Ashley over at Eights on the Move is hosting a newish link up for Military bloggers. The topic this week is on PCSing, or Permanent Change of (duty) Station. Most families move every 3-4 years. 
At the end of school he had orders for WA. Since we were not yet married, I was not on his orders. When we got married 10 months later we had to move me cross country ourselves. We had considered getting married before his orders were cut but due to promising my parents we wouldn’t, we didn’t. If we had they would have paid to move me.
After a lot of research we decided that the cheapest way to move me was for us to drive cross country pulling my stuff in a trailer. So the day after our wedding was spent finishing packing up my apartment and loading up the trailer. Mid-morning the next day we headed out. We took 90 cross country and we booked it to the western part of the country. We had a little time for sightseeing and had plans to stop at Mt. Rushmore, Crazy Horse & Yellowstone. We also spent one night with my brother in law in Montana. The Man also did ALL of the driving EVERYDAY because I wasn’t comfortable driving the Jeep pulling the trailer.
The trip was slightly crazy but fun. We had issues with the taillights working on the trailer, which we finally got working in Iowa. One night in South Dakota we got salads from Subway and ate them while we drove. The road was straight and had rolling hills. I ate my salad first and then while The Man ate I held the steering wheel (as long as there were no cars coming at us.) Then we took the scenic route into Yellowstone through the Big Horn Mountains. It was gorgeous but very hard on the brakes. We had to stop more than once because they kept smoking. Going up some of the mountains were nail biting as well. There were a few times I didn’t think we were going to make it!
To make the trip even more interesting we had my two cats with us. They didn’t love being in the car. We put them together in a soft sided dog carrier. Ig meowed the whole time, even on kitty Prozac and both kept clawing at the carrier. We spent two nights in Yellowstone (they slept in the tent in us) and while we were driving around the park we let them out of the carrier and let them roam around the car. They were much, much happier this way. So we continued to do it after we left. Ig would sit in my lap or up high so he could see where we were going. Al would do a lap of the car, get a scratch from me and then go back in the carrier to snooze. I did have to keep them from getting under The Man’s feet a few times but overall it wasn’t a problem. This worked for us and I know it wouldn’t work for everyone.
If we had to go back and do it again, this is how I would do it. I had been wanting to drive cross country and this fulfilled that wish! I’ve now driven cross country 3 times and am doing it again later this month. Even though it’s a long trip I enjoy it. I love seeing the different parts of the country. We are blessed to live is a beautiful country and I’m so thankful I get to drive & see it!
Linking up with:
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We have pcs'd twice and had so much fun doing it. One was a pretty short move so it made it easy.
ReplyDeleteThanks for linking up, PK! I loved seeing Little Big Horn - hope to see it completed some day!
ReplyDeleteWe had our cats in a soft-sided dog carrier as well, and would let them out while driving. The only problem we had was when our cat Missy tried to curl up on our newborn - emergency stop! I'm glad you had such a great move! :)
ReplyDeleteShorter distances are easier! I do really short moves well:)
ReplyDeleteWe might stop at Crazy Horse so I can see how much more had been done in four years. I'm thinking it might look the same though...
ReplyDeleteI bet the kitty liked the warmth of the baby! And the soft sided carrier was so much nicer for them:)
ReplyDeleteI know very little about military life. Particularly the frequent moves involved. Thanks for sharing and linking this up to Traffic Jam Weekend.
ReplyDeleteThank you for visiting and commenting:)
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