Chinese Buffet: All You Kan Eat

You know that dazed feeling you get when you've been staring at the computer screen too long? (That's probably how you'll feel after reading this lengthy update on our trip) Well, I felt this way for over 1,000 miles. I just stared at the Penske moving truck in front of me. I'm still seeing yellow.


In all seriousness though, Andy and I feel very blessed to have had a safe, enjoyable trip! We had a lot of fun along the way, both individually and together.

We began the trip with a quick stop at Andy’s parents to say good-bye (a mere 30 seconds from where we had rented the truck), only to delay our trip with a service call to Penske, asking for them to change one of the blinker lights that was out. This produced many laughs as well as the opportunity to squeeze in a few more nertz games (might I add, at 8:30 in the morning…I don’t think I will ever do that again). We had a blast though, and were thankful for the extra time laughing and being together.

We did get off, and everything was hunky dory from then on. Andy was able to blare his Christian rap music to keep him awake, while I listened to audio books (a P. G. Wodehouse “Thank you, Jeeves,” and Harper Lee’s “To Kill a Mockingbird”). In the evenings we relaxed, enjoyed having tv for a few days, and slept a lot!

Since I didn’t have the GPS in the car with me, I gauged the progress of our trip according to the dead animals on the side of the road. I knew the end was in sight when we passed that line from dead deer to dead armadillos. I contemplated for a while and eventually decided that dead deer have the capability of bringing a certain compassion in their stately fallenness. Gutted Armadillos produce nothing but loss of appetite.

It was these thoughts and many more that guided us toward the great state. As we neared the second night’s stay, something in the back of my mind was telling me that somebody important had lived here. Sure enough, Eudora Welty, one of the great southern writers, had spent most of her writing career in this town (Andy got a good laugh at this…he had never even heard of her…still, I thought she was great). So…Andy and I took the 9:00 am tour of her house the next day before continuing our trip (see above pictures). The tour was…amusing, to say the least. Welty was a great writer, but the tour guides seemed to know only about her furniture. So we learned about that. My favorite piece in the house was the window unit AC. The lady said, “We decided to leave this in the house, because hardly anybody knows what these are anymore.” I got a good laugh. That’s what my family still uses in every room of the house. And I think I did see them at Wal-Mart last time I was there…Nevertheless, the tour was fun and somewhat educational, with promises of buying some of Welty’s books on Amazon for a far better deal than those in the gift shop.

Andy and I finally arrived and had the intense pleasure of unpacking the faithful Penske in 90 degree weather. A few guys from Andy’s floor came over to help. We were done in a only a few minutes and made plans to take them out to eat at the infamous Bodacious Barbeque across the street. Andy and I were all excited about showering off, but were dismayed to find that we had no shower curtain rod. We talked about taking turns holding the shower curtain up ourselves…but decided that we could sweat for a few more hours until we got to Wal-Mart. We did go later that night and bought all kinds of random things, number one on our list being the shower rod.

We took a few days to unpack. The whole process was quite tedious, but fun, since this was our first home in which we could decorate and use all our new things. Having a whole kitchen with cabinet space is just grand.

We were tired of the whole unpacking thing one night, and Andy decided to take a quick nap. I chose to finally let myself open all my book boxes and decorate the living room. Andy was so sweet, because when he woke up, he came into the living room and said, “Oh, it feels like home. Our home.” That, to me, was the best part of the whole trip.

So here we are, settled in, enjoying 84 degrees in our apartment. The AC comically broke. I say comically because they brought in this huge freestanding unit to cool us off until they could fix ours. They plopped it right in the middle of the living room and said that would probably be the best place for it. Needless to say, we are delaying the beginning of our hospitality for a few days.

Andy has been busy already with school work and getting together with some of the guys on the floor. He is still performing his chaplain duties by trying to get to know some of the freshmen and making them feel welcome. I have had two interviews, have cleaned the house over and over again just for fun, had time to begin reading books I’ve wanted to read for a long while, and harassed Andy to do stuff with me every time he comes home in between classes. I will say that either I need to get a job soon, or Andy needs to not come home until all his schoolwork is done, because we start talking or playing games. Poor guy…I don’t think he minds though.

Thank you to all for your prayers and support! We are excited to be here, and will do our best to send updates and funny stories. We love all of you, and feel free to look through the pictures of our apartment.