***Wednesday, Fourth of July****
I have the day off today but Eric has to work.
I checked out a handful of books on San Francisco from the New York Public Library and I read through a lot of them this afternoon in bed. I'm trying to do as much research about the city before we move there on October 1st. (see previous entry for more details)
I also have been trying to figure out the most affordable way to move cross country....
We have a car, 2 cats, and a lot of stuff (i.e. an entire household) to carry with us.
A POD costs 5,000 dollars. So that's out of the question.
Renting a A UHaul Truck costs about 2,000$ -- in addition to the cost of gas. For nearly an extra 1,000$ we can have our car attached to the back of the truck.
But I received a quote from a moving company that will pick up our boxes and furniture at our front door and deliver them to San Francisco for us. That costs 1,800$
We can go with that company and drive our car to San Francisco. We can fly our cats separately...
Or attempt to take our cats with us for the road trip, although I think they would scream the entire way in agony.
There must be an easier way...Any Suggestions?
We have less than 3 months to figure it out. I'm both excited and overwhelmed...For now I'll just continue my research...
Happy Fourth of July!
Day 193 of 365 days
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Get a sedative from the vet for the cats...they will be fine in the car. I would think flying would be worse for them. Actually, my cat was fine on the trip as long as I let her out of the carrier. She spent most of the 12 hour trip on my lap....
I'm excited for you guys!!
And totally hire the movers. Fuck a bunch of moving your own shit. :)
I've flown cats around the country, they never seemed to be that freaked out by it. Since your going across the country it might even be cheaper to fly them considering how much vets charge for drugs these days. Even though it worked fine for Loopy, having a cat outside of the carrier in a car can be dangerous as we all know cats like to get into small places like under the gas pedel etc.
It's too bad you have so much stuff because just yesterday my bestfriend was telling me that it only cost 25 bucks a day to rent a pickup truck.
Theres a good bunch of guides called something like Not a tourists guide to... should check them out too. Plus Im sure theres lots of blogs and such! So exciting!
It would depend on how much stuff you actually have and especially how much "bulky" items there are.
If there are just mainly clothes and things Eric and you can move yourself the UHaul may be the way to go. Just think of it like a vacation and take a tour of the country.
I would think 3-5 days of driving should be enough, and you can spend some time seeing the sights.
$5000 for a POD? that's daylight robbery that is, you could buy a truck for less. I've never hauled cats anywhere but I'ce moved my dog and we found the best way to move his was to get a sedative from the vet and give him a tsblet about an hour before he travelled then put him into a pet carrier and into the car. He seemed happier in the pet carrier because it was dark, enclosed and quiet.
Have you got a huge amount of stuff, if not you could maybe look at hiring a trailer or a van. We hired a van for moving some big furniture out of my gran's house at the other end of hte country. Had it for 4 days and it cost about £250.
At Friday, July 06, 2007, 
Nightmare
Unfortunately any move of any size requires a metric ass ton of cash. Maybe you can talk some of your friends into a cross country road trip and they could drive some of your stuff to SF too?
That is how I got my stuff back from CA The last time, I called my best friend who happened to own a van, and he and 2 other guys came out and picked me and 3/4 of my stuff up.
But then again he is one of those friends who I would get arrested for helping move a body.
But I think the flight would be less traumatic then a 40hr, 3000 mile car ride, when they could get to the airport, and dropped off and 4 hours later land in SFO. especially if you got some tranquilizers pre-flight.
hey clarity! wow must be an exciting time for you guys. long road trips tend to make me tired and cranky so remember to take tons of cds to listen in the car that's a must ;) always carry the essentials in a bag close to you, it's annoying trying to find them if you're taking alot of stuff. definately something for headaches and have comfy clothes and shoes. also toilet paper you never know some stops dont have any and lots of water one time we took one of those huge 5 gallon tank things and it ended up helping alot. i can't remember anything else but if i do i'll add it :) have fun guys! and be prepared!
At Monday, July 09, 2007, Kathleen
I've moved cats both ways and since I was just at the vet last week, I have some advice re: sedatives. He said they aren't necessary and are in fact worse for the cats than the move itself. Also, if you send them via airplane they can't control their body temp, so it's best not to tranquilise them.
I drove back home from SF and Tikal traveled with us in the cab of the truck - he couldn't have tranqs because he had a heart murmur and he spent most of the trip either sitting on the seat (I did have a carrier, but keeping him in it for 12 hours at a time is painful) or in the wheel well on the driver's floor (there was a perfect little compartment for him.
If you do travel with the kids across country, don't forget to find hotels in advance that accept pets. If I were you, I'd send them via airplane. And you have someone there who can pick them up since you probably won't be there yet. I should mail you my SF books.
