This week marks three years since I moved to Tryon.

Paul and I rolled into our new driveway at noon on a Wednesday in our ’87 Chevy Astro cargo van with our five weary dogs and cat, after a five-day drive from California that we won’t forget even though I’d certainly like to.

The first thing we did after unloading the van into our beautiful but empty house was drive to Hendersonville to change our cell phone carrier to Verizon since out AT&T phones didn’t work and we had two trucks on their way to us with no other way to contact us (one for our cars, another for our stuff).

Our severely traumatized dog (the one previously diagnosed with an anxiety disorder and prone to destroy property when left alone) sat in the front seat of the van while I made sure I was in her view as I’d dash into the Verizon store when my signature was needed. I let Paul deal with Verizon while I dealt with the dog.

Once we were back home with working phones, we called an Asheville friend who came with an air mattress and sheets so we’d have something other than dog beds to sleep on until our furniture arrived.

The previous owners of our house (extremely nice people, by the way—a preview of more Tryonites to come) had graciously left us a lovely bottle of Veuve Clicquot champagne in the fridge and four glasses with a cute little toy horse on them as well as a note on a notepad sporting the same horse.

My mattress-wielding friend and I sent Paul out to forage for dinner at 8:30 p.m., and he wandered into Elmo’s (now home to Lavender Bistro) and bought salads and sandwiches since they had already turned off their grill. While Paul waited for the order, an unusual but friendly fellow on a bar stool asked for Paul’s name and mine and our new address so he could send us some jokes. (His envelope of jokes was among our first personal mail here.)

After a delicious meal on the patio in our only chairs (thank goodness we’d bought the patio furniture with the house), we sent our friend home to Asheville with our thanks and slept like the dead on our new hardwood floor.

Our cars were delivered the following morning to Columbus and after shuttling ourselves back and forth to collect them, I decided to venture into town in search of some Tryon-ish thank you cards to send our friends in L.A. who’d helped us with the move.

I hit Vines & Stuff, The Book Shelf and Tryon House and quickly learned what that little toy horse was about on the glasses and notepad left in the house by the previous owners, and I chatted with three very friendly women working in the shops. Consequently, over the next few weeks Paul and I were often greeted with an “Oh, you’re the new people from L.A.” whenever we met someone new, and I was amazed how friendly Tryon was (Hello! The friendliest town in the South!), and how quickly the news of new residents had spread.

The truck with our possessions arrived the following day and we made the house ours as we filled it with our things.

Still exhausted from the move, we spent a great deal of time those first few days sitting on the patio smelling the tea olive hedge that lines our yard, and pinching ourselves thinking we’d landed in paradise.

That was three years ago, and today our backyard smells like tea olive again. Since the move, we’ve lost our cat and one of our dogs to old age, but the remaining four dogs are happy and healthy and fortunately have no memory of rolling across the country stuffed into a cargo van.

Our one anxious and destructive dog hasn’t changed but thanks to Bill Crowell at Saluda Forge, her steel-reinforced crate holds her securely when we’re out of the house, and while she’s still anxious, she’s safe and so is the house.

This week, we’ll put her in her gorilla cage with her toys and peanut butter-filled kongs and a kiss on the nose while we go out to celebrate with a walk around town, hitting Vines & Stuff and The Book Shelf again and this time Mary and Morris (for a new Morris trinket or two). We’ll most likely wind up at Lavender Bistro for dinner with a table full of friends, and we’ll toast to our very happy life.

Getting here wasn’t the easiest thing in the world, but staying sure has been. Moving to Tryon was an excellent idea (thank you, Paul) and certainly something to celebrate.