May the Fourth Be With You :)

Dear Maine,

Know how I know you have a sense of humor and this is totally the right move for me? Because while I was heading north on I-95, I passed one of those temporary light-up highway signs, and instead of saying, “CAUTION. SLOW DOWN.” or some other inane directive, it said,

MAY THE

FOURTH BE

WITH YOU.

That was awesome! Wish I had a picture of it, but I would never take pictures while driving.

Anyway, Nate and I were able to get up early and put the last load of laundry in while we had a leisurely breakfast at the Pantheon, which will always hold a special place in our hearts as the site of our very first date - a seven hour breakfast. We typically keep breakfast to under half an hour these days.

We got back, took our last showers for who knows how long, finished up the laundry, packed the final items into the moving truck and my car, got the serenading cats situated in the vehicle, and took off. Here’s Nate with our 17-foot U-Haul.

We hit the road (and possibly a “no parking” sign, but that can neither be confirmed nor denied) around 8:40 a.m. and I had to get gas pretty quickly. This was good, because I also had to cover Mittens up so she would stop singing and reaching out through her carrier and trying to grab everything. It was also good because I really needed to grab our portable speaker, as the stereo went out on me. It has a detachable face plate, so it does that sometimes, but this time I couldn’t get it to come back on, so I decided that it’s time to replace it, because I hate crap that doesn’t work or that needs to be fussed with in a particular way in order to work. So that’s a new item on my to-do list. The drive was really uneventful. We stopped in Massachusetts for gas and lunch, then again in New Hampshire for a quick stretch, then not again until we got off I-95 for good. 

I snapped this one real quick, since this was my view for about ten hours. But if you look closely to the right of the U-Haul, you’ll see the ever-important state line marker letting us know that we are finally home. It’s strange. Being from Pennsylvania, I always get a feeling of being home whenever I cross into the Commonwealth, and that makes sense. But I feel it even more strongly every time I cross into Maine. This is where I belong.

And around six-something p.m., we arrived at our final destination: home (be it ever so humble). This is my foot hitting Maine soil for the first time in six months or so. It feels good to be back.

No time for much this evening. Just a quick tour of the place, then a very minor unpacking, then getting tucked into the shipping container for bed. It would be nice to spend our first night in our house, but not yet. It’s going to be too cold tonight, and the container is nicely decked out with a wood stove, though I am less than amped about the air mattress…

So, tomorrow is my official first day back. Tonight doesn’t count, since it’s practically just for sleeping. Kind of like you don’t get to count it as having visited a state if the only thing you’ve done is pass through an airport there.

I’m looking forward to a new beginning!