Life Report/Trip Report
When last I posted way at the other end of this surprisingly long February, I had a job, and a potential house. Since then, Tara and I have packed up, gone to a convention, moved across two and a half-states, and settled in at my parents’ house until we can get our San Diego house sold.
We actually started packing in late January, with the delivery of a PODS container (hereafter referred to as a/the pod). It took some effort to get it loaded, largely due to a combination of lack of motivation, and never having the right things to put in it when we needed. In the end, I suspect it could have had more volume, but was probably about where it needs to be weight wise. At first, we intended to have the pod picked up while we were at Gallifrey One, but we were far enough behind that we postponed it until the following Tuesday.
Gallifrey One was nice, even if a combination of Tara having to go in for her last day of work in California, and trying to pack a few more things into the POD meant that we didn’t get there until after nearly everything but evening programming was done on Friday. Comfortingly, most of the people I ran into up there didn’t see any problem with us being at a con less than a week before we were supposed to move.
We knew that we’d need help with the move, so we arranged for Ace Relocation/Allied Van Lines to pack at least some of our stuff and ship everything that wasn’t pre-loaded into the pod. However, when I was talking to the Ace agent, I probably overestimated the amount we’d have packed, so both our estimate and the work order were short. As it turns out, this was far from the only time where my communication skills failed.
On Tuesday February 16, the pod was picked up. While this was happening, Tara and I grabbed lunch and headed over to Poway to pick up a Cruise America 25′ RV that would be our home during the final packing and moving process. When we got back, we moved a few basics in - including Naga (who we wanted to have time to acclimate before adding the other cats). We also got as much packing as we could done.
Wednesday morning the packers arrived early, and proceeded to do exactly as little as they could based on what was in their work order. As a result, not even everything that we’d ask to be professionally packed was packed. When the truck and loaders arrived, none of us were happy. Given that Tara and I had crapped out on packing, we ended up contracting to have the loaders do a bunch of the packing (at a premium), which ended up taking the rest of the day Wednesday and into Thursday morning. Additionally, this resulted in having things packed that shouldn’t have been - the worst being our mid-weight coats, and one of the cat carriers, specifically the more expensive soft one that Pabu needs to be in since she hurts herself on the bars of a regular one.
In retrospect, we should have gone ahead and had the pod picked up on Monday (or Friday), and had the packers there on Tuesday to pack everything.
As it worked out, Tara and I moved into the RV (parked outside our house, hooked up to an extension cord on a circuit that wasn’t rated for the full 30 amps required) on Wednesday night, with Naga. This was the first (and so far only) time Naga has had us at night without other cats around. But, she didn’t seem interested in snuggling - just making sandcastles in the middle of the night.
When we originally planned on using the RV, we figured that it would be easy and safe to put a tow dolly on it and pull Tara’s car behind. However, the RV only has a 2,500 pound tow capacity, which Tara’s fairly light car exceeds on its own. After a lot of back and forth, I finally it upon a solution during Wednesday night - Tara could fly back to San Diego in a week or so, and then drive her car back for about the same or less than the cost of the tow dolly. (After a few refinements, Tara improved on the plan to avoid having to stay with anyone in San Diego, and we reduced the cost by using frequent flyer points)
Given the layout and bed size of the RV, Tara and I ended up in separate beds. She took the bed that could be made out of the dinette, where I slept on the most permanent bed in the back (deciding that the over-cab bed would be better left to the cats). This worked out since it kept her from needing to climb over me (or visa-versa) at night, and us from being crowded into a bed that probably wouldn’t have fit me anyway.
The rest of the cats joined on Thursday and managed to get along OK - albeit Naga and Pabu sometimes disagreed about who should snuggle with Tara at night, and none of them snuggled with me.
Late Thursday, we headed to drop Tara’s car off with the friends who will be keeping an eye on it, and picking her up at the airport when she flies in. After that, we stopped at PetCo shortly before closing to get another soft-sided cat carrier, and, at Tara’s suggestion, some training pads to put under the cats in their carriers; as both girls have been known to have accidents when traveling.
