Stop #5 and Arrival in Virginia!

Well, I've gotten way busy and sidetracked so I didn't get to write about the remainder of our journey so here goes...

We awoke on Monday morning in Chicago and had another 8 hours of driving ahead of us. The good news was that it was our last long day of driving. We had purposely planned the last stop to be Pittsburgh leaving only about 5 hours remaining to Virginia. The drive from Chicago to Pittsburgh can be described with one word: tolls. We drove through Illinois, Indiana, Ohio and Pennsylvania and paid to be on every road that day. Despite the stops at toll plazas, we made good time and it was nice to have the drive broken up into so many states (instead of 10 hours in just one state). We stayed at a hotel just outside Pittsburgh, primarily because it took pets and was inexpensive with the bonus of an outdoor pool. For the first time the whole trip, we got to swim on Monday night. We also had ice cream for dinner...because sometimes it's okay to do that! We did that one night on our trip from Virginia to Tucson too, and it always sticks in my memory. Anyways, the only regret I have about our hotel location was the traffic we encountered upon leaving on Tuesday morning. Honestly it was less than a half hour delay, but we were getting an early start to make sure we got to Virginia in time for our walk-through at 1 PM. Even with the delay though we arrived at about noon, in time to stop at a bank to get the cashier's check we needed for our closing.

Two points of note about this journey...we crossed into Eastern Time Zone on the drive from Chicago, and we passed over the 2,500 mile mark of driving!

When we crossed into Virginia, Quinn exclaimed "I'm home!". Meaning he was born in Virginia...not the same part of Virginia, but the same state nonetheless. And Keely did a 180 on the 5 day journey...she went from bawling in her bedroom in Utah and not wanting to leave, to saying she doesn't care what time it is in Utah because there's no one there she cares about :) Ah, the drama and mood changes of a 7 year old. In all seriousness though, I think the journey itself was therapeutic and allowed us to have a smoother transition to our new state. We had plenty of time to reflect and adjust, and now we are all excited to be here starting a new adventure!