Pennsylvania to Washington Move

Work in progress!

I needed to get two cars and an apartment worth of stuff out of Pittsburgh.

I sold all my furniture and gave away a bunch of clothes and housewares.

Earlier in the year, I drove my car to Texas and left it at my parent’s house, then flew back.  I made the drive in one single shot, I think.  I also think this is when I sold my house.

When I was ready to move, I packed my hatchback to the brim with everything I could, and shipped one of my computers straight to a co-worker already in Seattle.

Once I got to Texas, I had to unpack my car and filled one of the rooms at my parent’s with my belongings.

I then sold the hatchback to my sister, and put the convertible up on jackstands to replace the clutch.  I spent two weeks trying to not go insane from my family, the Texas heat, a mosquito plague, and the frustration that is one’s first clutch job.

With the clutch finished, I then had to pack up all my belongings into the car, which I knew was going to be impossible.  Thus I had to figure out which items I was going to ship and which I was going to pack.  Tools were heaviest but still valuable enough to keep, so they went into the car, while everything from comforters to clothes went into boxes.

The convertible’s trunk was filled to the brim and the passenger seat was also filled.

I shipped nine boxes to my co-worker in Seattle.  It cost about $30 per box.

I then began a lazy cross-country drive.

I first went through Texas to I-40.  I saw Cadillac Ranch by accident, and had to turn around and stop for photos.  There were European Bikers. I think they were Germans on rented Harleys.

Somewhere in Texas, I got a ticket for not having a front license plate.  Bummer, but my fault.  The plate was somewhere in the trunk.

New Mexico was really pretty, just like I remembered it.

In Arizona, I saw The Petrified Forest and The Grand Canyon.  I stayed in Flagstaff.

I decided to skip the Hoover Dam and Vegas.  I wasn’t really into going to Vegas by myself, and I wanted to spend more of my trip along the coast.  I figured that if I ever wanted to go to Vegas, I’d see the Hoover Dam at the same time.

I stopped on the side of the road in the Mojave Desert to do a video conference call with a startup incubator and the other founders of my startup.

I wanted to avoid Los Angeles traffic, so I skimmed its suburbs, heading straight for Ventura and Santa Barbara.

I drove up the coast of California.

I stopped for a meal in San Francisco, then had to drive all over the place to find a hotel.  It ended up being super skeezy and I got out of there as soon as possible.

I kept driving up the coast of California.

I drove through The Redwood Forest.

Somewhere in California, I saw some elephant seals.

I drove into Oregon, and stopped at a cool little motel.

I continued up the coast but about halfway through Oregon, I got fed up with all the small town slow traffic so I finally cut over to I-5.   Protip: All the routes from the coast to I-5 take about the same time.  (3 hours?)

I took I-5 through Portland and into Seattle.
Last edited on Dec 29, 2012
(c) 2012 by Ed Paradis

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