Allophile

Itinerary of the move

A quick break from packing in order to print labels to stick on boxes...
While they're printing, then, a quick posting.

For those curious,
our itinerary:

Tomorrow, the 3rd of July
Movers come! It's a race against the clock tonight to have everything
wrapped, boxed, laundered, labeled...

Wed. July 4
After one last night in our apartment, sleeping on an air-mattress,
we'll clean up, put our parrots (Paquito has indeed begun saying
'are we there yet?'!) in their carriers and drive down a couple of hours
to say with my wife's sister and her husband in the Centralia area.

Thurs 5th
Centralia, WA to Eureka, CA--about 500 miles, around 9 hours driving...
stay in motel just north of Eureka, in Arcata

Friday 6th
Drive around Eureka, Redwoods National park etc...
one more Arcata motel evening...

Saturday 7th
Eureka to Salinas, about 375 miles, around 7 hours driving
stay in Salinas--Steinbeck country!
(If you've not yet read 'East of Eden'--find a copy and get to it this summer!! Incredible allegory
in the quintessential American setting of The Golden State at the turn of the last century...
I first read it in middle school--a bit over my head at the time, but has remained in my mind as definitely one
of the greatest American novels...)

Sunday 8th
Salinas to Solvang, about 200 miles, around 4 hours driving
stay in Solvang--a kitschy yet authentic Scandinavian town
just NW of Santa Barbara--founded by Danish immigrants fleeing
the intemperate Midwest in the early 20th century...reputed to have the best pastries
in California, along with the Nordic-architecture in a Mediterranean climate, at the head of the
Santa Ynez valley wine country...

Monday 9th
Solvang to San Diego, depending on LA traffic, around 4 hours
staying with amigos...sleep a few hours, then leave in the wee hours of the morning

Tuesday 10th
San Diego to Tucson, about 410 miles, around 6 hours
leave around 2 or 3 a.m., arrive around 8 or 9 a.m.?
The absurdly early departure is to get the drive done in the cool of the dark.
Yuma, AZ, about the half-way point between San Diego and Tucson,
is having 120 temperatures (!?) these days...

The 'monsoon' storms are supposed to start in southern Arizona next week, cooling Tucson down from around 110 to a chilly 95 or so...
...can't wait.

This will be my wife's first moving-road-trip.

When I was a kid, my parents moved from AZ to Georgia in a station-wagon and a pull-behind camper, stopping to see relatives on the way in the southern plains and in the upper midwest...
(We had also moved from Germany to AZ via plane--flying into Charleston, SC, but then that became a road-trip as well-- in my dad's little yellow VW bug across the south all the ay to Arizona, getting stuck in a blizzard in Odessa, TX...)

My move to Seattle 10 years ago was with suitcases on a plane--in the pre-9-11-days before strict weight limits...Our move to and back from Nicaragua was similarly via airline...So, this is something new...

Stuff is a burden.

Are we there yet?