Moving

I know it's been a few days since I moved, but I just kept putting this off, lol. Anyways, here it finally is!

So, on Thursday, my dad and I got up around 7am. Did some last minute packing. At 8am, I had someone come to buy a dresser I had for sale. Once that was gone, my dad and I finally put all my stuff in his car. It like just fit. I was in the front seat incredibly squished. I had two bags and a box on the floor by my feet, my laptop bag squished up against the window, my purse on my left, and a 20" computer monitor on my lap. I could not move for the hour it took to get to the border.

Picture of all my stuff right before it was all packed away in the car.

We arrived at the Champlain border around 10:15am and was out around 11am. To read what happened at POE, you can read my review in the previous post. My dad and I then headed to Burlington, Vermont where I was renting a car. We got there around 12:30. Took maybe 30 minutes at National and then I finally had the keys in my hand. My dad then drove up the parking complex and met me and my rental. We transferred all of my stuff from his car to my 2011 Chevrolet HHR. Again, my stuff just barely fit. Phew. Here's two pictures of the car I had:

Front view of the car at the parking complex at Burlington.

Side view at some service area when I stopped at some point.

Anyways, I think it was 1:30pm by the time I finally left. Said goodbye to my dad and headed out. The drive itself wasn't very exciting. Getting through Vermont took awhile. The road I was on didn't have a high speed limit. I eventually got to New York around 4, maybe. I was on the 87 for just a bit before I had to get off at Saratoga Springs. I had been trying to find a Pizza Hut so I could eat lunch, and I finally found one at the exit. So, at 4:45, I finally had lunch. It was really late, but oh well. After eating, I finally headed out again. 

The rest of the day wasn't very exciting. Just driving and stopping every few hours to use a bathroom, stretch my legs, and wake myself up a bit. Stopped at a service area near Rochester for supper around 8. I probably should have waited as I wasn't really hungry and most of my food ended going in the garbage. Finally, I was through New York; it felt like forever. Pennsylvania was short and didn't last long. Then I reached Ohio. I think around the PA/OH border, Ben called me and we talked the rest of the trip. I had planned on stopping at a hotel in Elyria, Ohio which is right outside of Cleveland. Ben kept me awake as by the time I got to the hotel, it was like around 2am and I was exhausted. I had found a coupon online for this hotel for $47, so it was nice and cheap :) Even though I was exhausted, I had a lot of trouble falling asleep.

Morning soon came. I had set my alarm for 8:15am. I didn't want to get up and all I wanted to do was sleep, but I knew that wasn't an option. So I eventually got up, showered (with no pressure whatsoever, let me tell you), and quickly checked my email. I checked out and was back on the road around 9:30am. 

Got through Ohio an hour or two later. Stopped for lunch somewhere in Indiana. And then hit Illinois. This was the part I wasn't looking forward to as I was going through the outskirts of Chicago and I had to get on and off like 4 interstates. There was traffic, lots of it, although not as bad as Montreal traffic. At one point, I thought I had taken the wrong exit, but 30 minutes later or so, I breathed a sigh of relief as I was going the right way. After I passed Chicago around 4pm, it began to rain. And not light, it was a downpour. It got so bad at one point that I could only see a few feet in front of me. This downpour probably continued for an hour or two. Then it finally started to lighten up a bit.

Finally hit Wisconsin. Stopped somewhere to fill up on gas and had supper at a Subway in the same building. At this point, I realised that I wouldn't be able to stop anymore if I wanted to make it to Sioux Falls before 11:30pm when National closed. So, I got back to driving and started to push it. But then, traffic like I've never seen (not even in Montreal) hit me. It took about an hour to get through 5 miles. An hour completely wasted. At this point, I started to get a little worried that I wouldn't make it. As soon as the traffic ended, I zoomed along. Within an hour, I hit Minnesota, the last state before South Dakota! I think Minnesota was my favourite state to drive through as the speed limit was 70, the highest out of all the states I had driven through.

As time ticked by, I slowly started to realise that I would never make it to Sioux Falls before National closed. I would have had to go like 200mph to make it, which is ridiculous, lol. So, at this point, I slowed down and just took my time as I knew I would only be able to return the car the next morning. Ben was going to come meet me in Sioux Falls, so when we realised I wouldn't make it, he booked a hotel near the airport and where I had to drop the car off. I got to the hotel around 1:30am and Ben arrived about 20 minutes later. It was finally nice to be back with my husband for good :)

I slept like a baby. It was my first good night sleep in like 3 days. Before heading to National, we switched all my boxes to the truck he borrowed from his boss. Ben then put a tarp over my boxes and tied it down with cords. After filling the car up with a full tank of gas, we headed to National and I dropped off the keys. Then Ben and I were on our way back to the apartment! We had to stop a few times as the tarp was coming off. I finally suggested putting my suitcase on top of the tarp, and that finally fixed it. We arrived in town around 1pm and unloaded the truck. I had seen a video Ben took of the apartment, but when I saw it in person, it looked sooooo much bigger. So much space! I love it!

And so that was a summary of my trip! I apologize for it being so long, but it was a span of 3 days.

Now I'm just waiting on my green card and, more importantly, my SSN!

~Lindsay