Wow! Time is flying! I was hoping as I would go through this move that I would have more time for reflection and writing. Was I ever wrong! I’m lucky if I’ve had time to think about what I need to do next. I did however, try to take lots of pictures, so I could reflect later and let ya’ll know how things went down.
After the last post, we decided what kitchen stuff we were going to declutter and what we wanted to keep. Really glad I got to do that with my husband before he was gone again. He cooks so much and I have no idea what kitchen gadget he just doesn’t want to live without and what he’s OK to never see again, LOL. This was all in preparation for the the next several days, leading into the rest of the month. Let me catch you up starting on Thursday.
Thursday, July 7
Our POD arrived on Thursday that week. We knew we didn’t have time to start packing it before the rest of our weekend started but very glad to have it arrive and know it would be waiting for when I got back from the next few days for me to get started. We even went and started picking up some boxes and packing supplies.
Friday, July 8
Got everything settled Thursday evening and got packed to be gone for the remainder of the weekend. Friday we got a ride to the Wilmington Train Station to catch a ride to Fredericksburg, VA to pick up a car for my husband.
We have not had a dedicated car for Tom to use in our family in over three years. Most of the time I’ve shared with him, and when our daughter was home from college, that gave us another car we could share.
We had all the paperwork done ahead of time, test drove the car when we got there, and then did all the signatures. This stop was just the first leg of getting this car cross-country to Austin so he doesn’t need to rent a car anymore there.
Our intention from there was to drive straight to Tuscaloosa, AL to begin closing out our daughter’s apartment, as she needed to be out of there by July 19th, but didn’t have enough time off work at the summer camp she worked at this year. We told her we would do it on our way to bring this car to Austin.
We only made it as far as Knoxville that evening, as we hit traffic, heavy rain and construction. So tired and wanting to be fresh for the next day, we got a hotel room for the night.
Saturday, July 9
We have no photos from this day, as we did not have time to think and it was hot as hell! We drove from Knoxville, TN to Tuscaloosa, AL (about 4 hours), picked up a U-Haul truck, finished sign up for a storage unit, and met a friend of our daughter’s boyfriend at the apartment. Thank goodness he reached out to three other friends!
We moved all her furniture down from a third floor apartment to the U-Haul and then to the storage unit. While the guys moved heavy stuff, I was packing what wasn’t packed yet, mostly kitchen and bathroom stuff. It took two trips with the U-Haul to get it all done. We paid those boys hard cash (loved by college students everywhere!) and thanked them so much! We finished the last placement in the storage unit right before a huge old-fashioned thunderstorm hit! Traffic lights were at a 90 degree angle to where they should be the winds were so strong. We returned the U-Haul and came back to her apartment for the last minute cleanup.
We laid on the floor of our daughter’s empty bedroom and contemplated staying one night at her place, or trying to hit the road. We did decide to hit the road and at least get into Mississippi, to get a head start on the drive to Austin. So we dropped the apartment key off in the office box (yes, I talked to the office at some point that day for instructions!) and hit the road.
Sunday, July 10
This was a driving day. We woke up and ate breakfast at the hotel and hit the road!
We went over the Mississippi River, which we always find exciting when we travel, went into Louisiana, ate a late lunch/early dinner at Shreveport, and then we finally came into Texas!!!
However, Texas is huge!!! It took us until 8pm to get to the Extended Stay America in Austin that my husband had been staying at. We went to Whole Foods and picked up some snackies and sushi, and went to bed exhausted.
Monday, July 11
We both had work, but I also had a flight to get back to Philly in the afternoon. I went to the office with my husband, took a few calls from his office that morning, and he drove me to the airport.
I took a few more work calls during a layover in Dallas, and had a girlfriend pick me up from the Philly airport that evening. Went to bed as soon as I got home that night, as I was exhausted and had to be at work in the office the next day.
You might think all this sounds like a lot of work, but I feel like it was just the tip of the iceberg. People are really right when they say there is never enough time to pack up a house. I’ll be posting more catch up stories over the next few days, to bring you to today, when we still aren’t settled, but I’m at least in Austin now with Tom. <3
