I drove from San Antonio, TX on Thursday, June 5th and arrived in Big Lake, MN on Saturday, June 7th. I stopped several times for gas, food, and bathroom, and stayed two nights in a hotel; one in Ardmore, OK and the other in Ottawa, KS. For most of the drive, I was able to use cruise control.
I had a great driving companion in Riley cat, and he only meowed for a few minutes when I started; otherwise, he was quiet. Even though I had anxiety medicine for him, he sniffed it and knew immediately that it was something he didn’t want to take. Maybe he got some free medicine advice from Niko.
On Thursday, I stopped for gas and I had my debit card in my hand along with some trash, and I must’ve taken my eyes off my the trash can for a second because when I went to insert my card for gas, the card wasn’t in my hands. I quickly looked on the ground and around the car seat, nope. Then, I went back to the trash can and grabbed my bag of trash and dove in, really hoping my card was there, nope. I scanned the rest of the trash, nope. I didn’t panic, I used another card and then reported that card lost and changed my address so I could get a new one when I would be at the new home. Yeah, totally looks fraudulent, but thankfully, they knew it was me as I was provided a verification code from the bank.
I got rained on pretty bad leaving Ardmore, OK and had to pull off the road at a gas station. It was early in the morning, and it was super dark. On Saturday, it rained on and off, but wasn’t as bad as Ardmore.
It was nice to know that while I was driving, Nina and Niko were able to see my location. They sent me a text at 12:17 pm on Saturday, and it said: 1215 pm Mark crosses into MN.
I didn’t immediately get to my house as I first had to meet the realtor at an open house for a multi-million dollar home so I could get the keys and garage door opener.
It was weird arriving to the house for the first time, but also very nice as it’s ours. Our delivery of furniture arrived on Sunday and they finished on Monday. I had a few supplies, and the most important were cat supplies and an air mattress! Nina also made sure deliveries of other necessary things arrived at the same time I did. That first night, I had no food in the fridge so I ordered a pizza as I knew I could eat for dinner and breakfast the following morning. I even had a few pieces left over that I shared with the movers.
On Sunday, I went to one of the local grocery stores to get some basic necessities for myself; water, deli, bread, bagels, butter, and some quick heat and eat meals.
On Tuesday, I picked Nina and Niko up from the Minneapolis/St. Paul airport and took them home! Nina has already seen the house as she came up in March to see lots. For Niko, it was his first time, even though we showed him videos and pictures. It was already past his bedtime, but he wanted to explore and see everything, and we let him do that. He opened every door to see what lay behind them, and there a a lot of doors, as it’s the biggest house so far that we have owned. I mean, three stories (and that includes a finished basement), five bedrooms, and three bathrooms. I made sure that there bedrooms were ready to go.
Niko did tell us it didn’t feel like home, but we said not yet, but as we unpack boxes, it will. One of his favorite rooms is an under the stairs storage area, and Nina and I said, he can do what he wants in that area. There are already some pillows, and we got lights to hang up as well.
On Wednesday, we spent a lot of money at Target and Costco for everything from trash cans and cleaning supplies to a lot of food that we divided up between the kitchen fridge and the garage fridge and the freezer.
Lastly, I was off work from June 2nd through June 11th. Movers picked up our stuff on that first Monday, and scheduled delivery was supposed to be between June 6th and June 11th. I told my manager that I would check-in for a few minutes just to be sure all is good.
I logged in a for a few minutes on June 3rd, and when I logged in on June 4th, my laptop wouldn’t turn on. I immediately called and requested a new one and told my manager as well. On June 9th, I was texting with my manager providing him updates and afterwards, I was able to download Microsoft Teams and Microsoft Outlook on my phone, so I was able to delete junk emails and check on my request.
My new laptop arrived on June 12th, and all is great in my office world. I bought myself a new bigger work desk from Wayfair. I am in the market for a comfortable reading chair for my office, so if you have anything to suggest and it’s under $500, I will look.
