the big move: part two

Yes, we finally made it to Chicago. But, how you ask? Well, we were hoping to sell the car to the mechanic or find a local buyer in Palm Springs, but no such luck. So, the Monday morning after Thanksgiving we drove back to California to pick up Arthur. About halfway to Palm Springs the mechanic finally gave us a decent offer. At this point we thought it best to continue westward so we could sign over the title, pick up the cash, and...

say good-bye to Arthur one last time.

On our way back to Phoenix we stopped at the infamous Hayfield Rd. exit where only days before Arthur had died on us.

As you can see, the road abruptly ends and turns into desert.

So, once again, we literally were on the side of the road...

in the middle of nowhere.

It was like deja-vu,

but this time the desert did not defeat us and we continued on our journey.

The next morning, with only half of our belongings packed into various bags, suitcases and boxes, we headed to the airport. We had our sob story ready in case we were hassled about our luggage. We slightly resembled a couple of sherpas with our one suitcase, three duffle bags, one bike box, two carry-on items for Mike and three carry-on items for myself. Luckily, all bags were under the 50 pound weight limit (just barely). However, on top of the ridiculous luggage fees and the $80 it costs to fly with a bike box they also wanted to charge us an additional $50 because the bike was considered a third piece of luggage- cue sob story...and success! The check-in attendants graciously allowed us to gate check the suitcase for free. However, in our enthusiasm we forgot what was packed in that suitcase. As we're getting ready to go through security Mike asks if I need a plastic bag for any 3.5 ounce liquid containers I may be carrying and that's when it hits us - there is no way we're getting through security with the current contents of that suitcase.

We make a mad dash downstairs and frantically start looking for our bags. We spot the bike box - it has not gone through TSA screening yet. Cue sob story again. And success! As Mike uses a key to open up the bike box, I begin the arduous process of unpacking the suitcase. The TSA screener suspiciously eyes us as we repack the bike box with a bottle of wine, a bottle of gin, a bottle of Jamaican liquor, and three bottles of gourmet olive oils - you know, the important stuff.

We finally make it through security after our bags were selected for extensive screening.

As you can imagine, we were very happy for a non-eventful flight into Milwaukee.

During the hour and a half drive to the Chicago suburbs I began to wonder "What adventures do you, Chicago- new city of mine, have in store for me?"