ROAD TRIP!

As I mentioned in my last post, we decided that the long Memorial Day weekend would be a perfect opportunity for a road trip.  By that point, we had been hanging out at home for more than a week, and we wanted something fun and interesting to do in our new state.  We decided on Wall Drug and the Badlands because Wall Drug was where literally everyone asked us if we were going and we kind of wanted to get it out of the way (there is waaaaaaaaaay more to South Dakota than Wall Drug, people!).

Friday at work, I told my co-workers about my obsession with finding a buffalo to hug, and they all told me I was absolutely crazy.  Apparently one does not hug a buffalo.  They are massive and not altogether friendly.  However, Marcia, one of the members of my crew, told me that on the road we were following to get to Wall, there was a herd visible with three white buffalo, which are considered sacred.  So we headed out full of expectation.  Long story short, we found the herd and zero white buffalo there in.

Nonetheless, spirits were high and we were undeterred.  We followed Route 14 out to Wall, which goes along an old stagecoach line.  There were several geocaches hidden along the way, and true to form, Leah had to stop and pee several times.  It was a fun ride, and we started to see some of the local wildlife, including the infamous South Dakota pheasant.

Pheasants are to South Dakota what white tailed deer are to most of the Eastern Seabord.  As a co-worker put it this week, "Either you've hit a pheasant, or you know someone who has."  Before I started, I was told that South Dakota's unofficial state holiday is the first Saturday in October when pheasant season starts, and I truly believe that most of those hunters are just eking gleeful revenge on the birds for cracked windshields and bumpers.  Indeed, the basement floor of our local grocery store, Dakotamart, has walls of stuffed pheasants available for purchase!

We did not hit a pheasant.  Instead as we were driving, a kingbird flew smack into our windshield!  It seemed to glance off and keep going as there was no corpse in the road, and we declared it the bird's fault and kept on trucking!

I kept yelling at Greg to stop the car at any of the signs which swore there were "original wagon wheel ruts" from the pioneers and stagecoach lines that went along that part of the country.  He finally did, and our general reaction to what ground we saw was, "If you say so..."   Not easy to spot, to say the least.

We enjoyed reading Wall Drug signs along the way (think Burma Shave or South of the Border), and eventually zeroed in on it.  Parking was no problem, and we made our way inside, immediately upon which Leah a) decided she had to pee and b) decided she was terrified of all humanity.

Downtown Wall, SD, about two blocks away from Wall Drug

We dealt with the bathroom issue first and then headed out to the 'backyard' where there are sculptures and animals to climb on and take pictures with.  Leah hopped on the giant jackalope and Greg and I sat in a covered wagon.  

We even found this beauty...

We grown ups also had a blast riding the bucking bronco, but Leah was a bit too cool for that.

Thereafter, it was decided we were hungry, so we had lunch at the Wall Drug Cafe.  There was quite a line, but it moved along fairly quickly, and we enjoyed our meals.  Greg got the buffalo burger, Leah a cheeseburger, and I got a hot roast beef sandwich.  We also got one of their famous donuts and a piece of pie.  Leah declined to get a drink and stole my drink using a free ice water cup.

After lunch we did a bit of souvenir shopping--I wanted to send out some postcards, and we got a pack of playing cards on clearance since we didn't bring our games with us.  We checked into the bathrooms and then decided to head for the Badlands as it was mid-afternoon and we wanted to get moving.  I had no real concept of what the Bandlands were, and Greg was busily telling us about when he had been there in 2018, but I still didn't really 'get it'.  We could see them rising in the distance and eventually got to the main entrance, which was on a field teeming with prairie dogs, so we got out for a few pictures.

We wound up buying an NPS annual pass, as we plan to take a few trips to NPS properties this year, and then started following the crowd to various overlooks and sites.  We seemed to keep following one family from North Carolina and their son kept going down into the canyons on increasingly narrow paths out to the edges of the little rock formations.  The rock is VERY soft and you can crumble it with your fingers, no problem.  The Badlands are the remnants of a once massive ocean.  Everything you can see with your eyes was once underwater.  There are tons of fossils to be found and really cool formations.  Well, I sort of became determined that I would hotfoot down one of the formations as well.  It was not easy wearing Crocs and the earth constantly shifting underfoot, but eventually I got down one big hill, despite Leah crying and begging me not to (she was nervous about us falling off the edge).  My valiant efforts inspired Greg to come down to where I was, and that pushed me go a little further and ask him to take my picture on the edge down in the canyon.  It is now my Facebook profile picture and one of my favorite pictures of myself.

