Texedus Part 1
It’s been about a week since I posted the last post about our drive away from Texas and up to Ohio. I’m gonna go more in-depth with that adventure that occurred on our way out, the next time I post, it will be the post-trip low down. That should be up soon, yes this is a little different than what we usually do here on the Desk, but I thought it would be interesting to post some things about life every so often and this is a big step for us. We’ll be back to normal operation soonish…
Prelude: Why the hell did you wanna leave anyway?
It is a bit of a loaded question, where we lived was a BIG city, but it also was a costly living, I am not going to go much into detail about the financial side. Let’s just leave it at it cost us a lot and we were getting little back. We also did not have much of a life, a lot of our days were spent doing work, and home dance. A lot of us do it, but because we were so strapped for cash we could not get out and do much. While yes, we did buy things we could not exactly go out beyond say dinner at Whataburger on some days and it can get repetitive.
We also just were miserable, Ili was working at what felt like a slave labor camp if the rich had their way, my job wasn’t bad but it also had its frustrations. We also had difficulty in trying to get a new place like a house or something. Though oddly we found once we made our peace with moving it got a little strange when we realized all the places we looked at that we were told were not flood-prone areas...flooded. So that was a bit sobering.
All of that said, we had our fill of the place and began to make plans for the great escape. First was establishing contact with where we used to live and see if there was a place we could set up a temporary base as moving cost a bit and also we had to reset to the area. My sister has generously provided us with a roof until we are ready to get out on our own once more. It was after that we focused on saving up and getting things ready to go. However, without realizing it we had entered into a verbal agreement with our apartment. Our original target was around late March, or early April so we could avoid the worst part of Texas: The heat, however with the renewal we were now stuck here till December. So, while we had to sit and bake, and drown and get blown away along with other things. Ili and I decided to hunker down and grind it out and save up what we could for what was gonna be a costly move.
Before the move: A place for our stuff...
Speeding things up a bit, we got close to moving and went and got things to load up the last time we moved. We used U-Hauls storage boxes which proved to be surprisingly effective, continuing the logic we were once more planning this. When we arrived there to place an order and check if the boxes were still a viable option. The manager was less than helpful, or to be honest, did not seem to want to help and did not understand how their system worked. At one point explaining to me how the process works like I had just got kicked in the head by a horse. After being insulted and also not having a choice we had our pre-order of boxes we needed done.
They arrived after my last day of work and the next day we began loading the things, and our garage converted to a shipping department. We piled in much as we could into the first box, Having achieved that in one day. We then had a problem: We had things we had to get rid of: a sectional couch, a bookshelf, and a desk. The desk and bookshelf were a pain because when I took them to Goodwill I was bluntly told not to bring anymore for a lot of reasons I won’t go into. However, I noticed a lot of space in the area designated for furniture. The only problem was the sectional, which I briefly entertained putting into my Prius realizing soon that it was not gonna be doable. My wife had a friend who had a truck, whose lift gate suddenly did not work and had a tool kit in the truck bed. Also, I was the only one able to lift the couch into said truck. Thankfully I had gravity on my side, and just did my thing and threw it up. Grabbing a strap I had in my car I tightened it down and followed them to a location I knew of and knew who was in charge, and proceeded to drop it off in their dumpster with permission. Under the cloak of night, we managed to get it done and discreetly.
The next day was the loading of the second box, and with it dismantling of furniture and other fun items. Getting up and right to work we managed after much cursing and complaining, we get them loaded before the truck came to pick them up...and forgot to load it about four more times before they showed up. Our last meal in Texas naturally was Whataburger, cause I don’t think you can leave that state without some sort of payment to them…
Day one: Adult Tetris isn’t as fun as it sounds…
Well, the day came when we had our last pot of coffee and checked some news on our smaller TV, I had opted to do it in the morning so we could have everything we needed for the night. As I began to pack I found myself suddenly having to play Tetris with my car as I had to make room for two humans, a small dog 2 cats who were going to be in a transport carriage, and all the stuff we were taking like luggage, tech stuff we’d need for a bit and clothes. When I got done it was...densely packed, and that is not much of an exaggeration sadly. With that, we loaded up the pets, and away we went, the first day was the shortest leg of the trip.
Rounding out to a clean 500 miles in about eight hours. The pup was equipped with a hoodie to get out and do her thing, the cats had food and water and each other. Which turned out to be better than the last time we did this and we had them in separate transports. When Naomi got nervous and meowed. Lefty instantly got close to her to remind her all was all right. As we drove we looked around and saw...a lot of nothing...well trees and the occasional forest of trees brought down in the name of all mighty lumber. Those sites were kind of harsh to see, but also a reminder of Texas being a corpo state, everything even down to the shelving of the planet if you will is free use in this state.
As time went we started to get kind of stir-crazy driving through this state, yes it’s huge but of the 500 miles we traveled that day almost 400 were clearly in Texas, and it felt EVERY MILE. Like some long nearly endless movie from Mystery Science Theater 3000, it just keeps going and going, I don’t know if either of us said the words “deep hurting.”
But, it would have been appropriate given what we were dealing with. As time moved on I think around six pm central, we did it finally we had crossed from the hell that was Texas and into Arkansas...this is pretty much like upgrading from a turd sandwich to drinking funny-smelling apple juice, but it still was better than the sandwich.
