A Brief Sojurn in Louisiana: Days 2 & 3

After a full day of packing and traveling on Wednesday, we were excited about the prospect of getting some rest at Roxi's parents' house for a couple of days.  Our original plan for the move was to be packed up and out of Memphis on Friday August 19.  Thankfully, we finished packing on Wednesday which gave us the opportunity to leave early and spend a few days with family before continuing our journey.

We spent much of the day Thursday recuperating from the busy Wednesday but we also did a little work.  We unloaded a few small items from the car that would be staying in Lafayette.

There is a much more direct driving route from Memphis to Los Angeles, but our motivation for the detour was to visit family before we moved.  Besides getting two days with Roxi's parents, Roxi's sister's family made the trip from Florida to see us before we left.  Before they arrived on Thursday afternoon, we had the chance to visit my grandparents as well.  So Thursday ended up being a very relaxing family day.

Friday was much the same although Roxi and I did take some time to go through our luggage and make sure that everything we had packed was really essential.  We were both able to remove a few items thus lightening our load.  I took care of my to-do list arranging things for the rest of our trip (hotels, car shipment verification, etc.)  and then focused on family time the rest of the afternoon and evening.

Roxi's brother's family drove in from western Louisiana to visit and Roxi's dad made a fantastic seafood gumbo for dinner.  We had a very nice family meal and the first of my two family birthday celebrations was capped off with an assortment of deserts that Roxi's mom and sister made.

Today will be a hard day for us: we say goodbye to our cat Jupiter for the next four months.  I was never really a cat person before Roxi and I started dating, but Jupiter is my adopted pet now and I will miss her so much.  She is in good hands here in Lafayette, but she doesn't like it when one if us is not around.  I only wish there was someway that we could make her understand that this is in her best interest.  Despite all the other things that we have to do to get to Hawaii and get settled in, I think that this will be the most emotionally difficult.