Afterwards, we rolled back up (I really wasn't sure I was going to make it back up at one point, but an obliging shrub gave me the handhold I needed!), and kept going along the little dirt road to Roberts Prairie Dog Town.  Here, you can visit the prairie dogs and some of them stare at you before darting off if you get too close.  We decided to see how close we as a family could get to one, and we set our sights on a 'victim' and walked quietly and carefully altogether, stopping when he seemed to get scared.  It took us about 15 minutes, but we finally got within 5 feet of him. Or her.  Hard to say.

When that one finally ran away, we did it again with a second one, and then called it a day.  It was such a fun collective thing to do, just holding hands, whispering to each other, taking pictures, trying to speak quietly to it (LOL!  Like it knows or cares!), etc.  Afterwards, we decided to go have a look at the three buffalo that were lounging nearby, but we didn't get anywhere near them, just admiring from a distance.  On our way back to the car, a woman called us over to another set of prairie dog holes, but instead of prairie dogs, there was a badger rooting around!  So that was pretty cool, as none of us had ever seen one of those in the wild either!  

Afterwards, we kept driving, though it was well past five and we were all pretty darned tired.  We decided to finish the loop we were on and then come back the next day to finish the main drag through the area, although, we did have to drive a good portion of it to get out.

At one rest stop, we were stopped by a gentleman from Minnesota who was impressed we were so far from home, much less that we had moved to SD!  He chatted our ears off for about ten minutes before we bid him a fond farewell, but I truly do like that kind of friendliness and interest in each other from strangers.  It was pretty cool.

Eventually, we made our way back to Wall, taking note of a couple things we wanted to do the next day for fun.  We checked into the Travelodge and then headed out to find dinner.  The first place had no one working.  The second place was so overcrowded there was nowhere to sit.  So we eventually went to the DQ near the hotel.  It was convenient and fast and we had an OK meal there.  After that, we returned to the hotel and watched some crappy TV before falling asleep on actual beds for the first time in two weeks.

Now, the Travelodge seemed to be going through some things.  There was a sign on the door that said if wanted ice, we'd have to go to the Days Inn.  And that breakfast would be provided, but we'd have to go to the America's Best.  So in the morning, we went over, stopping for a couple of pictures with the buffalo.

The breakfast was OK, but crowded owing to the fact that two hotels' worth of guests were trying to eat, so the line for the pancake machine was crazy, and I wound up eating yogurt and Greg had a bagel.  We returned to the hotel to check out, only to discover sometime overnight it had shut down completely, as there was a sign on the door saying if people had a reservation they could go to the Days Inn and they would try to accommodate them.  We were grateful we got in under the wire!

Leah wanted to go back to Wall Drug and we thought it might be good at that hour because it was early and should be quieter, but upon making our way over there, we found out the shops didn't open for another half hour, so we went geocaching around town.  One geocache was hidden at a local playground, and Leah and Greg climbed around and had a lot of fun together doing that.

We went back to Wall Drug and Leah got the merch she wanted, before we headed back out.  The first place we stopped was The Ranch Store, where they have a prairie dog village at which you can hang out with and feed the prairie dogs.  In the store, you buy unsalted peanuts and then go to town feeding them.  The field is packed with babies and adolescents, as well as full grown adults, and Greg decided to take the time to bond with a prairie dog to the point it was willing to eat out of his hand.

Leah and I were not so lucky, and mainly wound up just tossing peanuts at them and watching them play.  It was still a lot fun!  Afterwards, we drove over the Prairie Homestead, one of the last few remaining sod houses left in South Dakota.  The pioneers and homesteaders to this area, including the Wilders by the by, all lived in sod huts due to a lack of available wood from trees.  These huts were started by digging into banks and creating 'caves', which were then secured with some timber and baked earth bricks.  The huts were not the most pleasant things on earth--when it rained they frequently leaked.  In this old home, the only divider between rooms was a sheet of builders paper.  There was a fascinating little movie to start and then a tour, which was self guided.  There was the original sod hut and then a wood addition that was put on later, as well as a chicken coop, root cellar, barns, and outhouses.  

As I said to Greg, if this were me, I'd be saying "Edgar, hitch up the team, we're going back to Boston!"  It certainly gives you a sense of how hearty the pioneers must have been.  Although frankly one wonders given that the Native Americans seem to be doing fine what exactly their story was...

After our tour, we went back into the Badlands for lunch at the visitors center and ate Indian tacos, which were made with a mixture of beef and buffalo, so I can say I have eaten buffalo.  I bought a lovely little Native American pot with a buffalo on the side which we have proudly displayed downstairs.  We drove back through the Badlands for another look, although frankly, I fell asleep!  When we went out the other side, we were just in time to watch a herd of buffalo coming up to and across the road, so we stopped to watch and take pictures for a while.

