the big move: part 1 of 6

Well ladies and gentlemen, it’s officially official.  The Ruperts are making the move to Austin.  To some this may come as a shocking surprise, to some a mournful dirge, but maybe there’s one person out there who is saying “That’s great! Here’s a thing of Jell-o!”

But this isn’t the sappy post where we ball our eyes out and profess our love of each and every Los Angelino – I’m talking about you “Next Door Neighbor Fletch House of Cholos”.  This is just the beginning of a long process of getting us (and our stuff) out East.  We’ll save all the weeping and gnashing of teeth for anther day.

Our trip got broken up into 2 parts.  A trip to Phoenix, then to Austin.

In Phoenix, We saw Jessie’s little brother Tim marry his girlfriend-since-college, Jen.  It was a gorgeous wedding and a charming event.  On a personal level, it really redeemed the city of Phoenix for me.  Who knew there were really cool and beautiful places in Phoenix!?  But seriously, we’re really happy for them and wish them the best and can’t wait to hang out with The Conklins.

The next part of our trip was a long 16 hour drive to Texas. We loaded up the Scion full of boxes and things from our garage and now it’s here safe and sound.  The drive was long and grueling and can be summarized in 3 bullet points:

• From Phoenix, AZ to Las Cruces, NM there was a constant 30mph headwind.
• Pep Boys at Exit 28A in El Paso, TX is worthless.
• We almost hit a deer near Fredericksburg, TX at 3am.  Missed by inches.  Scary.

But we finally arrived at 4am to the Walton residence and passed out soon thereafter.   Last night, I disavowed all my hippy PETA-based “Animals should be allowed to roam free” theories in a single second.  Other than that, it was a pretty eventless trip across America.

We’ll be back in LA on Sunday.  Leaving my Scion in Austin, we’ll be a one-car-family until we move all of our stuff out to Texas later this summer.  We know, we know, “moving to Texas in the Summer?!? bad idea!” – but sometimes you gotta play the cards you’re dealt.  Until then, we’re looking forward to packing things and hanging out with our friends.