touchdown-email to loved ones

this is the email i sent out announcing our arrival in Denver. It's long in some ways and short in others. I find it terribly difficult to sum up exactly what the whole process of leaving Home was. Let's just say that when i looked at the map of the United States, I couldn't look at the ocean part cos it made me cry.

Hey All,

We made it. There were times when we weren’t entirely convinced that we would. I would say that the deciding factor in our success was Neil’s ability to drive for ungodly lengths of time.

First off: you may think that you can fit a lot of things into a 12 person cargo van. Well, you can…fit THINGS. When a lot of your things have heartbeats, the packing becomes much more complicated. Neil got all tetris-y and utilized a lot of packing tape for stability and we somehow all fit. See pictures.

It was a beautiful trip. We saw some very clever graffiti along the salt flats. People gather dark colored rocks to spell out words along the highway in the white salt. It’s very “green”. There is a woman named Angela somewhere in Utah that has a lot of support from her rock wielding friends. “Go Angela!” One less than beautiful moment occurred as we entered Utah. Basically, we were almost blown off the road by what the signs call “strong wind”. This strong wind also almost took out a family in a U-Haul truck. I think “strong” was something of an understatement. Oh, and the signs were not in the proper area. I feel you should be informed of the hazard before said hazard almost pushes you down the embankment, but that is just me. It was actually quite scary and I might avoid that speck of I-80 at all costs for the rest of my life.

In all, it was 24 hours of driving due to the many doggy outings that were required. We slept 3 hours somewhere in the middle of all that time, luxuriously lounging in the van, in the cold.

Our place is a dump with a great yard, in a wonderful location. 6 blocks from the lake and 10 blocks from where the young moms push their strollers and drink coffee and buy organic cotton onesies. If you plan to visit, please do after we buy a house, or plan on staying in one of Denver’s many affordable hotels.

I saw some clouds that we don’t have in California. Neil grew up with them in Illinios and he missed them. Yesterday was the hottest day of the year so far. Today it will be in the high 70’s with thunder showers, which means more of the awesome clouds.

We’re off to go hang out with the moms and their onesies. We’ll keep you posted of any adventures worth noting. Please keep in touch.

Love to all of you.

Rebecca and neil