It was time to head home, a two hour drive back to Pierre along Route 14.  We decided to stop in Cottonwood, basically a ghost town, which you can read about here.  In 2010, the population was listed as nine people, and we saw one person come out to see their dog as we drove around and took pictures.

While I was out taking photos, Greg was all "OH!  There's a geocache nearby!" and so we decided to make a go of it.  We followed a dirt path through a field 3/4 of a mile to find the damned thing, bouncing and jouncing all the way.  "I'll find a place to turn around!" he said as we rolled past an abandoned house that had a dessicated airplane tail in the side yard.  But before he could, we were at the cache site, a fence at the local cemetery.  It took a long time to find the cache and Greg was fully prepared to give up, but I said, "We did not come all the way up here to not find the damned thing!" so we stayed till the job was done, and I am pleased to say I am the one who found the cache.

See the road?  Yeah, neither could we.

Rather unfortunately this meant we had to roll back down the hill, but we didn't seem to hit anything, so that was a plus!

We eventually got home, without any further incident, and declared our road trip a success.  We all really enjoyed seeing some of South Dakota outside the big city of Pierre and mostly are awed by the wide open spaces.  It is absolutely crazy how open the country is here.  As I remarked to a friend, "I finally feel like I can breathe."

A Week in Pierre

Today marks two weeks we've been here, but let's not get ahead of ourselves! We woke up Saturday morning in our new home, on air mattresses lent by a co-worker I had met over lunch in March and couldn't have put a face to her name! It was interesting sleeping on it--it squeaked a lot on the floor and made a lot of noise, and I thought we would never be able to sleep again. The cats were going crazy, so we found their food dishes and fed them, and once everyone was up and breakfast consumed by the humans, we decided to walk down to Capitol Lake and see the ducks. Pierre is the second smallest state capitol in the country, and the capitol complex itself is quite lovely. The Capitol building rises with its stately dome over a gorgeous little park with a small lake. Ducks, catfish, and turtles have made the lake home, and we enjoyed our first walk down there, pledging to come back with actual food for the ducks the next day. From our house to the lake is about four blocks, and we walk past the governor's mansion to get there, so we bid her good morning (from our side of the fence of course!) and sent her some subliminal messages as we walked past her place. (No, we did not actually see the Governor, just waved in the general direction we thought she might be in).

As soon as we were done, we optimistically piled into the car to go furniture shopping. We had sold or given away a great deal of the furniture we had in NY, as we didn't want to pay to move it, and so it was time to buy a dining room set, living room set, and bedroom set.  Pierre has two furniture shops in town as well as a couple of thrift shops, so we started at the thrift shops hoping we'd get lucky.  We didn't.  Now, we could furnish the house cheap and fast by doing yard sales, and in fact, I'm on a couple of yard sale sites, but we really want to actually decorate our house, so we had settled on cottage style before we got here.  We had looked at a bunch of furniture on line before we arrived, and we thought it would be fairly easy to just go pick things out.  So we set off for Ashley Furniture.

We walked around the store and came upon a dining room set we all three agreed was just right.  We had taken measurements of the dining room and measured the table and it seemed it would fit.  The only downside was that it came with a bench on one side instead of two chairs, but we talked to the salesman and he said we could certainly swap it out, so that's what we did.  We looked at the bedroom set I was convinced I would love when I saw it online, only to discover I didn't actually care for it.  So we bought the dining room set, set up delivery for the following Friday, and headed for Slumberland.

The salesman at Slumberland was a young kid, very enthusiastic and talked our ears off about Pierre and all kinds of things not really pertaining to furniture.  We walked through the showroom and I stumbled upon a rocking and swiveling arm chair, and I just loved it and that was it. Sold!  We walked a bit more and came upon an upholstered blue arm chair that just sort of invited you to sink into it, and again, sold!  We thought we wouldn't find a living room set, but ultimately on our way back towards the door, we found a really nice couch and chaise (I call it my fainting couch) and all three of us agreed that it was comfy and perfect and just right for our basement, so we bought those as well.  

We went to pay for everything, and although we could take the chairs home (if we could transport them), we couldn't actually get the living room set until mid-July.  Given that we were sitting in zero gravity lawn chairs from Walmart, this seemed like a long time off, but the fact that all three of us agreed on furniture was also something of a miracle, so we decided to buy it and just wait it out.  Mary offered Keith and his truck to pick up the chairs the next day, so at least we wouldn't be totally uncomfortable.  

That's pictures of the set we did get!  Next step is to learn how to get the cats, specifically Stepstool, to not scratch them up!

At this point, Leah was more or less done, so we decided to go have lunch which we enjoyed at a local Mexican place called Gallo's.  There is a sweet little downtown area in Pierre and it is located there, as opposed to the more commercial main drag.  We all had virgin margaritas and pina coladas, and celebrated a successful shopping morning.  Then we took Leah home and did a little more shopping, which yielded a shelf and a desk.