It was on Friday that I discovered more communications problems. First, I thought that we were good for the carpeting people to be in on Friday, but I needed to sign the work order. So, instead the carpeting was scheduled for Monday and we had to wait for the carpeting guy to drive over with the order to sign.
We did manage to get the cats secured into their carrier, and everything in the RV and my car ready to go on Friday. But, instead of the 10:30 or earlier I’d hoped for, it was nearly noon when Tara took the RV down to see The Kid, and I took a detour to sneak some of the stuff from the freezer and refrigerator that weren’t worth cramming into the overflowing RV fridge to a dumpster, and then to see The Kid.
After leaving The Kid a bit before 1, I went to find a place to dump the electronics recycling off in El Cajon. The first place I had an address for turned out to be closed, but I found a second. However, the route to it was blocked by a major accident investigation, requiring detours both to get to the center, and then to get onto I-8 east after dropping stuff off. As a result, it was after 2:00 when we stopped for lunch - not in El Centro as I’d expected, or Yuma as my most optimistic plans had hoped, but at the Golden Acorn Casino about half-way between the Alpine and the descent into the Imperial Valley.
It was also at this lunch stop that we discovered that three of the four cats had managed to pee in their carriers, requiring us to replace their pads. This left us with too few to make it to Albuquerque on our original plan if the trend continued. So, after a stop near El Centro, I ran ahead to the PetSmart in Yuma to get more pads (and more toys since the one we got seemed to help calm the kitties in transit). I left word to have Tara meet me at the Pilot travel center towards the eastern edge of town.
However, my memory was very bad. The travel center I was thinking of was a Love’s center not a Pilot, so Tara went right past it. However, she found another place to stop before leaving Yuma, and called me so that we could meet up. It was at this meeting that we determined that it wasn’t a good idea to press on to Coolidge as it was already dark and we were already tired.
So, we located an RV park with an opening less than a mile away, and I drove the RV to the park and got set up for the night. I hooked up to shore power (for the first time in a real 30 amp circuit using the weird connector) and city water (not that we trusted it that much). I skipped hooking up the sewer line because the ground connection in the park looked about the same size as the hose we had, and I didn’t think we had any sort of a coupler for that kind of connection.
Saturday morning, I decided that the trip to Coolidge was short enough that it was still worth our time to try to get preview night tickets to Comic-Con. However, this delayed our departure about an hour from when we could have left. However, I was also worried because the “black water” tank of the RV was already showing 2/3 full, and I wasn’t sure we wanted to keep going with it that full. Still not believing I could use the local sewer, we ended up driving about 20 minutes back into Yuma to a gas station where we could dump. We waited another 20 or 30 minutes for the two RVs ahead of us to finish dumping before we could dump and hit the road. I let Tara run ahead, and stopped at an Albertson’s to get a gallon of bottled water (I’d been unable to satisfy my nighttime thirsts for anything resembling a reasonable cost with what we could get at gas stations or convenience stores). I also grabbed some sandwich makings figuring that we wouldn’t want to find a place to eat along the way (Yuma to Coolidge has a paucity of places to eat until one gets to the exit in Casa Grande for Coolidge).
I met up with Tara at the only open rest area along I-8 in Arizona not that long after she got there. However, it wasn’t quite as open as it should have been: the bathrooms were closed. It was also hot. So, we had to fire up the generator in the RV to comfortably have lunch. When checking things at the rest stop, I discovered that the black water tank still showed 2/3 full.
After lunch, the trip to Coolidge was fairly uneventful (except for a detour due to the exit from Eastbound I-8 to Westbound I-10 in Casa Grande being closed.
We got to Coolidge, and parked into our spot at the RV park where Tara’s parents spend their winters (in a “park model” RV, which is an RV in name only) mid to late afternoon. Tara’s mom had made us dinner, so we had a nice supper and then turned in for the night.
On Saturday, since it was daylight when we parked, I went ahead and hooked up to the sewer system, opening both valves under the seemingly understandable assumption that that was the way to do it. Later, I read the fine manual tucked in a nearly hidden compartment in the RV, and discovered that in a park situation like we were in, they still wanted the valves closed until ready to dump.
