Last month The Book Wheel (meaning me) relocated from North Carolina to Colorado. It was a big move, but one my husband and I have been planning for the past year. The reason we moved was because I finished my degree in Political Science and will be attending graduate school. We were lucky in that my husband found a job out west much more quickly than we had expected, and so he and my brown dog, Oliver, headed out a few weeks before me. I stayed behind with our other dog, Penny, so that I could finish up the last few weeks of school.
Penny, my co-pilot
Having my husband move out before me was both a blessing and a curse. On the one had, it was nice to have absolutely zero distractions as I finished up final papers and projects and studied for exams. But it also meant that all of our stuff went out on the moving truck without me, which left me with a couch, a mattress on the floor, and a TV that survived a fire (the evidence of which was the smoke burns on the side). With the help of my parents, sisters and Skype, I was able to weather the final few weeks alone and begin the trek cross-country.
I left on a Sunday afternoon and arrived on Tuesday night. I traveled through the Smoky Mountains in North Carolina, Nashville, Southern Illinois, Missouri, the entire width of Kansas and half of Colorado. I learned that Kansas is a lot more hilly than I had expected and that St. Louis was pretty spread out. I stopped in Manhattan, Kansas, to have coffee with a friend from NC and listened to Killing Kennedy: The End of Camelot on audiobook.
Kansas City Public Library
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I also stopped at a few other places along the way. The first was the Kansas City Public Library, which has an entire wall made out of two-story book spines. I didn’t go in because I had my dog and I may or may not have been parked illegally in order to get an amazing picture. I also saw signs for the Eisenhower Library and stumbled upon his home and resting place in Abilene, Kansas. And let’s not forget driving through the miles and miles of the nation’s largest wind farm in Kansas. Every time I thought I had passed it, another 5 miles of them popped up!
Here are some photos from my cross-country adventures:
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Congrats on the move from one beautiful state to another! We live in NC and love it here! Best of luck in grad school.
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Thank you! It’s very different here, but I think it’s different for the better!
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Penny looks so tiny in that picture! You’d never guess she was a dog whose favorite place to be scratched is on her hind legs – meaning she sticks her butt in your face until you scratch her hind legs!
I’m glad you came here!!!!!! See you tomorrow!
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She does look quite small and angelic in that picture. It’s all for show!
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I wish you all the best with your new life!.. Congratulations to your husband on getting a new job and to you for completing your degree!. Penny is absolutely adorable. it sounds intimidating traveling all that distance alone. Have a lovely new life in a new place..
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Thank you so much! The trip was fairly easy, with the exception of a strange brown recliner that I swear rocked on its own in a hotel room in Boonville (real name, I swear!)
Moving always brings up mixed emotions in me … I’d love to move to a different place, or a different house, but in the end I always love my home. Still, that feeling of adventure would be nice.
I wish you luck with settling in!
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I know what you mean! My husband and I plan to settle down out here and didn’t intend to stay in our last place forever, so this is both an adventure AND finding a home
Hi,
I’m here because I follow Love at first book too, and she talks a lot about your blog!
Well, I found this journey exciting, for me (I’m Spanish), these photos you show are like a movie!! I had seen the ones of the library, because it’s very famous, but the rest make me thing about films, I can’t help it!!
Good luck in your new house.
Your dogs are very cute!!
Bye!!
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Thank you for coming by! I love Love at First Book, so I’m glad we can share people
I’m glad you enjoyed the pictures, but don’t let my dogs deceive you. They might be cute, but they are quite the handful!
hehehe, I know, I had a dog some years ago
But in the photo, with her teddy duck… it’s tender!
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Looks like it was a great trip! Hope you enjoyed KC and got a little BBQ while you were here, too
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I had a great time in KC, although the downtown was a bit difficult to navigate. I ended up ahead of schedule and didn’t stay overnight like I had planned, so I missed the BBQ
But my parents said it was delicious!
Moving is such an adventure! A messy, expensive, mind numbing adventure at times
Great road trip though! Love the pictures 
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Haha, yes. It was all of those things. And also something everyone should do at least once!
great pictures. Love those library pictures. We were stationed at Ft. Carson, CO and now my brother and his family live near there. They love living out there. We spent more time in Topica, KS (Had a wrek there) passing thru back and forth to Indiana. Never saw those libraries. Wow. I love the way they did that.
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I hope you were all okay after the wreck! If you make the drive again, I recommend the libraries.