We took them home and I had thought we'd be able to put the microwave on the shelf, but it wasn't deep enough, so we took it downstairs and set up the TV.  We also put the desk downstairs and got Leah's computer set up, and Greg and I did battle with the cable modem, and soon the house was full of glorious WiFi.  Unfortunately, the Roku wasn't cooperating!  So no TV that night.  (Turned out the batteries in the remote died!)  As we still didn't have our comfy chairs, we trotted the lawn chairs down to the basement and hung out down there before calling it a night and going to bed.

Sunday morning, we returned to Capitol Lake armed with chips and bread for the ducks.  It was absolutely perfect and gorgeous weather, and the ducks were, of course, happy to see us, and we whispered some greetings to the Governor as we strolled past her party pad.

I had read on one of the yard sale sites that there was an estate auction in Ft. Pierre, just over the river, so when we got home, we rolled over there.  There wasn't a TON of stuff that they had that we wanted, but I wanted an old trunk to use as a coffee table, and I found a cute little table that I thought would fit 'somewhere'...  I managed to win both of them for the price I had set and we even managed to fit them in the car!  Afterwards, we went over to Keith and Mary's and Keith got his truck revved up and we headed to Slumberland and GOT MY CHAIRS!  It was a tight squeeze getting them downstairs--our basement stairs and hallway are very narrow and for a hot minute, it didn't look like my rocker was going down there.  Fortunately Keith came armed with tools, we took the base off, got it into the family room, and put it back together.  Voila!

The rest of Sunday was spent trying to relax and chill before I started work Monday morning.  One note of excitement was that we have a neighborhood full of cats, and two of them belonged to the previous owner.  One of them, a fluffy white guy was living under our deck, and we started feeding him.  He deposited a massive fur ball on our deck, which we saw was matted with fecal material and some sort of brambles.  Upon getting friendly with him, we noticed that his back leg was in REAL bad shape and his fur was horrible.  I called animal control and they said that if we could catch him, they'd send a police officer over.  So we coaxed him out, boxed him, and the cops did arrive!  They sent a cop who didn't like cats all that much, so we had a good chuckle with him over that, but he took the cat off to the vet to get cleaned up and he will hopefully be adopted out in due course.  

 Preparing for work, I was a nervous wreck, as I knew expectations were running high for me over there, and I wanted to make a good first impression.  I also haven't worked full time in 12 years since Leah was born and hardly at all last year, so I was worried about the adjustment.

Monday morning dawned.  I was up and at 'em early and headed over to the library just on time, where I met Brenda, the other senior librarian and Cheyenne, the other new employee starting that day.  We took a tour of the library and I greeted my crew briefly.  The day passed by really fast, and I had lunch alone in my little office, as I hadn't realized that everyone leaves for their one hour lunch break.  After lunch, I met with the crew for an all staff meeting (they hate the word team, so they have dubbed themselves Kate's Crew), and by then, it was about time to go!  I had a really, really amazing first week of work, and such a beautiful and warm welcome, it was like an absolute dream.  Every single person on all levels is just great to work with.  It is a maze in the office part of the library, so I did get lost a couple times, but everyone just turned me around and got me moving.  It's been awesome.

My office before I fill it with 'stuff'

When I got home, we went to Zesto's, the local ice cream institution and enjoyed blackberry twist ice cream to celebrate a successful first day.  It was so delish!  It's also probably walkable from our house, but Leah sent us her order, so we drove to get home before it melted.

NOT my picture of Zesto

 Tuesday night was time for our first game with the Pierre Trappers--the local baseball team.  Hyde Stadium is just across from Capitol Lake, so we decided to walk down to the game, and Leah decided to stay home. (She's developed an almost-phobia about being around groups of people).  Greg and I had dinner at the game and we had a blast.  I kept up a running commentary and asked him his opinion about what plays they should make, and he charitably laughed throughout.

Around this time, we realized we were heading into a three day weekend and needed a plan besides "sit around a house with no furniture".  We decided we'd do Wall Drug, since just about everyone we knew asked us from the time we announced we were heading to SD "Are you going to Wall Drug?" or "You have to go to Wall Drug!"  Since the Badlands are nearby, we decided to make a two day trip of it, and i had a free night via Hotels.com and we were going to sleep on a real bed!  (By this point, however, we were so exhausted the airbed had ceased to be an issue and we were sleeping like babies on it!)

