Urban's Movin' to HOTlanta!

That's right...we're relocating after a kajillion years of "we should..." "one day we're gonna..." "we're planning on..." and I have to admit, I get pretty excited when I think about it.

So when you saw that photo of peaches in my last post, did it make you curious or just hungry? Last week, we packed up T the Dog and drove almost 900 miles south to look for our new digs. 

Top 10 Reasons Why It Pays To Have A Trucker At The Wheel:

1. He loves to drive
2. He loves to drive at night (when I can't see squat!)
3. He can read a map like nobody's business
4. He can teach you how to navigate just by knowing the numbers and colors of the road signs
5. He trusts you when it's your turn to take the wheel...he'll actually go to sleep!
6. He's full of funny trucker stories
7. He's determined to "make good time"
8. He knows where the clean bathrooms are
9. He knows where the best coffee is
10. He loves to drive.  That bears repeating!

At Love's we found the best and widest variety of coffee (from mild to kick-ass), the cleanest restrooms and most charming cashiers--plus the occasional friendly truck driver just dying to tell anyone who'd listen how long a drive he had ahead of him.  Godspeed, Steel Dragon... :)

Coming through the Carolinas, we were greeted by some questionable weather.

Ominous skies gave way to a brief torrential downpour.

But I do love a rainy evening traffic scene.

The rainbow afterward was a sweet reward and urged us forward!

"How far is this place? Is this trip ever going to end?"

Zzzzzzzzzzzzzzz!

It was T the Dog's longest road trip ever...like going to Grandma's and back in one stretch...and then some! He whined about as much as any stir-crazy 7 year-old trapped in a mid-size non-luxury car, but he made up for it by sleeping like a wino on the way back home.  Gooooood dog!

Downtown Atlanta is beautiful and diverse.  Little Five Points smacks of 
the East Village in New York City.

Amazing --and amusing-- storefronts galore

and shops with cheeky names

Oh, for the love of GRAPHICS!  This storefront left me speechless.

What I love about college towns

This gum tree is my squeamish aunt's worst nightmare!

I found our dream home! The operative word being "DREAM".  So, if it should ever come up for sale, would somebody please let me know?  In the meantime, I'll be saving my pennies...

It was a very good trip.  I'm still a little stunned that we finally buckled down and made it happen.  I may miss all the snow and that typical Metro Northeast sense of urgency about everything, but then again, maybe not...

In the end, after a full grueling week of searching and exploring and second guessing, we finally settled on a nice town just 15 minutes north of the city with enough amenities for both me and the hubs.  It will be hard to say goodbye to our friends who will undoubtedly be a little shocked at the quickness of it all, but just like when I left my day job, it felt like it was now or never; we didn't need to give ourselves any additional time to chicken out!

And speaking of chicken...

The Big Chicken! Isn't it the darnedest thing? So campy
and retro-licious!

  And somewhere over the rainbow, something waits for me...

"Nom nom nom nom nom!!!"

See?  Eventually everybody moves down there. Even 
hogs from Ohio! ;)