It began on a Friday with 10 hours of frenzied packing and cleaning in Vernal.
I had the aid of a few angels.... seriously. That's how you can tell the true character of your friends... will they still be with ya on the very last day? Ivy was! (a 7-month preg Ivy!) And a lady in my ward that I barely knew... she just heard we were packing and cleaning and came over, mop in hand. With her sweet little helpers. For like 5 hours. Amazing. I hope these ladies are showered with blessings every day for the rest of their lives.
And of course brother Mark saved the day by bringing the horse trailer over to use as our moving van. He is an optometrist, handyman, and professional mover all in one. An entire day sacrificed helping his brother - on his TEN year anniversary! What a birthday present (yep - Brian's bday too).
We drove from Vernal to Spanish Fork (3 hrs) on Friday evening, then left Saturday morning to Cedar. Brian and I had to drive separately - he took the massive moving trailer, I took our personal car. He arrived at 1pm, and I arrived at 6pm. But I only left an hour after him. So how did this separation occur? It's called Chelsea-is-an-idiot. I took Highway 6 instead of I-15. Highway 6 is the way we always went to Vernal from SF. I just got in the car (loaded with the babe and 300 pounds of our belongings) and started mindlessly driving. I didn't even realize I was going the wrong way til I saw a sign for Moab in 87 miles. Like I said - idiot. And it didn't help that my drive was slowed down by traffic.... traffic that said MOOOOO . That's Emery County for ya.
AND I was very delayed by our encounter with a MOOSE - actually, not our direct encounter, fortunately... or I probably wouldn't be writing this right now... the large semi ahead of us smashed into a moose standing in the middle of I-70, sending it flying in the air and off to the side. I hit my brakes (going 80 - that's the speed limit!) and pulled over to view the horrifying sight of a moose with the bottom half of it's body dangling by bloody threads. Gruesome. I only took pictures to prove my story - and so someone could confirm that this is a moose, not an elk. That's how much I know about wildlife. Roadkill now, I guess. I yelled at the driver of the semi that he needed to get a gun and put the moose out of it's misery. He said he didn't have one, and we didn't have cell reception for another 20 miles. Poor moose. Thankfully, Brianna slept through this whole ordeal.
The last hour of the trip was pretty miserable. I was so ready to be DONE driving, Brianna was even more ready to be DONE sitting... I kept praying that we would make it. I've never been so happy to get out of a car in my life.And that's how our life in Cedar began.
11 comments:
That is quite the story. It sounds awful. I really do remember the challenge of trying to drive with a toddler to whom you can't explain what's going on and why she can't get out of her car seat.
Only Chelsea could get lost driving from Spanish Fork to Cedar City. I'm glad you made it safe (sad the moose didn't) and thanks for the laugh.
Wow...what an ordeal!!!! Glad you're there and soon to be settling into your new place. So are you keeping the place in Provo...and didn't you buy a place in Vernal too? Sheesh...you guys have a lot goin on. BTW...we travel to St. George occasionally. We may have to make a planned pit stop at your place someday.
Have fun changing those diapers!
Is that Brian I see in the tall grass?
Dave - NO, it's YO MAMA... oh wait a minute... shoot.
Tia - PLEASEPLEASE do come visit us! Brianna would be thrilled. She's never been so wide-eyed and happy as when your boys were chasing her around the house. And our new place will even have chairs and couches for you to sit on this time!
I am so sorry that I didn't answer my door the day you guys left. I seriously didn't hear you knock! We miss you guys and are very glad you made it to Cedar safely! Hopefully (for Addison and my sake) you guys get transfered to Logan...soon!!!
Gotta love the 6... we used to drive that thing regularly. How gross with the moose. Out here in CT there are millions of Deer and no predators so twice I've seen deer nailed by the car infront of me. This last time it was a Ford explorer and the deer flew from the windsheild up in the air to about 10feet off the ground and then landed and sprinted off! The car of course was messed up. Now I'm terrified of hitting deer. Aren't you glad it was a semi hitting the moose instead of you?
one to remember!!! love that you took a picture of the moose
I love the moose. Did I ever tell you about the time I chased a moose down the road and still never got a good pic? Haa..haa.
I am so sad that you are gone from Vernal. I have absolutely no excitement and no one to tell me to go pick all their neighbors apricots!! What am I going to do? Where will I find out about all the free stuff???
You have meant a lot me since we met. Love ya!
Ug, what a horrible travel day!! Cows in the road?!? That is something I have never seen . . . yet! Oh, and I am SOOOO afraid of hitting wildlife . . . gross! I'm glad it wasn't you who hit the moose!! What a memorable way to start your life in Cedar City!!
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