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!