We lived in Norman, Oklahoma from August 1998 until June 2005. I was on the faculty in the Price College of Business at the University of Oklahoma. Norman Oklahoma is located in the heart of the infamous "Tornado Alley" area of the United States.
For our anniversary in 2001, Annette and I planned a candlelight dinner with a movie at home. We splurged and bought some fresh T-Bone steaks for dinner. We planned to put the kids to bed early and then have an enjoyable evening together.
On Saturday, June 30, Annette's dad called to ask if we would be interested in coming to California to help them drive a moving truck from California to Wyoming. Michel was in Mexico promoting the Amway business and could not help with the move. They had just decided that they would move and not pay July rent in the house, so they needed to move immediately. Michel offered to reimburse our gas and to pay us for helping them move. We told him we had to be back in Provo by 2:00 p.m. on July 4 because we were supposed to work at the Stadium of Fire.
Annette's parents moved the family to Rancho Palos Verdes, California, in December 1989 so that Michel and Margaret could teach school in the Los Angeles school district. Now that the school year was ending, they decided they would move back to Star Valley, Wyoming.
Annette and I left Provo that night around 5:30 - 6:00 p.m. (I recall we had a commitment so we could not leave earlier but do not remember what it was). We drove the 11 hours to Michel and Margaret's house in California. After we got there, we slept for a couple of hours and then got up to finish packing the moving trucks (2 U-Haul trucks) and van (15-passenger Dodge Ram).
After we loaded the trucks, we went to the beach (my first time ever). The bishop's family hosted us for dinner that night. We left the house at 4:00 a.m. on Monday morning (July 2) because we hoped to beat the morning rush hour traffic. I drove the 26-foot U-Haul truck, Margaret drove the 15-foot U-Haul truck, Walden drove the 15-passenger van, and Annette drove our Ford Probe.
Afton (age 8) and Christina (age 11) rode as passengers in the moving truck with me. They were super excited to be in the truck with the new brother-in-law. They taught me to sing several of the family favorite road trip songs: "Eddie Koochy Katcha Kama Tosa Neera Tosa Noka Sama Kama Wacky Brown" (see side note); jazzed up version of the little house in the woods; "Eeny Meeny Atcha Teeny"; and "Fifty Nifty United States" (including the family addition of "in our cool considered unbiased opinion, Wyoming IS THE BEST!"). I still remember fondly how fun it was to get to know Afton and Chrissy better during our road trip together.
SIDE NOTE: Until today (January 30, 2022), I always thought the song was "Eddie Kootcha Katcha Kama Tosanerry Tosanoka Sammy Kammy Wacky Brown." Today, I decided to search for a version on the internet that I could link in my story. While I found three versions of the song lyrics ( version 1, version 2, version 3), all versions corrected my understanding of Mr. Brown's name.
We drove all day and arrived at our apartment in Orem in the late afternoon. We stayed the night in our two-bedroom apartment (the kids slept on blankets and pillows in the living room and Margaret had the couch cushions on the floor in the extra bedroom).
Annette, Walden, Margaret, and I got up early the next morning to drive to the Grover Church in Star Valley. We left the van and the younger kids with Rachel in Provo. At the Grover Church, we unloaded the trucks and van. (We also discovered a forgotten roast in the freezer in the fridge with maggots!)
After unloading the moving trucks, we drove them back to Salt Lake City to return the trucks because there was not a location in Star Valley to return the moving trucks.
Annette and I returned to our apartment by ourselves late on the evening of July 3 so that we could get up the next morning to work the Stadium of Fire.
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