Redding, California

Yup.  Redding, California.  That's where we are right now.  We're tucked in, nice and cozy in a hotel that accepts pets.  The Bean is taking Max out for a last-minute walk (Dog, please, PLEASE empty your pea-sized bladder and make it through the entire night without having to go pee), and the cats are creeping around, finally starting to look a little less terrified now that the kids are completely asleep and the room is quiet.

You know, on a similar note... Please wish me luck.  I am not looking forward to trying to shove those cats in their cat carriers in the morning.  We managed it smoothly this morning because we had the element of surprise on our hands.  I don't think Coyote and Fat Cat are stupid, so I think they'll know what's coming as soon as I try to grab them in the morning.

I hope I don't lose a finger.

It's been a long day, and I had a lot of time to think, since I didn't have the radio to distract me.  Well, let me rephrase that: I was playing a CD and music was coming out of the speakers, but a certain little DragonMonkey had an absolute meltdown when I tried to play anything but Bingo, so that's what we listened to.

Bingo.

I listened to Bingo for the vast majority of 600 miles.

Are there any "How I Met Your Mother" fans out there?

Remember this scene?





I'm actually in a good spot with Bingo right now.  This is a good thing, because I imagine I'll get several more hours of it tomorrow.

Farmer Brown, he had a dog, and BINGO was his naaaaame-o!

Anyways.  

As I sat there, alone with my thoughts and the 973rd repetition of Bingo, I actually composed quite a few posts for this blog.  I thought of some funny ones, with witty anecdotes... some serious ones, full of bittersweet, nostalgic memories...

....And I even mentally composed some long-overdue ones.

Last Sunday (as in, Sunday the 20th, a week and a half ago) Knott's Berry Farm sent me to Soak City OC.

I had one of the best times of my life there.... It was, hands down, an absolutely incredible day.

In fact, it was so incredible that I knew I didn't want to just write a quick, silly post about it... I wanted to do the place justice.

So I put off writing about it for a day or two.

And then I caught the Bohemian Death Flu... or a sinus infection... or some kind of creeping-Ebola-Flesh-Eating-Infection-of-the-Lungs.  To be honest, maybe it was all three.  Suffice it to say, I was sick.

I was sick on my last day of work.

I was sick when The Bean graduated.

I was sick through the final two days of packing.

I was sick on the day we loaded the truck (U-Ship...much cheaper than a POD.)

I was sick on the day the truck left for Portland, a day later than we had planned, held up by the fact that I was completely useless for close to a week.

Anyways, I'm feeling better now, and I've been writing posts in my mind all day.... I've got the Knott's post all mentally planned-out and ready to go...

And, honestly, I'm not going to get to it for a day or two.

Sorry, Knott's.  If it helps, I feel bad about it.

If it really helps, I can tell all of you out there in the SoCal area:  GET A SEASON PASS.  I'm a little annoyed that I didn't really find out about this place until the week before I moved.  I mean, I knew it was there, but I just never really went.  So if you live near it, and were waiting to see what I had to say about it... quit waiting.  Go.  Really.

Okay, I still feel guilty, but that's going to have to do for now.

Anyways, I know this isn't my most thrilling post ever, but hey, I've been up since 2:45 this morning, and spent most of that day listening to Bingo and the boys.  Although they did WAY better than I expected, Squid and the DM alternated between whining, crying, and just being generally loud and needy.  They're little, and it's a lot of time to be stuck in a carseat so I don't blame them... but that doesn't mean I'm not secretly daydreaming of running away and joining a nunnery where everyone has to take a vow of silence.... sweet, sweet, blessed silence.....

The Bean will be back any moment with Max, so I'm going to finish putting all of our stuff together.  2:45 in the morning is absurdly early, but it buys me a few short hours of quiet driving time before the boys wake up around 6:30 or 7.

I'm looking forward to crossing the border and getting my first glimpse of Oregon.

I'm also looking forward to seeing what Portland looks like.

And if I'm completely honest, I'm most interested in seeing what my new house looks like.  We never got a full set of pictures from the realtor, and The Bean's camera broke and ate all the pictures he took, so I only have a vague idea of what the full layout is actually like. I'm not picky, so I'm sure I'll love it... but the suspense is killing me.

Well, it won't have to bother me much longer.  If all goes well we should be HOME by mid afternoon tomorrow.

Here's to my last day of being a Californian!