Notes on the Move from The Nati to Alexan-drizzle

So as my first post, I figured I should let you all know how the heck we really got here in the first place. Below are some of my musings on the move out, and the first couple of days.

Notes from Move to Alexandria, VA

Rained the entire 3+ hours it took me to pack both of the vehicles. Only to find out that we had about four suitcases too many that could physically fit into both cars. Sooo...sent Holly out to Wal-Mart at 11:30 in the pouring rain to find a solution (see next point below).

· Spending $60 on a water proof luggage rack is annoying, especially when it refuses to rain, the entire trip.

· The top speed of a fully loaded Land Rover is inversely proportionate to the distance between it and the front bumper of an 18-wheeler going up a steep hill.

· Pab lo can sleep in the car in at least 5 states…and can manage to whine just about all the way through 3 of them.

· We left Cincinnati at 6:47 AM and arrived in Alexandria at 4:50 PM

· Lunch was provided by our fantastic ex-neighbors whom we miss a ton already. Holly REEEAALLLY liked it.

· Somewhere in central Maryland, I hit something that left a 7 3/8 inch impact smear on the windshield. I think I hit a bat.

· Around 9:50 AM I hit a sparrow crossing I-71N. Felt badly about it, but it was the third bird I’d hit in as many days. Like who the hell hits birds with the car? EVER. Is that a bad omen?

· See if you can guess which of the three vehicles displayed the following bumper sticker: “A bad day at the Dog Show is better than the best day at the office.” Was it: A) Subaru Forrester, B) Audi Station wagon, or C) Beat down, rust colored full-sized conversion van…from ARKANSAS? If you answered anything but C, please hit yourself with a brick.

· What is up with grandparents on motorcycles? Seriously, we saw no fewer than 6 separate packs of them…all with their custom gold accented motorcycles towing some sort of small trailer on the back, the riders (man in the front driving, woman riding in back smiling at cars) all had those big headset things on so they could talk to one another. I thought one of the reasons people got motorcycles was to NOT have to talk to people on long distance trips. Old people on motorcycles. Who knew?

· Coke Zero. WHO KNEW? (speaking of who knew?)

It It cost $5.49 for a 12 pack of Diet Coke here in Alexandria. At the supermarket.

· Total cost for gas for the trip: Land Rover $149.51 (missed it by THAT much). For the Audi: $123.

· It can take a grown man, who has done it before, over 10 minutes to put together a two-screen DVD player for the car—which on ly required plugging in two cords. Made especially annoying by the fact I had to pee like a race horse at the time.

· Packed my belts in boxes the movers took on Friday…remembered that on Sunday morning before going to church. Grrrreeeaat.

· Found a great little Chinese food place that is better than First Wok but not as good as China Gourmet--$60 for four people, but we did have enough left overs for lunch the next day so it all evens out.

· What is more fun than moving your whole family to Alexandria?! MOVING WITH PINK EYE! Yup, I said it. PINK EYE.

NOTES FROM DAY 2: Sunday, July 29

· Discovered that we have nothing for heating up Chinese food from night before for lunch today. Shocker. Didn’t even think about things like that when we packed everything up…again, shocker.

· Have gone to “Giant” food store, which could fit inside the meat department of the Anderson Township Kroger. It is the largest food store in the immediate area, so we’ll make do. We keep on thinking that there is a better place, but we haven’t found it yet. Yes, we are food snobs. Have you SEEN ME lately. Sheesh.

· Went to church today at Christ Church in Alexandria, the home parish of people like Robert E. Lee and George Washington…managed not to color on the kneelers. There was a baptism. One of the kids was named Beck. All I could think about when they said his name was “two turntables and a microphone”. Oh well. Poor kid. I hope his hair is permanently a mess like his namesake.

· Kate and Ramsey—saw something as we parked the car outside the church that made us miss you guys so much….but was funny as hell:

· Pablo has gone damned near 72 hours without peeing on carpeting. I’m so proud.

· Oh yeah, went to church today sans belt. It is the type of place where people would notice that you didn’t have the proper blazer buttons. Spotted a dude with the name tag “Pepper” and a guy with a pink sear sucker suit with a bright pink striped tie. I can’t make this shit up. I think it was Chris Fait’s “grandpa” or something.

· What, in an emergency drinking situation, will open a wine bottle if you have no opener? How ‘bout a 4” long lag screw and some pliers. Yup. 60% of the time it works every time.

· Speaking of other things we forgot…on our second trip to Giant we remembered that we didn’t have anything for dinner, or a way to heat up the leftovers for lunch from the Chinese place. After returning home I thought of about 4 other things we should have bought. They are going to get to know us in a hurry there.

· Oh yeah…speaking of the Giant. Pulled up on trip number one and in the parking space in front of us was a black Toyota Camry with a Cincinnati Bengals license plate holder. There was also a gay equality sign on the back bumper. Who knew that Fait had cousins out in D.C.?

· We are all getting used to sitting on the floor with no furniture. So far no one has spilled anything, even me with a plastic red cup full of red wine. Tempting fate? You betcha.

· OK, so I can now say I’ve driven in another major city. Turns out we are no more than 7 minutes from the National Monument. That would be an obelisk for those of you scoring at Robert Half. So I got a bit confused a couple of times and we kept on passing the Lincoln Memorial—like 6 times. Reference “look kids! Big Ben, Parliament…!” Yeah, it was JUST like that.

· Washington D.C. is laid out very logically, there are cross streets—ALLEGEDLY—that are in alphabetical order, criss-crossed by streets that are either numbers or States. There is a system there apparently but my Indiana University education did not prepare me for that. We got lost. A lot.

· People at our local Blockbuster are very into strange hairstyles. I want to get a picture with the store manager, Debbie, who took a liking to us. She has the best Female Wrestler (circa 1987) She-Mullet I have ever seen. Her lovely assistant, Mary, has next to no hair—buzzcut. Bergmann, you’d dig her except she isn’t in her 60’s.

· Holly was very proud of herself—she was able to get to the store and back all without getting lost. Now mind you she’s been in the car the previous four times we’ve gone…and it is only .25 miles away—you can practically SEE IT from our apartment. Right, a subtle swerve and right into the shopping center. I am ordering her a medal once we get our Internet hooked up tomorrow.