PCS? What the WHAT?! Part 4 | Having Fun While Moving | My Hot Mess

PART 4 -- if you're behind Check out PART 1, PART 2, & PART 3 using the links.

Y'all, once the movers were gone. Hubby and I were STRESSED THE 'F' OUT. Not only did we have nothing in our house for a week, we also had the boys with NOTHING TO DO in the house for half a week.

You must be thinking to yourselves, "Four days aint bad ..."

But you're WRONG.

I'm sorry, but you are. LOL When you have two anxious little boys with only an iMac to keep them busy and a few small toys ... bickering, nit-picking, antagonizing, and arguing seemed to follow them like the plague.

Luckily, we did do a few "last things in Fayetteville," before they headed to grandparents for the summer.

Daddy took Nini and the boys to the beach one last time.

We made sure we said goodbye to the Librarians who helped teach the boys since birth (and say bye to "mr. bobo.")

And we took a final picture in front of the infamous "Market Square."

After all was said and done. The time finally came for the boys and Nini (gramma) to head on a plane to Colorado for two weeks (which then for another 2 weeks they'd head to Nevada for the other grandparents. We said our goodbyes and had some kisses and hugs and they were off.

And Mom and Dad just stood there.

In complete SILENCE! 

It was amazing!

At the airport saying goodbye.

A few more days in the hotel (with the dogs ... our other children) and then we hit the road. We knew we wanted to make the most of the long drive to Texas so we planned on stopping in certain places. We kinda played it by ear but knew we wanted to make this hassle of a PCS a vacation as much as possible. Especially since we didn't have the kids.

We could be US again.

Before handing over the keys of house to the new owners, I left them some of my plants as house warming gifts because a) it's nice to do and b) face it y'all I have a black thumb. Those things would've died in a heart beat with all the traveling

We would've left sooner but I had a business obligation on the 3rd of July and we decided to also stay for the 4th for one last hoorah! We hitched the trailer, with minor difficulties ... ISH... and we loaded up the animals for our great adventure to the mid-west.

Our free roaming cat DID NOT enjoy his leash. LOL He said "Nope."

So, the plan was to have the animals under a tarp (with lots of airflow) in the back of the pickup for the drive. But not more than an hour in and it was raining. So I had to sacrifice and put my iMac in the trailer, in the HUMIDITY, so that we didn't kill the animals. Guys ... I think animals are worse than children in the back seat for about two days worth of traveling! These guys were so anxious. Shivering, panting, and the cat was NOT happy about the crate. LOL I suggest getting Thundershirts to help with the anxiety ... or drugs. Drugs are cool too. (I kid ...)

Our first overnight stop was Montgomery, Alabama. We spent the night, stopped at the Capital and MLK's house and then we headed out. It was quick but at least we got to see some sights before hitting the road to our next destination.

Like I said above, we really didn't have a plan. We just kinda drove. I believe we decided to go down to New Orleans while we were in Alabama. 

Guys, my husband is a planner (ish) and I'm .... like not. LOL! 

My tip to you would be to plan a route. We did a lot of "Well, what do you want to do?" "I dunno, what do you wanna do?" We sounded like the damn vultures from the Jungle Book, until finally I said, "F it! It's my birthday weekend, we're doing what I wanna do!"

So? Whatcha Wanna Do? SEE VIDEO HERE

So onto New Orleans we headed! We wanted to do the tourists thing, but not like TOTAL tourist. We wanted to be more adventurous since we didn't have kids to worry about their safety or age restrictions sooooooo......

Okay, okay .... I mean... what else would you do childless?? ;)

We took in the sights of Bourbon Street and ate at a REAL adult restaurant and get this

TRIED GATOR!

That's a big deal for me cause I'm not food adventurous at all. LOL! And my hubby got his shrimp and of course had to stop by Bubba Gump Shrimp Co. where we had a drink before our haunted tour around the city.

 We ate some of this ... I can't remember the name but it's basically fried dough and it's amazing.

 
 
   

The following day we took a morning bike tour from Free Wheeling Bike Tours. Guys. YOU HAVE TO TAKE THESE TOURS!

Not only do you get to see parts of the city that many don't, you get an awesome tour guide that lives in, breaths in, and studies the city up and down. Like, they know their shit y'all! PLUS, they're a veteran owned business. I mean, HELLO?! Check 'em out for sure!

 After the tour, we headed on the road again! Next stop,  Starbucks ... I mean it was my birthday after all and just because we are traveling doesn't mean I don't get my
FREE BIRTHDAY TREAT!

But really, we were headed to San Antonio. I had been there numerous times, but my hubby never had been and he wanted to see the sights.

The Alamo!

Here we took a bus tour just so we could see all the tourist sites in the little amount of time we had.  We got slurpees to cool off with (we haven't had a 7Eleven in years) and got a Margarita to get us in the Mexican mind set at a fabulous restaurant. We didn't do much that would be labeled "cool adult stuff" BUT we did find an awesome Irish Pub, "Durty Nellys," on the Riverwalk and we hung out there and relaxed for a little bit.

After San Antonio, we really didn't know what we wanted to do. We thought about stopping at another place but we also just wanted to get to the house we are renting in El Paso too ... so we decided to play it by ear and see how we felt as we drove the final 8-9hours to our new home.

There is literally NOTHING between San Antonio and El Paso. We did see Fort Stockton on the map and thought, "hm, could be interesting." We even thought about staying over night.

But we were literally probably the ONLY customers this place had that day ... or like the whole month of July. LOL  Learn about Fort Stockton HERE.

Being a history buff, I thought it was interesting.

It was cool to see, to learn about it and check it out. But definitely not a place worth staying over night ... especially with the animals. We stretched our legs and then we decided to drive the remaining 4 hours to El Paso.

And then y'all .... we were finally HOME.

I definitely recommend you taking your time across the country when traveling. Make it a vacation of sorts because lord only know if we would have made it alive driving 2 days straight through. Either the dogs or we wouldn't have made it.

Also, HIGHLY recommend have the kids travel by plane and visit people (family or friends) while you get situated. That helped us out tremendously and we were able to be a couple again. It was nice. We missed the buggers ... but it was nice.

Next time, learn what were the first things we did when we got to our new home. Believe it or not, there ARE lists of what to do and what not to do!

Stay tuned!