The rest of the week passed by very quickly--a blur of meetings and time with my crew at work, and good stuff like that.  Greg's birthday was Thursday, so we took him out for dinner at Drifters, a 'fancy' restaurant in Ft. Pierre where we enjoyed a really lovely dinner and massive pieces of cake from a local bakery (two pieces of cake lasted three days!).  He's now an old man and is obliged to complain about muscle aches and the kids down the street.  haha

Our dining room set arrived on Friday as scheduled, and as we had bought real plates and silverware and glasses, we were able to celebrate with a real home cooked dinner and eat as a family.  It was such a nice little celebration together and a great way to end our first full week in Pierre.  We had roasted pork with apples and onions, ranch beans, and a Pierre treat, frog eye salad from the local Korner Grocery (not made with actual frog eyes).

I can't speak for Leah and Greg, but I absolutely love it here.  My stress levels are all but non-existent at the moment.  The house is great, the family is great, work is great, the neighborhood and city are great. The weather, I admit is questionable.  It was hot as heck when we arrived, then plunged into the 40's, and today as I write this, we're heading for a wild 104!  But thus far the humidity hasn't come with it, so I can't complain too much.  We run the air or heat as needed, but otherwise, we're doing fine!  Nothing is perfect and there are petty inconveniences, but I would give Pierre an A+ for exceeding my expectations thus far!  I'll be back soon with tales of our road trip! :D

On the Road!

 Monday the 17th finally arrived, whether we wanted it to or not...  A final night in our home, and then we were off to the sunnier shores of Toledo OH for an evening.  We had a not-too-hard time wrangling the cats into their respective boxes, dropped a bunch more stuff off at Aunt Dorothy's for her yard sale, Greg packed the cars with the precision of a Tetris master, we stopped at my dad's to bid him "see you next time!" (more than a few tears did I shed) and we were on our way.  

Our first big stop was in Buffalo for ramen.  It so happened that one of my college BFF's lives in Buffalo, so I sent him a message once I knew where we were stopping and asked him to meet us.  We enjoyed a really lovely lunch together and Leah enjoyed 'real' ramen.  She seemed to like it, as judging by the fact I was treated to listening to some sort of Japanime the whole way to Toledo from there on.  She also seemed to like Todd, having snooped through his and my private messages on Facebook and chatting with him a bit.  She declared him "the kindest man in the whole world." 

 

 

The main issue we had while driving is that although I knew that I90 in NY was a toll road, I wasn't aware it was basically a toll road through Illinois.  I put my EZPass up and prayed the entire way, but I kept getting passed through, so it seemed to work.  In fact, just a couple of days ago, I got an email that I'm only $3 in the hole to whoever the EZPass company is, so I paid that off and we can call it a day!  

We arrived at our AirBNB with no trouble.  The owners let us block them into the driveway so we didn't have to leave the car on the street.  In no way, shape, or form were we prepared for the spectacle that awaited us at this place.  It was a feast for the senses, to say the least.  Every last surface was covered with artfully arranged memoribilia and bric-a-brac and it was just absolutely fascinating to look at.  Like a museum, honestly!  We talked to the owners about restaurant recommendations and wound up downloading the DoorDash app and ordering Greek food for dinner.  What a world we live in, honestly!  It worked out just great--came quick and couldn't have been easier.

 

The cats were miserable having been locked up all day and then locked into a small bedroom, but we didn't dare let them run loose.  We were up bright and early the next morning, cats in boxes, breakfast procured from a local Panera, and I backed into their neighbor's car, which was parked at the end of the driveway.  I got out and didn't see any damage, so I decided to keep going, but we got a text later in the day asking if we knew anything about it, and I 'fessed up' and let them know it was me, and filed a claim.  It was a good learning lesson for Leah to see me take responsibility and I don't think I'd have felt very good about myself if I hadn't told the truth.

A few hours into the drive, we had a jailbreak.  Leah's cat Stepstool decided she wasn't riding in a box, and she chewed her way out the side of one of the soft side carriers we had brought.  She was swiftly followed by Lord Furrington, Leah's other cat, who manipulated the zipper on the other carrier and managed to get out.  Consequently, we were forced to make an unscheduled stop in Michigan to buy a new cat carrier, which REALLY made Stepstool angry, as it was one she couldn't get out of.

 

That night, we stayed in Rochester MN, home the Mayo Clinic.  We got another AirBNB and were greeted by the hostess, who lives next door.  As crazy as the other place was, this particular place was absolutely pristine and austere.  We decided to let the cats run wild as there was nowhere for them to really go and hide.  They were happy to stretch their legs and get away from each other.  We used DoorDash again and enjoyed a nice dinner together before relaxing on our last night before arriving in South Dakota.