Sunday morning, we slept a bit later than optimal, and still had to do a bit of packing before hitting the road. This was slowed down when Tara’s mom insisted on feeding us before we left. I also chose to take advantage of the city water to attempt to flush whatever was causing the black water tank sensor to read wrong, which both added to our delay in leaving, and resulted in me nearly being trapped in a squatting position (not wanting to put my knee down in the rough gravel of the parking pad).
Since before leaving, I’d been debating the best route from Coolidge to Albuquerque. Google maps kept insisting that the fastest route was to take US-60 past Qumedo and then cut up to I-40. I’d been preferring the route up I-17 to I-40 - knowing that the route down south through Demming and Hatch was much longer (even if Google kept claiming it was an OK alternative). Finally, I (foolishly) decided that we should listen to Google’s advice.
This turned out to be a mistake. First, there was a lot of construction around Superior Arizona, which slowed us down. Then, Tara was so worn out by the winding drive down into the Salt River Canyon. So, we switched vehicles, and I drove the RV up the less winding side of the Salt River Canyon. Even so, by the time I got to Show Low, I decided that staying on US 60 was not a good idea. So, I found the alternate route to I-40 at Holbrook (a short hop, albeit one that was a bet westerly).
One thing that did help was that on Sunday, Tara and I finally started taking advantage of the FRS radios we had with us. (I finally, well after the trip confirmed that we could have been legally using a GMRS band and power off of my recently renewed GMRS license - but I didn’t know that then so our range was somewhat limited). As long as we were within, more or less, visual distance of one another, we could communicate without phone service or the dangers of driving (a 25′ RV) while trying to use a hand-held phone.
However, it was already getting dark by the time we hit the New Mexico border. I’d wanted to pull over at the rest area just inside of New Mexico, but they were closed (apparently for the night, as there were plenty of cars parked there, or just leaving, as we passed). So, Tara suggested the Cracker Barrell in Gallup instead.
We appreciated the meal, and the time off the road, but it further delayed us on an already delayed day.
The rest of the trip was uneventful, albeit dark; and for me driving what I came to think of as a behemoth a bit stressful. There was the side trip through Grants due to a badly labeled low bridge warning.
Upon arriving in the Albuquerque area, I followed family knowledge rather than Google and took Unser across the West Side. Even at night, this was an odd trip knowing that the stretch from Paradise to Irving should have been known as Lyons, should haven’t gone passed either road, and the fire station on the west side of the road should have been a county station not a city station (or at least those were the condition when I last lived in Albuquerque and frequented Paradise Hills).
I also gave Tara the radio tour of some of the area - knowing that she was probably as tired as me, so having me make snide or tour guide remarks probably would be at least somewhat appreciated.
We got in late - after 10, and much later than I’d have anticipated or wanted. (The fact that the clock in the RV was still on Pacific time probably added to me thinking it was earlier than it actually was most of the afternoon).
Monday, we dropped the RV off, and then got signed into both of our storage units - the original 10×30 unit the relocation agent recommended over having the local Allied agent store our stuff, and the 10×10 unit I added to deal with the extra stuff that we ended up hauling due to the movers not getting it.
Tuesday, I borrowed my Dad’s pickup and we took about half of the stuff we’d offloaded to the locker and put it away. On Wednesday and Thursday we took over a few more loads and continued to organize and recover.
Friday, the movers arrived with our main load. Due to the manager at the storage place finding an ideally placed unit, it took just two movers to unload and pack the unit (80% of the way from the back to the front, and all the way to the 15′ ceiling for much of that).
Yesterday, we took the last load up to the storage place (putting it in the large unit, since it was closer to the entrance and had room), as well as a few other errands.
Tomorrow, I start my new job - first with an online webinar with anyone else new to the contract, mostly at Eglin Air Force Base in Florida, then by spending the afternoon at the badging office. On Tuesday, Tara flies to San Diego and starts heading back this way with her car.