We're Full-Timers

 Cross country moving is a real learning experience.

On February 1st, the company we contracted with to ship the car to CO picked it up. Car shipping was an education. All the companies I looked at had the same statement about pickup date. They said the car might be picked up on the first available date, or *several* days later. No one would define *several*. The companies are shipping brokers who, I'm supposing, notify on-line any of a number of independent truckers. Depending on what trucker is in the area looking for cars to haul toward CO determines when the car gets shipped. My concern was that we would be leaving here on the 15th and the car would still not have been picked up so I put the first available pickup date on February 1st but was really hoping it would be closer to the 10th.  I wondered just how many truckers would be driving from FL to CO in February.  The guy who took our car lives near Denver and runs a constant route to/from CO to FL. His company name is From Here To There Trucking. He charges $977 door-to-door. He will haul six cars on this leg. Of the $977 he keeps $800 and the broker gets $177. From here to there took five days.   So for the last two weeks I have been using my neighbors car to run important errands. Here's hoping our neighbors in Longmont are as nice as they are here.

The buyers, Rosa and Gustavo, came over on Sunday. I took them through the house showing them how to operate everything. They are two really nice people. They are so excited to finally be able to own a home rather then renting.  First priority is to paint their daughter Natalie's bedroom pink.

We spent three days, on and off, packing everything in boxes. On Tuesday the 12th, the U-Pack Moving ReloCubes(pods) were delivered.  U-Pack Moving is a company that delivers storage pods to your house, you load them then the pods are put inside an enclosed  trailer and delivered to your destination anywhere in the Continental U.S.  The delivery to CO takes five days. You have three full days from when the pods are delivered until pickup or you are charged $50/day extra. The cost worked out to be about 2/3 of the cost of a full service mover. For the shipment to CO, the pods are loaded into a fully enclosed truck so they are not exposed to the elements.  Besides the cost difference, what really motivated me to use the pods was the miserable on-line ratings of the major cross-country movers.  It seemed like one horror story after the next. Damage, actual cost significantly higher then estimated cost, late delivery, surly employees, you name it.  Plus U-Pack will store the pods in their warehouse until the customer is ready for delivery. $125/month/pod.  The price they quote is the absolute and final price. In our case, the cost for the three pods is $3,200.  This includes pickup at our house and delivery to our new house in Longmont. Roughly a $1,000 per pod and another $1,000 to ship the car. $4,000 for a cross country move.  Besides, we got that much from the stuff sale we had through Palm City Auction. So we sold what we didn't need and shipped what we did and came out even. We're happy.

 The fork lift is carried on a rack that unloads it from the truck.

On Wednesday, the two guys from the temp. agency showed up about 8:30. The minimum time you get help for is four hours. $112 for both guys. They were both very good workers. By about 10:30 the three pods were all loaded. I gave them each a twenty dollar bill and sent them home early. Two big smiles.We moved into the camper and spent Wednesday and Thursday there.

Friday morning at 9:30 we met with Rosa and Gustavo at the office of Treasure Coast Title Company for the closing. They are really excited. No more renting.  We left some furniture behind to  get them started. A couch, two end tables, a coffee table, some bedroom furniture and six lawn chairs. The end tables and coffee table are really solid with very heavy slate tops. We bought them in Miami in about 1967.  I suspect they will last almost another 50 years. They have a bed for themselves and are going to buy their daughter Natalie a bed today.  Other furnishings will come as extra money becomes available.

So by about 10am we were officially Full-Timers heading west towards our next adventure in Colorado. When the girls were young, we would sing the words from a Hobbit song when we set out on another great adventure(vacation)

The greatest adventure is what lies ahead
Today and tomorrow are yet to be said
The chances the changes are all yours to make
The mold of your life is in your hands to break.

The greatest adventure is there if you are bold
Let go of the moment that life makes you hold
To measure the meaning can make you delay
It's time you stop thinking and wasting the day.

A man whose a dreamer and never takes leave
Who thinks of a world that is make believe
Will never know passion
Will never know pain
Who sits by the window
Will one day see rain.

The greatest adventure is what lies ahead
Today and tomorrow are yet to be said
The chances the changes are all yours to make
The mold of your life is in your hands to break.

source: http://www.lyricsondemand.com/g/glenyarboroughlyrics/thegreatestadventurelyrics.html

They e-mailed us the lyrics as a reminder of years gone by. 

We're very excited