MASSIVE UPDATE-A-MAH-JIGGER

I apologize for it being almost 2 months since I updated this. In all honesty for the majority of the time away I didn't have much to talk about beyond "I don't know when Josh is coming." "Benji is super cute" and "I'm bored." I figured none of that is particularly note-worthy or interesting, hence the lack of posts.
I ended up leaving Yuma to go back to Michigan by myself around the 11th of August. I had to move everything out of my apartment in East Lansing. All the paperwork and military b.s. hadn't been complete yet for Josh to be able to come with me so I came home alone. After moving out of my apartment on the 19th I was relocated to my parents house. It was nice to be home, but I got kinda stir crazy. The majority of my day I laid around and played with/watched Benji. I did spend sometime seeing family and friends in the evening, which was fun.
Over a month after I returned, Josh finally came home to pack all our stuff into a U-HAUL and drive it back down to Arizona. Unfortunately, the Marines only gave him 7 days away from work so he only had a couple days home. He arrived on Wednesday the 16th of September. That evening we went to my sister Laura's house for a get together after my grandmothers memorial service.
The next day we started loading up the U-HAUL. We had lunch with both sets of his grandparents, which was good since Dana, mother-in-law, makes delicious food and of course the company was nice. I had to take Benji to get some more of his puppy shots, including his rabies vaccine. He loves the baby food that the vet spoiled him with. After that, the day concluded with massive packing and then crashing. I'm still surprised that we were able to get everything into that seemingly tiny U-HAUL truck.
We started our journey that Friday, after giving final hugs goodbye. Josh's grandma dropped off some awesome maps, including one that had step-by-step directions. It took us a while to get around in the morning and we didn't end up leaving town until 2-ish. We drove down through Michigan down into Indiana. After many hours of driving, we decided to stop to sleep at the Drury hotel in Tarre Haute Indiana. The hotel was really nice and even had hot breakfast in the morning, which included make your own waffles! Yum :)!
Saturday we helped jump someones car then we started back on the road. We traveled through the rest of Indiana, the bottom part of Illinois, a tiny part of Missouri and 99% of Arkansas. This part of the trek included TWO bridges going over big rivers, one being the Mississippi. I spazzed out, which should go without saying, especially because I had to drive over one. UGGGHHHHH. Not. Cool. Beyond that the drive was smooth with the exception of a little bit of rain. That night we decided to stop at Texarkana Arkansas. This hotel did not have a waffle maker :(. I had some oatmeal. Hardly comparable with waffles, but you have to make due with what you are given.
After a good nights sleep, we continued on from Arkansas into Texas. If you didn't know the state of Texas is freakishly annoyingly GINORMAS!!!!!! You'd think that this massive state would be filled with a lot of different things to look at along with new scenery every so often. This is not that case. Texas consists of flat land with desert shrubbery, cows, oil pumps, occasional wind turbines, and the occasional town separated by nothingness from the rest of civilization. In Michigan, you'll have maybe 15-20 miles between towns at the most. The space in between towns in Texas is at least 50+ miles at least. There was the occasional gas station plopped by the side of the highway. Beyond that there were no signs of civilization anywhere with the exception of the semi-trucks and other cars on the highway. That night we stopped off at a hotel, maybe Comfort Inn, in Odessa Texas, a setting in season 1 Heroes for those who are fans. We had to sneak Benji in because they technically didn't accept pets. Thank god he is one of the most quiet dogs evar and didn't make a sound the entire time he was there. This hotel was extremely awesome because not only did it have a make your own waffle thingy, it had a Better Batter dispenser and the waffles came out as the shape of Texas. I was extremely amused by this.
Monday was thankfully our last day of traveling. We went from Odessa Texas through New Mexico to Yuma Arizona. New Mexico was just about as boring as Texas, though it had some mountains. We had to go up and down a couple big hills, but nothing compared to what we drove through last December. I would have died if we had to go up and down those slopes in the U-HAUL. We made it into Yuma around 10 p.m.
Road trips are fun, but I was definitely ready to be out of the U-HAUL for good. Benji did really good traveling. He slept a lot, but I made sure he drank water and tried to feed him when he wanted to eat.
When we arrived to the apartment we discovered that they had recently repaved the lower parts of the carports. The cement looked dry, but they were still blocked off. Because of this, all the cars that would be in the ports were on both sides of the street making it impossible to drive the U-HAUL through. We ended up parking it down the street.
Tuesday night we started unloading the truck...from down the street. Needless to say it was a major pain in the ass. Josh, with the assistance of the dolly, moved stuff from the dolly up to the car port. I carried what I could from the carport into the apartment. We got about half the truck emptied. The next day, they decided to reopen the car ports. All the cars that were on the street went back into the ports leaving the street open for driving. This made unloading the rest of the U-HAUL that night a lot easier. The rest of this week and now weekend we've been unpacking and putting things together. Once everything is set up and organized I promise I will take pictures and post them.
Phew...that was quite the massive update. I apologize for not doing this in smaller parts. I will make me updates much more frequent, cross my heart.
All this writing has worn me out. I might take a quick snooze with Benji, who is already napping on the couch. I'll be sure to write again this week. Keep your eyes peeled.

Current Location: Yuma, AZ
Time: 4:54 p.m.
Weather Conditions: 107 and clear
Quote/Lyric/Thought: “Every new beginning comes from some other beginning's end.”