We're in Missoula...

We left (finally) the Seattle area last night much later than hoped. Thanks to mom (Selma) we were able to leave at all. She helped so graciously throughout the move as did Dad, even bringing us lunch one of the days, then coming back our last day there to help bag up the rest of the stuff to get it to the truck. Thanks again, Mom and Dad! Sister Jennifer as usual had a nack for showing up at just the right time. She took Daniel out for lunch with his cousins, Nick and Jake. I think Aaron felt we would move without him if he went to McDonald's with them, so he stayed home with us and helped pack and load. We also had some last minute/day assistance from three neighbor boys, Clifton, Michael, and Benjamin. They saved a few backs I'd say with all their many trips up and down the stairs.

We reminded ourselves how nice it was to have rented a 26-foot truck instead of the 17-foot model. We needed about 25 1/2 feet of it. Remember that old warning on product labels, i.e. "Some settling may occur in transit?" That was the case with us. More later. I was finding some trouble in getting the parking brake to engage on the truck and without it, it just rolls. It kept giving the "service parking brake" light, so I mentioned it to the U-Haul location before leaving. They changed a "relay" in the engine compartment, which seemed to resolve it then. They loaded up our Blazer for us on the auto transport and we pulled out of town in the early evening. We ended up in Snoqualmie as I was starting to nod off and didn't feel safe behind the wheel much longer. The Summit Lodge is a great place to stay if anyone needs it while skiing up there... Once we arrived, I had to go into the truck to get some clothes for the boys and found several objects had "settled" in transit, including a rocking chair that wanted to come out prematurely. I could tell how bad it was last night and today by how hard it was to open the door in the back. I would gingerly raise the door while peering underneath for any impending avalanche of belongings. Everything's reorganized now, though.

We pulled in to Missoula tonight around 9:30 pm and have scheduled our wake up call for 5:30. We had pizza delivered to the room just now at midnight and are ready to hit the sack. We'd like to be on the road again by 7:00 am tomorrow. We have figured 565 miles or so to Glendive, Montana which should put us there by evening, much earlier than we arrived tonight. I've been paying about $60.00 per fill up, which is about half a tank on the U-Haul. Andrew, on the other hand, payed something like $7.00 at his fill up in Post Falls, Idaho. I'm glad I'm not a full-time truck driver... I was unable to figure out posting of pictures to our blog, so I set up an MSN group for people to see. Let me know if you didn't get the address. I couldn't remember everyone's e-mails to send it to, unfortunately.

Hope all is well with everyone at Chase Lake and all of our family. We appreciate your thoughts and prayers as always as we make it across the remainder of Montana tomorrow. Of note is we didn't have to chain up at all in the Cascades or the mountains in getting to Missoula. Snow is forecast in the afternoon around Missoula, but we'll be gone by then.

A day behind, but still focused on the ball...

We worked hard all weekend getting the truck packed up, but weren't able to get it all done on schedule. We got a lot of help from the folks, sister Angie (watching the boys all day today while Nana watched them for us Saturday), and two neighbor boys from the apartment complex. I was amazed at their exuberance to help and with seemingly tireless effort. The nice part now is we're down to mostly just furniture and we still have at least half the truck bed empty to fit all of it in. Tomorrow marks our last day of DSL service, so we will be officially disconnected from the Internet for the time being, at least until we find a connection on the road somewhere. What the above means is we're spending Monday gathering the remaining odds and ends together and loading up the large furniture (No grand pianos...yet - There's always room for my cello, though). We downsized last night from an old 27-inch TV to a six-inch black and white from the 1970s. We will then spend the remainder of the day cleaning, vacuuming, steam cleaning the carpets, etc., and will then spend ONE more night sleeping on the floor this time and depart Seattle early on Monday morning. We just have to stop off in Tacoma to pick up brother Andrew's stuff and will then be on our way (once and for all). Hope all who read this are well and have a pleasant week while we're on the road.

Oops... Forgot about the fish...

We were in a quandary up to the last two days as to what to do with our many fish. We bought a 46-gallon aquarium just months ago, not knowing we'd be moving so far away so soon. We had upwards of 12 fish or so, including black phantoms, neon and lemon tetras, and a couple of speckled ones Aaron picked out and dad didn't manage to catch the name of at the pet store. We found a home for one of the black phantoms and the two red and blue neon tetras in Mrs. Alseth's fish tank at Chase Lake (Aaron's kindergarten teacher a couple of years ago). As her tank is on the small side, we maxed out with those fish and had to find a home for the rest. With only one day's grace left, the head of our apartment complex's maintenance department came over and took them off our hands, having two tanks himself and apparently ours would be tiny compared to his. Hopefully not bait??!

The challenge in Minnesota will be keeping the water level constant in the tank. The winters are so dry there, it will likey evaporate half it's volume every 48 hours if not sooner...

One day left to pack...

Here we are already at Friday and we pick the truck up tomorrow. I learned a valuable lesson when dealing with rental truck companies, i.e. U-Haul. Never take the initial quote at face value. Always ask for a better deal! They quoted me initially $2,200+ for a 17-foot truck way back in November. When they caught wind I was going with Budget, they changed their tune to a tidy $1,713.00, a hundred less than Budget with an auto transport for our Blazer thrown in. About a week ago I took a look close up at the 17-foot truck just to be sure it would be adequate. It was obvious it wasn't going to handle all we've accumulated over the years, so we started giving stuff away, i.e. bookcases, computer monitor, clothing, etc. After a few hundred dollars of freebies, I figured, "this is nuts" and called U-Haul. I asked them to "make me a deal I can't refuse" and they agreed to rent me a 24-foot at only about $150 more whereas it normally would rent for $700.00 more. It's pretty clear that they have rather arbitrary prices at U-Haul, so be sure to ask for a better deal if you ever get in the same situation and don't take no for an answer! There's tons of trucks just sitting around collecting dust and I figure they'd rather have them on the road for something than sitting at home for nothing...

