Made it to Texas

Miss D. and I are safely in Texas, staying with Old NFO for a couple of nights while we offload our goods into our new home and give our bed a chance to regain its shape.  (It has a memory foam mattress, which had to be folded double to fit into the moving truck.  That won’t hurt it, but it needs a couple of days to ‘remember’ its proper form and regain its shape.)

I mean no insult to U-haul and similar companies when I say that, fully loaded and towing a trailer, their big rental trucks have all the acceleration and handling qualities of a tranquilized yak!  I was going to travel down I-30 through Arkansas, then join US 82 to drive through upper Texas to our destination;  but after experiencing the very slow, laborious acceleration of the loaded truck, I decided to stay with I-40 through Arkansas and Oklahoma, then cut down I-44 to Texas.  That allowed the truck to get up to cruising speed and stay there, except on steeper hills where it labored up them and then slowly regained velocity.  If I’d had to slow down to pass through all those small North Texas towns with their speed limits, then re-accelerate to cruising speed, and repeatedly change pace to accommodate traffic on the regional road, I think I’d have gone quietly nuts.  These trucks hold a lot, and they’re very useful, but sporty they ain’t . . .

Interestingly, Google Maps showed the I-40/I-44 route as being about fifty miles further in distance than the I-30/US-82 alternative, but only seven minutes longer in time, because of the higher average speed on the all-Interstate option.  Having now used both, I think the Interstate option is better for fast travel, but the regional road is more interesting in terms of scenery.  (The shops in towns along US-82 are also worth a visit.  German butcheries with their specialty meats . . . mmmmmm!)

By the time we got in last night, I was utterly exhausted.  Miss D. and I haven’t even visited our new home yet, to see how it looks after the alterations.  We collapsed into bed, and will see the house early on Sunday morning when we go there to unload the truck.  Most of our stuff will go into the garage, to be moved into the house as we get ourselves organized.  Having just put in a new laminate floor (see NFO’s take on that here), and having had the place professionally cleaned to remove the construction dirt and debris, I’d rather not track a lot of new dust and dirt into it.  We’ll do things slowly and steadily, by stages.

Kili the cat is having a wonderful time exploring Old NFO’s home.  He’s not a ‘cat person’, but is nobly putting up with the burden of having a curious kitty exploring every nook and cranny he’s got (and a few he didn’t know he had until she arrived!)  I’m very pleased with her curiosity and inquisitiveness.  I’ve known cats who are terrified of change.  They curl up into a ball and hide for a few days until summoning up the courage to come out of their hiding-place and explore their new surroundings.  Not this cat.  She’s on top of everything right from the start, checking it out.  She’s in no doubt that if we’re both here, the place must by definition be secure, so she can indulge her curiosity.  It’s a happy feeling to see her so actively exploring.  She’s having fun.  (She also indulges herself in walking all over us as we sleep, whenever she feels the need for reassurance in her new surroundings.  I was lying awake in bed a short while ago, my semi-crippled spine having woken me [as it often does] after only a few hours’ rest, when I found her climbing up my legs and across my torso to rub her head against my chin and demand scritches.  She’s sitting by my chair as I type these words, head cocked to one side, considering whether to jump onto my lap and disrupt proceedings.)

I’ll return to bed now, and try to get some more sleep.  I’ll try to put up another post on Sunday evening after we unpack the truck.

Peter

(P.S.:  To my delight, Old NFO shares my appreciation for English-style ginger beer.  He put a couple of cans of Goslings in the fridge for me, and I’m sipping on one as I type these words.  He surely knows how to make his friends feel at home!)