I can drive two thousand miles

For those who might still be unaware, we have moved/are moving from lovely Central New York to lovely north Idaho. Jeremy will be doing his dissertation research in the region, so we'll be living there for the next two years. We had not anticipated moving the family in shifts, but with my higher risk for preterm delivery I needed to get established with my new OB in Idaho as soon as possible. Clara and I have been gone from Syracuse for two weeks, and Jeremy will join us when he finishes teaching his summer course at SU--a riveting six weeks on "America and the Global Environment."

Anyway, Clara and I are currently enjoying the comforts of home at my parents' house after an extremely long trip across these United States and a few stressful days in Coeur d'Alene visiting the doctor and looking for a place to live. But now Clara and I have a place to go back to later in the month, and we will be pleased as punch when Jeremy joins us!

My mom mercifully joined us for our long drive across the country. I don't know whether anyone was monitoring weather in the midwest a week and a half ago, but we managed to be driving across Nebraska during a horrific storm. We even ended up driving through standing water in a little town where we'd stopped for lunch. I wish I'd taken a picture, but we more or less looked like this:

All right, there's a chance I'm exaggerating, but the whole day was totally unnerving, and it took us nearly 14 hours to travel what should've taken us about 10. Miserable. The next day was equally rainy, but on our last day of travel between Montana and Idaho the sun came out and lit upon the splendor that is Coeur d'Alene, and I took it as a sign of good things to come. I don't think my mom has many pleasant memories of our road trip. When I said, "Well, I guess I can never ask you to drive across the country with me again," she just said, "That's not true. You could ask..." Mmm-hmmm. Oh well. Clara was amazingly well behaved, although I think she was more or less broken by the time we finally arrived. She didn't even seem to have the will to fuss; she just sat in her carseat and slept or stared out the window. Sad.

At any rate, we are all surviving, we are grateful for our blessings, and we cannot wait to be reunited in a few weeks! In the meantime, enjoy some pictures of the happier moments on the roadtrip of infamy:

Clara enjoying a stretch break in Kirtland, Ohio.

Throwing "yocks" (rocks) into the water. This girl loves her yocks.


At a rest stop somewhere.


A break at the BK, also somewhere along the route between New York and Idaho.


Enjoying Memorial Day in Coeur d'Alene.


Enjoying some grandpa time. Clara may possibly love "gampa" more than she loves me. Only time will tell...