June 11, 2003: The story of our cross-country move resumes where the last series of pics from our departure from Altoona left off. After packing up all of our worldly possessions, we departed Pennsylvania earlier this morning and had planned one overnight stop on our way to Columbia, Missouri. While the journey could be made in one day, we figured that it would be easier on everyone if we broke the trip up into two days.

We scheduled our overnight stop in Richmond, Indiana which is located just across the border from Ohio. The cats, albeit a bit confused, were thankful for the stop.

June 12, 2003: We arrived the next day in Columbia and checked into our hotel. Richmond, Indiana, where we stayed overnight, is roughly 425 miles from Columbia, which equated to around 6 hours of driving plus stops. This gave us enough time to get checked into our hotel in Columbia, enjoy a nice dinner, and then drive to our new home. We couldn't do anything until after closing tomorrow. But we were quite excited to see the place anyways.

Closing was scheduled for tomorrow morning, which happened to be Friday the 13th.

June 13, 2003: Our first full day in Columbia, Missouri was a busy one. After closing on our new home, we had to also take care of everything that goes along with it like getting utilities turned on, opening up a bank account, etc. But once the day had ended, we were now Missouri residents, and headed back to our new home.

The front door opens into the living room.

The large front window looks out into the front yard.

The living room featured a built-in bookshelf in the corner.

The formal dining room sits in the center of the first floor.

I don't remember exactly what I was doing in the photo above. But I think I was opening air conditioning vents. Although saying I was just sitting on the floor looking at the wall wouldn't surprise me considering the week we had.

The kitchen was a little dated, but more than made up for it with its size.

The door in the photo above leads to the garage.

The stairs seen in the photo above lead to the basement.

The master bathroom sits across the hall from the master bedroom.

This house was built before the era of large ensuite bathrooms. But since there was only two of us, we weren't concerned about having to walk across the hall to get to the bathroom.

The master bedroom sits across from the bathroom and was quite large.

The moving van wasn't scheduled to arrive until tomorrow. So an air mattress would have to do for tonight.

There was only one closet in the master bedroom.

The second of three bedrooms sat at the end of the hall.

We decided to use this as our office. And since there was only one closet in the master bedroom, this closet became mine.

The stairs next to the kitchen lead to the basement.

Immediately to the right at the bottom of the stairs sat what was called a "bonus room." It's set up like a bedroom and has a large closet. But since there was no window, it couldn't legally be called a bedroom.

The star of the basement was the large living area.

The very old bright red carpet was hard on the eyes. But the room, itself was wonderful ! The curtains on the right side of the photo above concealed a sliding glass door that lead to a patio and a large backyard.

The sliding glass door had seen better days. But you get the idea.

This 1,908-square-foot home sits on 1/4 acre. The backyard, while not huge, was a decent size. It looks like I've got some bushes to trim !

The hallway seen in the photo above leads to the third bedroom and bathroom. The door in the photo leads to a large laundry and storage room. And yes, that is a rotary dial phone on the wall. And it worked !

Across from the second bathroom was a large laundry and storage room.

Large basement storage room.

Instead of a tub/shower combination, the second of two bathrooms features just a shower, (out of view to the left). But the result was a larger space.

The hallway leads to the bathroom and third bedroom.

The third of three bedrooms sat at the end of the hall.

Since this room has two windows, it could legally be called a bedroom.