Our Journey to Kansas City

Back in February we found out that Krzyztof was going to be transferred to Kansas City. What a whirlwind these past few months have been! After the initial shock wore off (Valerie was in complete denial at first) we started to plan for our new life out west. Ford offers a fabulous moving package complete with people who come pack our stuff, move it, and then unpack it, so we didn't have much packing to do. And we didn't have a lot of house projects to do either (unlike our move from Dearborn when we were painting gutters and completing electrical work among other things). What we did have to do was try to go all the places we love in the Carolinas before we left that beloved area of the country. So we wore ourselves out by going out of town for 6 weeks in a row throughout March and April. We took a house-hunting trip to Kansas City, visited the Outer Banks with some friends, went to Asheville, drove to Hilton Head for a baby shower and to see family, flew to Detroit to visit friends and family, and went to the cabin in the NC mountains (sadly the only time we'll get to go there this year). All that brought us to our moving weekend. We are sad to leave NC as we really enjoyed our life in Mebane, and we will miss our friends here!



Now for the moving...It took 3 men (professional packers/movers) 2 full days to pack our stuff. Moving really makes you realize how much stuff you have and makes you wonder why you have it. More than once we found ourselves thinking that having our possessions destroyed by fire or tornado (more on that later) would not be all that bad. The movers then loaded our stuff into the biggest 18 wheeler that they make (this is from the driver's mouth, not an exaggeration), and headed to Kansas. For some reason Krzysztof and I have 3 cars. Ford paid to have one car moved, and they would have moved a second car if it met this one criteria: the car has to be worth more than the cost to move it. Sadly our other 2 cars do not fit that description, so we both had to drive separately to Kansas. Thank goodness for audio books. In reality the drive wasn't that bad. Ford reimburses for mileage, and they require that you travel at least 250 miles per day, so that's what we did (with a pregnant 6.5 month pregnant wife as an excuse). We left on Monday, April 27th (This was after a full day of cleaning the house and magic erasing the walls - oh my aching arms! If you have whitish walls, a magic eraser is almost as good as a fresh coat of paint). We drove to Knoxville, TN and stayed there for the night. The next day we drove to Nashville and hung out with 2 friends and did some sight seeing. We spend the night in Hopkinsville, KY. The following day we drove to St. Louis and visited 2 more friends and had some free time to walk around the arch and reminisce about our courtship in that city. Finally on Thursday we drove to our new hometown - Olathe, KS.



Now, Olathe is pronounced (Oh-LAY-tha) and it is the Shawnee word for beautiful. For those of you who have never been to Kansas (and that included us prior to March), Kansas City is in the northeast corner of Kansas on the border between Kansas and Missouri. Half of the city is in Missouri and half is in Kansas. And it is not flat farmland here! This area is actually quite hilly (more so than where we lived in NC). The city itself has some really cool areas and lots to do. Olathe is 25 minutes southwest of the city. We live in a house we really like in a great subdivision, and we are only an 8 minute drive from Krzysztof's work. While we never ever imagined ourselves living in the great plains of this country, we are excited to explore a new area and check off all the square states out here from our "states to visit" list. Two weeks after the move we are mostly moved in and feel settled (with a TON of help from Valerie's mom!) The only thing left to do is unpack baby stuff and set up the nursery (part of Valerie's new job duties among many things as CDO (Chief Domestic Officer).


Now about tornadoes. Apparently we are just outside of what's considered "Tornado Alley," which is a relief. However, we have only been here for 2 weeks and have already been under a tornado watch 2 times. Welcome to Kansas. In other Wizard of Oz news, while cleaning the house for the first time last week, I noticed to my great amusement that all of our toilets are of the same brand - TOTO.