Driving through MN the next morning offered some unexpected delights.  First off, we found signs for the Spam Museum!  We didn't know that there was such a thing, or that Spam hailed from MN.  We were 30 minutes early to actually go in, so we didn't get to take a tour.  But we stopped for photos and when we got out, Greg said, "I was thinking "Awww, we don't get to go to the Spam Museum!""  We're on the same wavelength for sure :) 

Then we continued on down the road and out of the corner of my eye, I saw a sign suggesting we visit Blue Earth MN's Green Giant.  Turns out Green Giant foods is also out in MN!  They've built a massive Green Giant and we for sure had to go check that out.  Turns out there was a geocache hidden nearby, so we had fun finding that as well!

All the while, our mortgage representative had been calling me with last minute information about things that needed doing before we could close.  She called once to stay that I had to sign a particular paper before close of business that day or the sale wouldn't go through on time, so I pulled into a service area and took care of that.  Then a bit later on in the middle of BFE, MN, she finally called with the final closing amount for the down payment, etc.  I had to pull into a dirt patch and call my bank, who said they needed 24 hours to complete the wire transfer--we had 18.  Needless to say I was very anxious!

Me making real estate deals like a boss in MN!

 

Eventually we crossed into South Dakota.  We stopped at the Welcome Center to pick up bunches of brochures and take some pictures of our triumphant entry into the state.  I emailed one to my fellow senior librarian and captioned it, "You're stuck with us now!"  She emailed back "haha!"  

We stopped in Sioux Falls for a trip to Barnes & Noble for Leah's newest stash of manga novels and a quick lunch before getting back on the highway for the last stretch.  I thought it would be a quick trip between SF and Pierre, but it's actually nearly three hours.  We saw beautiful rolling grasslands all along and lots of wide open spaces which Leah and I were not prepared for, having never been to this part of the country before.  We stopped at our last AirBNB of the trip, dropped off the cats, and then headed over to our new house to meet up with our realtor, Bob Gill, to see that everything was in order for our closing the following day.  I asked him to bring a "sold" sign so we could have one of those stereotypical pictures on the front steps.  

Once we got inside, we found beautiful banners and signs and posters all over, as well as cards and gifts from Mary, her kids and grandkids, and some anonymous benefactors who wanted to welcome us to Pierre.  I've never had a nicer welcome, honestly!  We checked out the house and I honestly just fell in love with it immediately.  It is absolutely perfect for us, the right size and lay out and everything.  If you'd like to see a video tour of it, you can click here.  I immediately fell in love with the place, and I couldn't wait to move in!

We rolled back to the AirBNB and used DoorDash a final time to order from a local BBQ joint before collapsing and going to sleep.  The next morning, Greg and I headed to the title company and completed the closing for our house (the wire transfer went through just fine) and became homeowners together for the first time!

We picked Leah and the cats up from the AirBNB (the cats were not happy about going back in the boxes) and drove 10 minutes to the new house (the cats were very confused about such a short day in the boxes).  Our neighbors, Harlan and Yvette, came over and introduced themselves and we had a really lovely chat about the neighborhood and the house and they were happy we are cat people who like to garden, and vice versa!  We unloaded our cars and ran to a local big box store to get chairs to sit, as we had gotten rid of most of our furniture and we had no idea when the moving truck might arrive.  A co-worker at the library lent us air mattresses, and we were as furnished as we were going to get for a while!

That afternoon, we went to the local hospital, which was having a Covid vaccine clinic, and Leah got her first shot.  She gets her next one mid-June and we'll be able to relax a good bit more after that!

Afterwards, Mary had us over to meet her whole family and have a BBQ, which was incredible and really took the pressure off the Door Dash people!

And with that, we are now Pierre-ians.  Or is that Pierre-ites?  Pierre-isians?  Whatever it is, we are!  Four cats, three humans, two cars, nine states, 1800+ miles, and we did it.  I'm so proud of our little team.  What an adventure.

This House Was My Home

Saying goodbye to #17 is so difficult, in some ways more difficult than saying goodbye to our home in Virginia.  This morning, I laid on the floor of the empty living room, absolutely sobbing about saying goodbye.  It's been waterworks on and off for days... Leaving here is one of the hardest things I've had to do in a long while...

I had a history in this house--I started visiting it when I was in fourth or fifth grade for sleepovers.  I always loved coming here--Mrs. P was a warm homemaker and the house was always friendly and warm and beautiful.  I had dreams of living here, I seriously did.  

When I moved back home in 2017, my first thought was "Maybe I can own the Leonard Drive house!"  Then I found out that a young family was living there, and I thought they were never going to leave.  Only weeks later, I saw on Facebook that they did indeed want to sell, and I quickly visited and made an offer on the place, and by November 2018, my childhood wish came true.  I eagerly explored every nook and cranny.  I got new furniture for the place.  Like me, the place had been through some things but was still standing, and I couldn't have been happier to live here.  The neighbors were great, the street quiet, and I felt very proud of myself for being able to buy it on my own.  It was a symbol of my independence and my ability to provide for my daughter and I without having any kind of head start or help.  