While it was pouring rain and getting dark, it was like we had done something impossible but still had to keep the focus on the prize. That was proving to be harder as I was the one driving this adventure and if anyone has done anything in the realm of cross-country travel knows. You get tired and you lose focus. After nearly having a run-in cause of an aggressive truck behind us. I stopped and got some coffee for the final leg of the day’s trip, it felt like doing exercise and knowing you are nearing the end. Every move you make feels eternal cause your arms and legs are tired, but every successful completion of the drill was one less you had to do and you’re almost done. That was the final two hours of that trip.
Finally, after about 8 pm central we arrived at our stop for the night, a little hotel off the highway that allowed pets. Going in and checking in, we collected our pets and Naomi meowed the song of her people to anyone who would hear and we got into our room. I had no interest in driving to a restaurant paid the overpriced McDonald’s app and dropped 30 bucks on fast food. It was the best-tasting food I had after a long hard day of driving. I got into bed exhausted, more cause our last night I slept on an air mattress. Doing about eight hours over the last two days of loading various items into boxes and black ops trash dumping took its toll I had not realized, Ili remarked in the middle of the night woke up and heard a snore. Afraid it was going to wake me up instead she realized it was me and quickly fell into a more relaxed sleep.
Day two: The long winding road
Woke up on day two more refreshed and also wanting to beat an oncoming rain that was knocking on our doorstep. We got some hotel breakfast, meh eggs, and alright sausage; more or less enough to get us going. We quickly got ourselves back into the sardine can and off and on the way for what was going to be a MUCH, longer day: 700 miles and 10 hours with a time change to east coast time. We got on the road earlier and quickly crossed from Arkansas and into Tennessee, like ten minutes into the day’s drive.
(The video isn’t the best, sorry for the switch randomly to landscape)
As we drove we stopped at many rest stops, namely the usual suspects: Pilot and Love’s though we found more Love’s as we traveled north. I also began to see signs of the change in culture and decorum as we made our way through these stops. Down in Texas and through much of the first half I always thought people were aggressive and self-serving, it’s something I was not prepared for when we moved there. As we traveled up that was still there but signs were showing change. A simple head nod from someone at a stop was a sign. All weary travelers on the hub just get our gas, and stretch our legs before getting back onto the road.
I drove as a delivery driver for twelve years of my life. I was already mentally prepared for the drive but I forgot how much of a toll the body takes on the road just sitting. After the near disaster the night before we agreed to stop every 2-3 hours if nothing else for my sake to get up and stretch use the bathroom and if I needed food get some. This made a major difference to me I felt a lot stronger that day than the day before (also, actually moving through states instead of just plowing through one for an entire day does help.) As we made our way up we got to Louisville and encountered a cybertruck and laughed. We saw so many in Texas and that was the only one we saw in about three states beyond that. We also had the benefit of traveling with the rain now behind us and began to enjoy the trip.
We got new sunglasses before the trip and could use them on this day, kind of felt nice to be able to not feel the strain eyes feel when normal. At a stop in Tennessee, I took a picture of a random rest area with woods as it looked like even in mid-December fall had not left yet. I sent it to my friends I left behind in Texas and one of them said it looked like a place you could drop a body off at. The dark humor of life I suppose. We were kind of pumped when we got to Kentucky we got into the familiar winter gray. Kentucky is a wonderful state to drive through in the summer, but we also got to see a random dinosaur tourist trap with King Ghedorah heads as dinos. I mean not wrong, but also not right either.
(picture missing…sorry)
.As dusk fell we were approaching the border with Ohio and Kentucky, I took a picture to announce our impending return. After that, and about ten minutes later we crossed over the border and were in Cincinnati and on the downhill slide to I-71.
The city was in view and honestly, it was a killer view at night. Almost like that when we crossed over into Ohio the roads went from eh to smooth as butter. The rest of the ride to our destination was calm, just us and the road on a dark Saturday night. After our final stop at a rest stop, we pushed through to the final leg, consisting of backroads and relearning old paths as well as seeing how much things changed in our four years away. At 10 pm we rolled into my sister’s driveway, I leaned my head on the steering wheel out of gas but intact. We had done it once more: we drove about 17-18 hundred miles once more and arrived back where we started.
I spent the rest of the night dismantling our Tetris sardine can and finally at about midnight, we rested. No longer having to drive all over creation, the next day would begin to show us how much had changed while we were gone.
But that is going to continue in the next part, for now, thank you for reading
-The Chaos Director
Wow that really was an expedition you guys embarked on. Driving long hours really does take a toll especially when you hit traffic. I went on a road trip with my dad and husband from NC up to Boston. And my dad in his late 60s does this drive by himself quite frequently to visit my sister. This one particular time we decided to fly to NC and keep him company on the drive up. I took over right before we hit Connecticut because he had worked the night before and didn’t sleep. Idk why but every time I’ve driven through CT there’s just stop and go traffic. So this traffic took us 4 hours to get through. We were crawling and the stress was hitting my neck and back like a baseball bat.
I give you props for driving all that way it’s not easy. And it’s very physical. I know this is an unpopular opinion but I’ll be happy when cars are driving themselves.
But best of luck to you and Ili. I hope it feels like home. And like you never left. I always feel that way when I go back to Boston. It’s like a warm hug from an old friend.
Also really loved the imagery you used felt like I was cramped in the car with you guys lol. Great writing and what a trip!