1,356 mi – about 20 hours 36 mins

Well, we finally made it to North Carolina. This has been in the making of a little over 3 years and for it to actual happen is shocking to most of us. 

We left the house Wednesday September 24th and arrived in Cary, NC Friday September 26th.

We went by Penske to pick up our moving truck Tuesday evening and to our surprise the guy there told us that we could tow our car (we were told over and over and over again that there was NO WAY we could tow my car because of its weight). So the plan was that Rob would drive the truck with Ollie in tow and I would drive the car with Sugar in tow. We were super excited about being able to ride together and possibly covering more driving time because we would be sharing the drive. 

Day 1

We woke up early Wednesday morning to get things ready for the movers we had hired. They were supposed to be at our house at 8:00AM. Well 8:00 came and went and now it was 8:30, by this time I tried reaching the company about 4 times. Finally around 8:50 the guy answered the phone and told me that he dropped the ball and told the movers to be at our house at 9:00AM. Well by this point our blood was boiling and there was no way we were going to give them a single dime (by the way they are called Keep Austin Moving). Rob had already made a few calls and arranged for 2 guys off craigslist to come and help us load the truck. Time was flying by and Rob and I decided to move some stuff down on our own (grrr) but the guys arrived around 9:30 and were SUPER.

They did a great job and they moved fast (we sort of ran out of room in the moving truck), but they were still able to make things work for the most part (ended up putting a few large items in the back of the car). Around noon we met up with Mike and Anj for lunch and to say goodbye. After grabbing some Chipotle and Fire Bowl we headed out to Penske to get our car in tow. They were able to hook things right up and around 2:30 we were on our journey. We spent our first night in Monroe, Louisiana at a La Quinta and according to Rob’s review the bed was one of the worst he has ever slept on (I was soooo tired that I just crashed big time). We were in bed by midnight I think. 

Day 2

Woke up around 8:00AM and hit the road once again. Our goal was to make it to Charlotte, NC but we kind of started throwing around the idea that we might actually be able to make it Cary, NC. Around 11PM or was it Midnight? we decided that Cary was not going to happen.

I guess I should mention at this point that Rob did all the driving. The truck was WAY too big and WAY too long for me to drive. It barely fit in the lane of the highway and I think Rob felt afraid for his and the kids lives. So anyway, we ended stopping at Kannapolis, NC and spent the night at an Econo Lodge (we looked at other options and almost even got stuck in a Burger King parking lot), but trying to find a hotel that allowed pets seemed like it was impossible, and Rob said the would rather sleep in the car then to stay at another La Quinta. So we checked in to a very shady looking Hotel and settled in for the night. I think everyone got some good sleep that night, because it was hard waking up in the morning.

Day 3

Woke up around 8:00AM and hit the road around 9:00AM. Made our stop at a Starbucks and filled up the truck once again ($150 a pop). We only had about 3.5 hours of driving left and we made it to Cary, NC in once piece and the car still in tow. We have been teriffied of what our apartments were going to look like, because we ended up signing a blind 12 month lease. But to our surprise we LOVE our new home. It is a 3 bedroom, 2 bath with a huge deck that looks on to lots of tall trees and a pond.

Here are a few teasers; I will take more once we get everything unpacked!

View from our Backyard

Our Kitchen

Our Living Room

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