Aaron and Daniel said their goodbyes at Chase Lake Elementary School including their teachers, Ms. Kane, Ms. Harrison, Ms. Walmsley, and Aaron's kindergarten teacher, Mrs. Alseth. We'll miss seeing so many others there too including Mrs. Moe, Ms. Nilson (sp?), Mr. Spooner, Mr. Press, and the other numerous educators and assistants such as Ms. Sherry (sp?), Mrs. Marritt (sorry, but Aaron had a hard time spelling that one) and all the wonderful staff at Grow With Us we've come to know since Aaron's first year in kindergarten. The boys will grow and make new friends in their school in Thief River Falls, but we'll always remember you all that gave Aaron and Daniel a solid start on their educations. Believe it or not, we only moved down to Edmonds from Everett to get Aaron and Daniel into Chase Lake so they could see their grandpa during the day, but there was so much more Chase Lake offered beyond "a hug and/or kiss from grandpa." Thank you to all!

We will probably be disconnecting computers tomorrow, so if we can find a wireless connection along the way, we will update you again on the road. Otherwise, we'll pick up once we get there and hooked up on the other side. Best wishes to all reading this and we appreciate your thoughts and prayers as we finally embark Monday morning on our journey. I'm counting on a few prayers at St. James, Wil!

Whoa Doggie! That's some COLD weather...

As of 4:30 a.m. Central Standard Time, it is registering 32 below zero and the "feels like" temperature is 47 degrees below zero. For you Jack London fans, it's getting reminiscent of "The Call of the Wild" over there...

Chains?? We don't need no stinkin' chains!!

Well...I just talked with an old schoolmate from Minnesota and he happened to clue me in on the state of affairs of winter driving in the snow and ice of Minnesota. Turns out driving with either chains or studded tires in the frozen tundra of Minnesota is illegal (go figure). So it appears the four-wheel drive may come in handy this winter... Kind of weird that Seattle with its two inches a year would allow chains/studded tires and a state that measures its snow fall in FEET wouldn't allow either. Perhaps we'll have to check out a used snowmobile?

As for our progress in moving, we've narrowed down the game plan for packing to ensuring one room per day this week is packed and ready to go. If we do one a day, we should be ready by Saturday with only minor clean up to do. How much more fun it will be to unpack on the other side!

Another day to get used to Minnesota weather...

We thought the snow was over here in Lynnwood, but today it was back. We're another day closer to leaving and the day brought some changes with organization. We finally got rid of our entertainment center. It was taking up one of the walls in our apartment leaving no room for putting boxes we've packed already. The ironic thing is who the furniture went to. I found a downstairs neighbor in our apartment building named Shannon and she said her brother-in-law, James, was looking for one to surprise his significant other, Lisa.... Go figure. I must've knocked on a dozen doors before finding a taker. They came over this afternoon and took it away in pieces so now we have a wide open wall in the living room to organize all the boxes against. We should be able to get some "power packing" done now!

Brother Andrew, Daniel, and I (Jim) went to the Army/Navy surplus in Lynnwood and picked up some cold weather gear. Daniel looked cute in a sailor's cap and a beret, though a bit small. Andrew picked out a cool surplus German Luftwaffe insulated flight suit/coverall, so he should be ready for snowmobiling or just about any cold weather recreation. He was sweatin' within about 30 seconds of trying it on in the store. I'm thinking the locals where we're headed, though, won't have much trouble recognizing what country the flag patch is from on his shoulders. That's pretty much all to report at this point... Onward and upward.

Some background for "non-Hustads/O'Donnells."

I thought it might make sense as a first post to give a little background to the broader audience who may be visiting this blog site. We (Jim, Lisa, Aaron, Daniel, and "Brother Andrew") are moving to a town of between 8,000 to 10,000 people (roughly) in the cold Northwestern corner of Minnesota by the name of Thief River Falls or "Thief River" to the locals. It lies about 40 miles due East of Grand Forks, North Dakota for you geography buffs, so it sits pretty close to the border of Minnesota and North Dakota and about 130 miles below Canada. Why are we moving there?? Because I grew up as a boy on a small wheat farm outside of town there, having moved from there to Seattle back in 1982. As they say, you can take the boy out of the country, but you can't take the country out of the boy... Our goal in moving there is to provide the kind of slower paced life I enjoyed as a child to our boys, Aaron and Daniel (8 and almost 6). It is the kind of community where most people know someone who knows you, so in a nutshell, it's a place to call "home," not just where you happen to live. We have purchased a turn of the century home in town there in what looks to be a quiet residential neighborhood. It's a four bedroom/two bath home. Many of you have already seen the pictures. If you haven't, let me know and I'll send you a couple. My intention is to post at least every other day as we make our journey to Minnesota beginning in just over a week, wireless connections permitting in the hotels. Feel free to come back from time to time and see what's new, adding whatever comments you would like as well. We appreciate your interest in our adventure!