so now it's December 2nd

and I have a WHOLE Lot of catching up to do!!!

Last weekend in Chicago was really hectic.  I thought I had things under control, but no.  I thought I had everything essential packed and ready to go, but no.

We picked the camper up in Island Lake on Monday morning.  It took more than 90 minutes to check out.  I had optimistically thought we would be on the road west by noon.  Wrong!  Rich drove it back to the city.  We were able to pull it up behind the house to load, and then the fun began.

I had my cats wearing harnesses for a few days to prepare for wearing them all the time on the road.  They were finally used to them by the time I put them in the camper.  Before that they were walking as if they were drunk, or skulking spies.  Got them in the RV so they could watch me pack.  There was a fair amount of howling happening, despite the cat pheromones I had sprayed within the RV.  There was a sizeable (I thought) compartment on the underside of the RV, sort of like a luggage compartment on a bus - but loading it took longer and was more difficult than I thought.  I had to crawl inside to get the boxes snugly togeher (and I have the thigh bruises to prove it!)  I had a large portable kennel set up on the queen sized bed in the back of the van, and that's where I stationed Franki and Rusty for the first part of the drive.  We did not get on the road until after 3 PM, and had to meet Rich's sister in Davenport for dinner by 7, so we decided to skip the stop in Galesburg that day.  It was cold and rainy as we left - but the RV had a generator and heater so we were quite comfortable.  Who knew that on the following days, driving through Nebraska, Colorado and Utah it would be so warm that we would not need it again?

We met Kathy and Ray at The Machine Shed in Davenport, Iowa http://www.machineshed.com/davenport/ after checking on the menu multiple times. We stayed at the hotel next door, and Franki and Rusty had their first motel experience.    I love the last photo; it was as if Rusty was letting Franki know "it's going to be OK."

got to go - last day of work

no time to post right now - but for some background on how I have arrived at this point in my life, please read this beautiful post from my daughter Sandy's blog here:


http://www.edieandandy.com/2012/11/thankful-november-1-my-family.html

off to work one last time before retiring for now!

Preamble - T-Minus 6 days to leave

My children are grown, well almost.  My parents and two sisters live in California.  At some point after my ex-husband left, I realized that I could live anywhere - and decided the best thing would be to move back to California where I lived for 9 years with my "family of origin."

Since my marriage fell apart, two wonderful cats have joined our family - Franki and Rusty.  They don't know it yet, but they will soon be California Cats.  And I met a wonderful man earlier this year - so the four of us are setting out next Monday (11/5/2012) in a rented RV to drive from Chicago to Leucadia, CA, to the home that we bought in July.  Our cats must travel in style!!!

Last Saturday we went to the RV Rental place to check out the equipment.  It's massive!  I am a bit nervous about driving it, especially hearing about the need for wide turns.  But we will just try to drive from here to there in a straight line!  We are in the process of figuring out what items we can take with us in the camper - definitely artwork, some kitchen appliances and other essentials, and some wine.

My last day at work will be this Friday.  The farewells started on Sunday, with what my son referred to as "my big fat mom's Greek going away party" at The Parthenon (not Pantheon) in Greektown, Chicago.  It was a lovely evening with great friends whom I will truly miss.  There was tons of leftover food; I packed the chicken and pork and Monday morning made pork and chicken stock.  I plan to have an "empty out the refrigerator" potluck ongoing thru the weekend.  Last night I had a going away dinner at Fiorentino's with several co-workers - another memorable evening.  I am so lucky to have so many wonderful people in my life!

I am asked continually if I'm freaking out - the answer is yes and no.  Part of me is so excited and can't wait to go; another part of me is in constant OMG mode wondering HOW I'm going to get everything done!  I have a lot of packing to complete but have the buffer of knowing that I will need to come back here when this townhouse is sold or rented, so whatever does not come with me now will come with professional movers at a later date.

Moving with the cats has me quite anxious - they are the reason for the RV, but driving an RV cross country has been on my bucket list for years and I'm really looking forward to the experience.

Now that I have this started, I have to go and *pack* and wait for trick or treaters to arrive.

Happy Halloween!