I am giving it up now.  Not because I especially want to--in fact, I'd like nothing better than to keep it.  Unfortunately, the reality is that we would not be able to come back from SD to use it as often as I think would be useful in a vacation home to maintain the upkeep and taxes on it.  I got a very generous offer on the place, which will allow me to move into a new home in South Dakota, with my fiance and my daughter, and we will be able to start our lives as a family together.

Oh how I'll miss it though!  I can't say how terribly I'll miss my dad.  He has been a rock for me during this past 3+ years, helping with childcare, looking after his grand-cats, helping with maintenance questions, having us over to Sunday dinners, and of course letting us live with him for most of a year while we were getting established.  We had our fair share of disagreements, and we lived through some history together (I had to go to his house to watch the Capitol insurgency because we don't have cable), and we've laughed so much together.  He's been so good to me and Leah and Greg and Alia and 'the other one'...  Dad, you are a star.  Thank you.  

We've made some amazing memories here as well...  I hosted my fourth exchange daughter, Alia from Malaysia, here and it was a great semester with her.  Greg and I shared our first kiss in the living room and decided to get engaged in this house... I let Leah ride her bike into town independently here.  I had a really amazing start to my career at the local library, where I got to work for three years and became known as a leader in my field to a certain extent, which allowed me to get the dream job I really, really desperately wanted.  We've starred in shows and enjoyed the local festival, I learned about gardening and landscaping, we built an amazing fairy garden, and of course, we weathered the virus in relative safety.

Leah and I 'tattooed' our house in Virginia when we left--we found an out of the way spot where we could sign the wall and left our mark where we don't think it will be discovered.  We did the same tonight (with Greg), so that a piece of us will remain here.  I'm so, so grateful I had a chance to live in the house of my dreams.  I honestly didn't take a single moment of my time in this home for granted, and it's over far too soon.  I hope the new owner loves and honors and cherishes it like I did...  It deserves it.  

Finally, I thank all of you who had a part in our lives here.  When I leave tomorrow, with tears in my eyes to be sure, I hope you know I'll be thinking of you all with gratitude, and maybe a bit of awe.  This is not an easy place to live sometimes, but you have all made it much easier on me.  It's not goodbye, it's merely "see you later"... 

The Final Push

Tonight is our last night at #17.  Tomorrow, we head out on the open highway and by Tuesday, almost all traces of our time here will be erased when the movers and cleaner come, the septic and leech field guys do their thing, and we close this chapter on our lives.

The last ten days or so have been incredibly stressful.  We hosted a huge moving sale last weekend, and I thought we had gotten rid of everything there was to get rid of.  Little did I know!  Thankfully Greg's mom and dad were able to come up and provide much needed organizational support--I had thrown everything in a lump on the garage and it was all chaotic and disorganized.  Greg's dad did a lot of moving, his mom was good at categorizing and organizing, and then I was able to go through when they lost steam and price everything.  Good teamwork!  Once the sale was done, we took our leftovers to "Aunt Dorothy", a local woman who runs a huge sale every year to benefit the local nursing home residents.  And all week, we've been bringing her things.  It's wild. 

On Monday, we took Greg's car in for service, which wound up needing an extra day due to some repairs, which meant we were a one car family for several days, because after we got his car back, my car went in.  That meant driving both Greg and Leah to school and back, as well as trying to navigate pick up of the cars.  

Also Monday was our last Lion's Club meeting and I will miss those people so much <3  It was the first club I joined after I got home, and I was welcomed with open arms.  I have enjoyed serving with them and spending time with them, and I hope to keep in touch with many of them even from afar!

Thursday morning, my car was still in the shop, and I had to travel to nearby Carthage to sign the sale papers on my house, so I had to get my dad's car, go sign the paper work (40+ minutes each way for an 8 minute appointment!), pick my dad up, we drove to get my car, and then finally home.

On Thursday evening, our moving company called to say they couldn't do our move after all.  This left us 72 hours to get ourselves together and find a new way of moving our gear.  We ultimately found another moving company, only to have the charges declined on Greg's card.  He called his card company, and they have placed a 7-14 day security hold on his bank card, which meant having to use other funds (which we had available, thankfully!) to pay for the move.  UN-fortunately, however, we won't get the points from his card for our honeymoon next year!  Doubly unfortunately, our gear will not arrive for 4-21 days.  Anyone care to guess that ours probably won't arrive for 21?  So we had to scramble our packing plans--we'd gone from "Pick up Sunday and deliver Thursday" to "Pick up Tuesday and deliver sometime before mid-June".  

