Thursday, May 22, 2008

Bye Bye to the Lou and Hello Boulder!

May 1st finally arrived. I had to give an exam to my undergrad victimology class, grade them, calculate class grades, post them, and I was free to go. After that excitement, I met Janet Lauritsen for a last lunch at a nearby restaurant. I'll miss working in the same office as her - hopefully we can work together in spite of the move.

After lunch, I darted home and loaded the car with plants, parrots and plastic bins of stuff. It looked like a rolling terrarium! The birds and I then headed toward Kansas City. The goal was to get to KC (Olathe, Kansas really) and spend the night at the Dogfather's house. He and his wife graciously opened the house to my flock.

As we arrived, the sky was dark, churning and angry. The evening was spent in the basement listening to tornado sirens, hiding from tornadoes and straight-line winds. We didn't get as much sleep as I wished for, but at least everyone and everything was okay. That was not the case for many in the KC region. I won't miss tornadoes and assorted heinous Midwest weather.

We hit the road at about 6 am. An hour into the drive, the wind started - 60 mph+ crosswinds non-stop. I called friends to check the weather to make sure I wasn't driving into some worse weather, and I wasn't. The wind was so bad I had to drive with both hands on the wheel. Still, I swerved around like a drunk on the road. Tumbleweeds flew all around pummeling the car - some of them sticking to the grill. It was madness. Then the ground blizzard started as I was getting ready to exit Kansas. The lasted for hours. I was convinced the only thing that remained for the trip was some swarm attack of locusts. About 30 miles east of Denver the sky cleared and the winds stopped. It was a gorgeous day.





I arrived at the house to find Dave waiting outside for our arrival. He helped me unpack the car and put the birds in their new palaces.







They *love* their new cages, especially the play pens on top. I detected not even a moment of stress during the whole trip or the adjustment to their new home. Given that everything was done, we settled down for a happy hour at the house and relaxed. It was great finally being here.





No comments: