10 horses and 4 dogs! All in all, it was not perfect, but was not a disaster either. The hardest part of the move, was the wreck that has us stuck on the interstate for over 3 hours, and 4 dogs in the truck with me, and it was just me. Plenty of food, snacks, toys and leashes is what got us through. Plus the traffic was actually stopped the entire time, so bathroom breaks were rather easy.

Have fun, enjoy all along the way, and when one dog is throwing up in the front seat and another peeing in a seat in the back,,,just laugh,,,most states along the way have a car wash!!

 

[LindaL]

Thanks you guys!! I am still kinda shellshocked that it is almost here!! I "thought" I had time, but now it feels like "not enough time"...LOL! I packed a few more boxes this morning and now I am taking a break....LOL (shhh....Deb is out mowing the lawn...lol) I will get back to work in a few...I need to, since I need to call the moving company tomorrow with a finalized inventory.

Will be spending the week seeing my friends and family one last time before the move, packing the truck and trailer and buying last minute stuff to bring with us.

 

[LindaL]

Have fun, enjoy all along the way, and when one dog is throwing up in the front seat and another peeing in a seat in the back,,,just laugh,,,most states along the way have a car wash!!

LOL! Good to know!

 

[Barbie]

Yes don't forget - once you enter Florida, you have to go through the Ag inspection station - they'll come after you if you don't.

Travel safe!

Barbie

 

[Deb O.]

Thanks everyone for your well wishes and words of wisdom are duly noted and appreciated. As Linda said it seemed like we had plenty of time to get everything done. And then before we knew it, here we are in the last week and still so much yet to be done. But it's not that much really just seems like it. And as you said Leia, I believe the way everything is working out so far means this is what we're meant to do and that hopefully the rest will fall into place easily as well. Looking forward to this journey and I know my dear wife will keep you all appraised of the events as they unfold.

 

[twister]

I hope the move goes well and see you at Nationals)

Yvonne

 

[REO]

It was all meant to be!

Wish I still had your cell # so I could give you a shout if we get up to Tulsa for a day like last year! Would love to see you and Deb again before you move!

 

[LindaL]

So, we only "thought" we were almost ready to go....

In the past few months I have asked my 23 yr old daughter Taylor if we could take her gelding with us to Florida and she has said No. He has been on a "care lease" for the past 5 years as a companion horse for another Mini. While these people have took care of him, except for a few times, he has not done anything but "stand around". Also, Taylor is kind of shy, so felt weird going there to see her own horse (even tho they said she could come by anytime to see him), so she rarely has seen him in all that time, which makes me sad. This all originally came about when we were dispersing and she refused to sell her horse, so we found a "temporary" home for him.

OK ,so....yesterday Taylor and I were driving down to our state fair to watch the horse show and she says "Can Starfire still come with you to Florida?"

(KIDS!)

I was not about to say NO (as I really felt he needed to be back with us again), so...last night we went to get supplies to make a new stall divider in the back for the trailer, today or tomorrow he is having his Coggins/health papers done and we need to get him hauled to our barn and then make the divider...sometime by Saturday!!

:wacko

We (Deb and I) are paying for all this of course as she is a "poor College student".

I hope there is an open stall near ours at Nationals, too...

Edited to say: Taylor will continue living here in Oregon...just her horse is going! lol

 

[~Lisa~]

Hey let me know if you guys are passing thru here I know Syndi usually does... can meet you as you all fuel up just to say Hi and good luck! Or if anyone in the group needs to off load for a bit or you need hay ect.. just let me know. I am less then a mile off the highway

 

[LindaL]

Lisa...I'm sure we will. Not sure where she fuels up, but I'll see if we can stop near you for a break. Would be great to finally put a face to your name, since we've "known" each other for a long time...lol

We will be stopping in Ogden, Utah for the night.

 

[Valerie]

Oh my goodness, Linda....I bet this week is just flying by for you and your family.

That is great that you are going to get to take your daughters gelding "home" with you as well, I am sure she has missed him greatly......

Good luck in your endeavors and have a safe trip....sounds like it's going to be quite the trip, horses, dogs and ?.... and you get to go to Nationals to boot.....icing on the cake!!

Safe travels to you and Deb. I am so jealous, I would love the weather in Florida.....

 

[Crabby-Chicken]

Have a great time guys!!! Glad you found each other and are making your dream work! There are a lot of people that are too scared to do that. So when you are on your travels, take a minute and enjoy. You made it happen to do enjoy it!!!!

 

[Mulligans Run]

I tried to email, but it wouldn't let me, so will post here.

I have an extra stall if you still need one. Just let me know.

I hope your travels are safe and I hope to meet you at Nationals.

 

[LindaL]

Now that I turned the calendar to September...it seems more REAL!!

My nerves are shot to H*E*L *L LOL!

Thanks everyone! I am excited, too...and hope we can enjoy at least a few moments on the trip...will depend on how fast Syndi and crew want to go...since we are tagging along with them!