Ok. Not easy steps. And a lot more than 3. Let’s be clear about this.

Our move from Grand Island, Nebraska to San Diego, California started before we moved, if that makes sense. Actually it started before we moved whether or not it makes sense.

[It was on my mind the entire trip, so imagine the hook from “Going Back to Cali” here]

Beth wanted to be sure our cars would be in working order. This truly was (is) a good idea. Both of our cars would be driven half-way across the country, and one was shifting a little hard. So first we got oil changes. Except they told us one needed new brakes & the other had a busted tie rod.

So we got the brakes done on the one & took the other to a transmission shop before fixing the tie rod figuring they could do both. They could. They fixed the tie rod while they rebuilt the transmission.

Yes, rebuilt the transmission. And this was two days before I left with the other car to California.

While I was gone, Beth asked them to check out an unusual noise. It turned out to be a bad wheel bearing. So they fixed it. Except they fixed the wrong one, so then they fixed the right one.

Meanwhile, I arrived in California. With a flat tire. Could it be fixed? Yes, it could be fixed with a brand new tire and 3 of its friends.

I returned to Nebraska after a week-long conference by plane (left the car with the new tires at my Dad’s place) and actually landed on time! And the truck arrived to load all of our stuff and take it to California. We’d been told by our move coordinator that we had a 5-business-day window that our stuff would be delivered to our new home in California, and that we’d know the specific delivery date when our stuff was loaded. So we asked the guys loading the truck.

Yeah, they couldn’t tell us that. Because this truck was going to Omaha before it went anywhere else. Omaha is East of Grand Island. California is West. Ugh…

So we went on with the loading and then spent an extra day cleaning the house. And it was near time to head out to California.

But on one of those inevitable trips to get cleaning supplies or something random, I realized that when we got our car back from having its wheel bearings fixed (twice) the stereo didn’t work anymore.

I will not EVER drive any significant distance – and certainly not from Nebraska to California – with children (it doesn’t matter if they’re mine or someone else’s) and with no car stereo, with no respite from the inevitable question: “Are we there yet?”

So we bought a new car stereo. Not the one I really really wanted. But at least we could plug our phones into it. And we got on the road.