On Friday, both Greg and Leah finished school for the year.  Greg graduated with his AAS in land surveying technology.  Leah is no longer a sixth grader.  Leah also finished the sixth grade production of The Wizard of Oz, in which she had the lead role of Dorothy.  I'm so proud of them both.  It was a tough year for Greg especially, and I know Leah is sad saying goodbye to the kids she has been friends with for the 3 1/2 years that we have been here.  She had the benefit of a small school and a small group of kids who welcomed her into their midst so warmly.  She has had a great time at Clifton-Fine, even if I wasn't always satisfied with the way things were being done. haha

So to celebrate, on Friday night, we sparked up our fire pit and roasted hot dogs and marshmallows, chased each other with the house, sword fought with sticks, and generally let out a lot of emotion. 

Sword fighting and fire in the yard--we live on the edge!

So then, I finally had some help getting packed.  And we had 48 hours to pack, because despite the moving snafus, we still have to leave tomorrow morning because of our closing on Thursday morning on the South Dakota house.  And because I didn't correctly estimate how much stuff we actually owned, our bill shot up a few hundred dollars, and we've been trying to cram as much as we possibly can into our cars, while leaving Greg plenty of open space for the cats, who are all traveling in style in the Gregmobile.  

Today was a whirlwind of packing--we had a massive mountain of clothing.  So much so that we actually donated eight giant trash bags full and still have filled a bunch of space bags and suitcases!  We sat down to dinner at 8pm, sandwiches from the local convenience store, and ate on 'the good china'.  I can't even remember the last thing I actually cooked here!  

Dinner on the 'good china' our last night in NY

My dad has wanted to spend as much time with us as possible, and we've been without basic supplies or food, so we've been running up and down the hill to his place to eat meals, watch football (SDSU was in a championship game of some sort but lost by 2 points :( ), and play games. We've also had people in and out to get furniture, much of which we wound up giving away, and a cleaner in to give us an estimate because we won't be able to clean after our stuff leaves.  Plus friends and neighbors have come over to say goodbye.    It's been an absolute whirlwind.

That's the mechanics of our last week in NY.  The emotions I'll cover in a second post...  Because I have a lot of them.  I've been waiting for this weekend since the end of March when I went to Pierre.  Now that it's here, I can't believe how much we've had to do!  Holy smokes, it's been crazy.  I can't wait to get out there and maybe be able to relax a smidgen--albeit on the floor as we'll have no furniture.   But we'll be there, and that's what will matter.  See you all from SD!

Starting to Plan a Life

Our lives in Pierre are slowly starting to take shape.  Here in NY, we are finishing--we accepted an offer on our house this week, and the packing is coming along nicely.  The garage is full of yard sale treasures and it's much fuller than our shed of keep items (that will change, I'm quite sure!).  I packed all the baking items! :-(  Officially no more baking till the other side!

What's exciting to me is making plans on the other end!  We actually have South Dakota dates penned on our calendar at home.  I can't wait for some of this good stuff...

On May 19, we will finally get to see our house in person!  On May 20, we will close on our little cottage in the city and on May 21, we will have our stuff delivered.  We'll spend the weekend trying to get somewhat organized, and then the real fun begins!

I start work on May 24th.  It will be the first time, I realized today, that I have worked full time in 12 years.  I am both excited and terrified to have a real schedule, and my own work space, which I have never, ever had in my professional life--it's always been shared space.  Funny what a luxury my own cube seems!

Mary sent me the Zesto recipe calendar for May.  Zesto is the local ice cream joint and on May 24, we will definitely be enjoying blackberry ice cream--it's like they knew we were coming!  On May 25, the local Expedition League baseball team, the Pierre Trappers, has its home opener for the season, and I bought Greg season tickets for his May 27 birthday, so we have a fun family activity to do throughout the summer.

Mary also clued me in to Oahe Days, a local arts and music festival with a small rodeo and carnival and food trucks, which sounds like so much fun!  So that is on our June calendar. 

Since we'll be living kind of right downtown, we've been mapping everything for walking and biking, and I think we're going to manage to be much more active.  Leah has already charted a course for the local grocery and convenience stores for snack runs, as well as the Y and the library so she won't be stuck home all summer.  This brings with it a lot of fear for me, letting her zip around alone, but I'll get her a phone plan and she'll be under strict instructions to keep me posted on her whereabouts.  

Right now I am, if I'm being honest, struggling with sitting around waiting to get moved and going.  Our reasons for waiting are valid--Leah is performing in her last show here at her current school and she's got the lead role.  Greg has two weeks of college left.  We need to get the house in order for our buyer.  There's so much to do, it's not worth rushing.  But boy do I want to! 

Just a short update for you all, and sorry there are no interesting pictures, but I hope you've enjoyed getting a little local flavor of life in Pierre for now!