Jessie was particularly interested in looking for furniture while we were still in Colorado Springs, which in retrospect was SUPER smart because we'd have to buy almost everything new in Del Rio, whereas in Colorado Springs we were gonna be able to benefit from the amazing-ness of cragslist. We were able to get a couch, a nice wooden futon, a huge solid oak dining room table and a set of bed side tables for just ridiculously good prices. So we just about doubled the amount of stuff (by volume) that we owned.
So awesome story about the red couch you see in the picture. The guy listed this "formal living room" couch for $100 bucks on craglist and said that it was hardly used. We rushed over there and checked it out. It was pretty nice, and was definitely worth more than the $100 he wanted for it. We chatted a bit and I mentioned that we just got married and that I was in the military. We loaded the couch up and headed back home to drop it off. Jessie had a CPR class that night and so I was alone when I got another email from cragslist from this guy. It said "Hey, can you swing back by. My wife and I know how hard it can be starting off being married. We'd like you to give $50 back." I was shocked. Amazed. Stunned. "Are you sure? We agreed on $100." I wrote back, and he said that he was sure. I was so moved by that kind gesture. I hope I never forget that.
My dad's retirement ceremony was that week too, so I dug out my officer service dress and stole a bunch of the accouterments from Jessie's old cadet service dress, because I couldn't find my stuff. But eventually we made it. It was really cool to go with all my siblings and see the office where my dad did all his "cyber security" stuff. The ceremony was very nice, and my dad's boss had some really nice words to say about my dad's career. At one point it almost turned into a cheesy version of Oprah when the boss would ask my dad to "tell us a little bit about...", but it was all good. It was fun to be presented as Lt and Mrs Henderson!
We got the truck from Penske, which was a way better deal than U-haul for our move. We loaded up a few things that night, but the majority of it we left until we had help. The next day, Friday, we had some help come over: the family, the missionaries and Jessie's friend Emily Freeh and her fiancee, Stephen. Ya, that was confusing, whatever. We got everything all loaded up as not crazily as possible and we were set to go...or so we thought.
I mean driving a truck up onto the towing trailer can't possibly be that difficult and putting a couple things in the cab of the truck can only take a minute, right? Ah, right! Think again. You're trying to baby the truck up onto the ramp because you don't wanna gun it and end up with the truck on top of all of our stuff in the moving truck, and also because the motorcycle is the back of the pickup truck (strapped down). Eventually I get it up there with some help, but then the worst part comes. Securing the truck to the trailer was a sinch, but putting the "few" things into the cab of the truck turned into quite the puzzle of where and how to arrange things because of course the last "few" things a) took up all of the space of the cab of the truck, b) were some of the most fragile things we own, and c)were also some of the heaviest things we owned. That took some arranging. But we finally got it done. And we hit the road. We climbed up into the cab of the moving truck and waved goodbye as we pulled out of the neighborhood.
Over the next two days we drove a little over 800 miles to our new home here on Laughlin AFB, TX. We were having an enjoyable drive chatting, listening to the radio, and just being excited about being "big kids" now, until we got into TX. The next morning we enjoyed the hotels breakfast. I looked down at the waffle iron, and was like, man that's a weird shape, but it wasn't until the waffle came out that it dawned on me, "oh, deary...it's a Texas-shaped waffle iron". Welcome to Texas.
We spent the rest of the morning and most of the afternoon driving through arguable the boringest part of Texas. I mean, we're talking no cars around us and nothing around us but...well nothing. Fields and oil wells. Ya, not too exciting. But as we got a little closer to Del Rio it actually got really pretty. We drove along this river (not the Rio Grande) for a while and the vegetation got really thick and it was really neat. Then we drove up and down all these cool hills, and then once we came out of the hills we got on the road, highway 90, that takes you into Del Rio, or San Antonio if you take it an extra 150 mi.
We were both nervous about seeing Del Rio for the first time. But as we drove down the main drag we were actually really impressed. It was really very nice looking. We made it to the base okay. We checked in at the hotel and called it a night.
The next couple days were nuts. Both of us had to check-in with our jobs, I had to do a ton of running around all over the base trying to do everything you need to do (like update your ID, file travel vouchers for the move, get medical screenings, etc.), we had to go sign the lease for our house, unload our moving truck, return the moving truck, go to church, get ready to go to Ukraine for a language TDY, get internet, go to work, unpack, etc. You know, just a couple little things. Although it was crazy at times, I was really pleasantly surprised how much we were able to get done before I left for Ukraine.
I'm super excited to be here in Del Rio with the love of my life. It'll be great. I definitely look forward to our life together, and it starts, for reals, here.
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