Storage and Phoenix (long post!)

Well, it's almost the end of our little jaunt into Phoenix. We've been here since Saturday and have enjoyed every minute of it...almost.

We got into town on Saturday and went straight to the storage unit. We were pleasantly surprised by the security and upkeep of our storage facility. Todd found it and liked it because it was the cheapest place around. I liked it because I feel confident that our stuff is going to stay safe, dry, and secure there.

As we arrived, we had some ideas about unloading part of the moving van on Saturday. We were warned by the storage facility that we couldn't be inside the gates past 9pm or they would close on us and we wouldn't be able to leave (at least not without disturbing the owners, who live on-site). So, we thought we would do a little unloading that afternoon (it was in the 90's there, with a pleasant breeze), and then finish up Sunday morning.

After a while and a lot of efficient moving, we realized that we were closer to being done than we thought. We finally finished unloading the entire moving truck by 8pm with only one minor interruption. Or rather, a major one.

We lost Titus.

We had been unloading the van, allowing Titus to stay outside on his little leash. We didn't want to keep him in the cab of the truck because of the heat. Well, after a while, we let Titus off his leash out of a feeling of pity. He kept trying to jump into the back of the truck to be with us...only to be pulled up short by his leash. It was really pathetic to watch him continue to try to jump and be suddenly halted midair.

He was fine for a while and mostly stayed in the back of the truck with us. We kept an eye on him and things were going great. And then...we discovered that one of our boxes full of cleaning supplies was soaked in some sort of fluid. So I began the process of unpacking the box, looking through everything to find the culprit (in this case, a bottle of ear piercing cleaning solution), and repacking everything into a spare box we happened to have along.

It was after all of this that we noticed that Titus was missing. We called his name, looked around the car (which was being towed behind the moving truck), and finally started looking up and down the storage isles. Then, in the back where a bunch of cars were stored, I caught sight of him. A black back on a truck, racing off before I had a chance to call out his name.

I yelled for Todd, who came racing down the nearby isle. He caught sight of the cat...right before it jumped over the fence.

Now, this wasn't an ordinary chain link fence. This was a 7 foot brick wall with another 2-3 feet of fence on top of the wall. Over the top was some sort of bread warehouse, full of bread trucks. There was no other way to get in there.

By this time, I was becoming frantic. My poor baby cat, new to the city, was over this huge fence. We couldn't see where he went. Todd quickly hiked me onto his shoulders where I navigated my way over the fence and found a quick way down. I hopped down, my hand almost black with dirt and grime from the fence. I began to look under trucks, calling out for my cat. Minutes passed and I was near tears. I yelled over the fence for Todd to go find Titus' treats, so that maybe we could coax him out by the sound of a shaking treat bottle. As Todd went back to the truck, I continued to look.

On the other side of the fence, Todd called my name. I hurried towards him and as I did, I caught sight of a little black tail!

"Todd!! It's Titus!"

"Ashlee....Titus is right here..."

I looked up and there was a little kitten, held up just enough to peek over the fence at me.

Titus had been sleeping in the back of the truck this entire time. Todd and I were chasing some other cat.

...

We laughed afterwards and it makes for an interesting story (maybe), but it's not something I want to go through again.

*****

In any case, it's now Monday night. I fly home tomorrow. I'm excited to go home and see my family again, but I'm also sad to be saying goodbye to Todd for a couple of weeks. We've had a lot of fun here in Phoenix (with a mall that we spent ALL day at - it's over a mile in circumference is what one vendor told us, great food, and beautiful weather).

We also looked at some houses and contacted a realtor down here. We're nervous about buying our first home, but also extremely excited! We'll keep you updated on what we find out. Right now, we're realizing the value of location. We might look for a house outside of the "college" area just because it will be a lot more cost efficient.

Anyway, it's time for us to head to bed now. I fly out in the morning - so I'll see many of you soon!

-Ashlee