A Moving Adventure

At the end of April, we loaded up two cars, my daughter's and mine, and off we went. Destination, Atlanta. She was moving. I packed a small overnight bag as that's all I had room for in my overstuffed vehicle. Her extra, very limited remaining car space was taken up by her small Chihuahua dog.

That's not the dog, it's a stuffed toy. Dog was in front seat.

We spent the first night in a dog friendly motel in Sarnia. We opted for an early morning border crossing at Port Huron, hoping it would be easier than the very busy Detroit border. This worked very well. My daughter was detained for about 15 minutes, while getting her student visa, and I was whisked through, and told to wait for her at the rest area a mile ahead. Fortunately, she had all her documents highlighted and readily accessible...very organized.

I planned our stops and meeting points around rest areas and Cracker Barrel Country stores. They were frequent, and allowed for a relaxed trek south. We then also had meeting places should we get separated along this route.

Next stop was a cute motel in Kentucky, selected because of location and pet friendliness. We received a  lovely greeting card from the owners including waters, snacks, a welcome letter, and a dog toy. It was clean and had a lovely kitchen. Since we were in Kentucky, we had KFC for dinner. Truth is, it was the closest fast food we could find.      

Cute decor

North Star Inn

We met some interesting people along the way. When we stopped at an automotive parts store, similar to Canadian Tire, we met a salesman from North York. He was helpful, installed better windshield wipers on one of our vehicles, and told us that in view of current house prices, he regretted selling his home in Toronto a few years ago. At a gas station stop, we encountered a friendly man who told us he was a former BC Lions football player and he loved Canada. Since he was speaking to my daughter before I showed up, we were unclear about whether this was a pick up line.

We arrived in Atlanta according to schedule after driving through an unpleasant rain storm. The city boasts a population of approx. 400,000. After a day of attempting to do errands, we determined that vehicles on the roads must be more like 2 million. Where did they all come from? Crazy. A ten minute trip took an hour. We tried to make lists. Ten things a day were impossible to accomplish. We were lucky to manage 3 errands a day.

Carmen enjoyed her bubble bath

The following week consisted of, acquiring an apartment, unloading cars, shopping at Walmart and thrift shops for basic furniture, assembling some of aforementioned furnishings, groceries,
getting power and gas connected, finding apartment and car insurance, getting an opt out letter at the social security office, applying for a Georgia learners' license (with final test in a month), searching out a cell phone provider, and much, much more. It's amazing what can be accomplished in a week.

We've seen roof mattresses before, but now....

Ms. Muscles, pushing a futon

By the time a week had gone by, I was ready to head north in my now empty car. I had my own impressions during my stay in Atlanta. Despite the insane traffic jams, the people in Georgia were the friendliest, most helpful, I've encountered anywhere. A few had laughingly asked me to take the cool weather back with me. Apparently, I obliged because it's been up to 30C in Atlanta ever since.

I was on my own now, as was my daughter. I thought about our adventures, amazed at what we'd accomplished, and was excited to see some planned tourist sites as I travelled home. I turned on my audiobook and headed for the I-75.