This seems expensive for a camp sight.

Day 18 of living out of the same suitcase with no furniture or household items to speak of.  How did it come to this?  I’m so glad you asked.  Here’s some fun with calendars to get you up-to-date.

Tuesday, June 8^th – Movers pick up all of our belongings.  We are left with a spare mattress, a television, 2 bowls, 2 spoons, 2 forks, a dog and one suitcase each.

Saturday, June 12^th – We sell the spare mattress and head west.

Sunday, June 20^th – Pull up to new apartment, unload television, bowls, spoons, forks, dog, suitcases and are reduced to sleeping/eating/sitting on an air mattress until the movers show up with our stuff.

Monday, June 21^st – Dan places 647 calls to the moving company where it is apparently a national holiday because no one is working or answering the phone.

Tuesday, June 22^nd – A representative from the moving company calls to inform us they are unaware their contract reads “Must deliver household goods no later than 5 pm on Friday, June 25^th”, but they MIGHT be able to deliver our stuff by Friday, July 2^nd.

Friday, June 25^th – Dan professes his dire hatred for the air mattress and opts to sit in the dog bed on the floor instead.  The contract deadline for delivery silently passes by.

Saturday, June 26^th – A different representative from the moving company calls in the early morning hours to confirm our phone number and new address (in case it has changed in the last 4 days) but knows nothing of when our belongings will arrive. 

Sunday, June 27^th - I hunt down every person responsible for moving our stuff, kidnap them, hold them captive in the back of a truck for approximately one month with nothing but a television, 2 bowls, 2 spoons, 2 forks and an air mattress and see how they like it.

Monday, June 28^th – I go to jail.  But at least I have a cot to sit on.  

Passenger's Log

If Star Trek taught us anything it's that we should keep a detailed recording of our travels and explorations.  Following is such a recording of our travel from coast to coast which ended at 6:00 pm Pacific Time last night.

Passenger's Log
Start location: Merritt Island, FL
End location: Oakland, CA
Vehicle: Toyota Tundra towing a Mercury Milan on a questionable U-Haul tow dolly.
Travel Time: 8 days

64: Average MPH for the total trip

3,518: total miles traveled 

11: states traveled through 

2: hours spent wandering through the Grand Canyon

4: days in Kansas spent catching up with my family and being puked on by a baby

1: birthday party thrown for me with 1 butterfly balloon and 1 ‘Happy Birthday’ banner; 0: number of butterfly balloons and banners that should be at a 28-year-old’s birthday party

83: questions my Grandma asked Dan upon meeting him for the first time

24: hours spent in picturesque Durango, CO

45: minutes spent waiting on a new truck tire, at J/P Tires in Durango

6: Number of Dan’s family members throughout Colorado who kept us company and/or put us up for a night.  Thank you Beth, Joe, Judy, John, Frank and Char!

1: dog who joined us in the hot tub at Dan’s Uncle Frank and Aunt Char’s house, without realizing there was water in there

4: number of times the taillight fell out of the U-Haul tow dolly

375: number of times I thought the dolly was going to fall apart into a trillion pieces

16: times the dog looked at me like she wanted to chew my face off for making her go on such an epic trip

1: Native American that cursed and yelled at Dan for not buying a dream catcher in a McDonald’s parking lot in Navajo Country

8: times I thought I would kill us all driving through Downtown Atlanta

3: pairs of pants that still fit me after all that highway fast food and family gatherings; 4: pairs of pants that don’t

45: times Dan mentioned gas mileage (per day) (ok, not really)

46: times Jamie had to stop to go to the bathroom  

0: times I thought about turning back (sorry Jess)

3: weary travelers who finally made it home

Adios Florida!

Today is my last official day as a Floridian and tomorrow Dan and I embark on our cross-country road trip for California!  Coast-to-coast!!  Am I crazy?  Don’t answer. 

Things I will not miss about Florida:

1) Walking out the door at 7 am and breaking out into an immediate, full-body sweat.

2) I-4 and the five thousand toll roads I am forced to drive on to get in and out of the city.

3) Strip malls

4) Strip malls

5) Theme parks, all of them and everything about them.

6) Sunburns even after repetitive and liberal applications of sun block.

Things I will miss about Florida:

1) Redneck dive bars, specifically Kings Duck Inn where the draft beer is so cold there are icicles floating in it!!

2) Park Ave CD’s and their willingness to special order anything my heart (and ears) desire.

3) Mellow Mushroom Pizza (perhaps I’ll open a franchise in California) 

5) Jess Egan

6) Jess Egan’s food

Jess, if I give you my new address will you mail me Thanksgiving dinner?

"How 'bout 50 cents?"...How about you beat it?

Know what a cross-country move from a two-bedroom house with a garage to a loft with a parking space forces you to do?  Sell all your stuff.  Which is exactly what we tried to do this weekend.  We spent the entire week combing through closets trying to decide which of our beloved belongings to part with.  Some were much easier to part with than others.  For instance, the Singer sewing machine I’ve been lugging from house to house for the last three years only to use it twice: easy to sell.  However, that pretty lamp I pined for at Target for months before being able to buy it: difficult to sell.  I was sure all my pangs of sentiment would go flying right out the window once some stranger laid cold hard cash in my hand.  But strangers are strangely reluctant to lay cold hard cash in your hand for your hand-me-downs.  Especially when 80% of your customers are over 80 years old.  Those old farts don’t need anything!!  They just shop garage sales for something to do and for the fun of haggling.  They walk away happy as can be after paying fifty cents for something you paid five dollars for two months ago.  Oy.  And as if haggling with geriatrics for the entire morning wasn’t bad enough, it was about 95 degrees outside with one billion percent humidity.  That’s totally accurate, I saw it on the weather channel.  Thankfully Dan’s Uncle Bob and Aunt Debbie were here to keep us company and help us bitch about the heat. 

After two days we sold almost everything and what was leftover we took to Goodwill.  Or rather, Dan sold it and took it to Goodwill.  Standing in the heat for long periods of time could cause me to totally lose my mind, so I had to take a few breaks and sit in the house.  Just a few...

As the weekend closes our closets have become empty, our pockets a little more full, but our laundry room still has a washer and dryer in it that we’re trying to sell.  Anyone interested???