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.
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
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
We're very excited
