Hitch 'em up, move 'em out

After a very short month in Seattle, my apartment is cleared out, (mostly) everything I own is in storage, and I've headed out on the next stage of my journey.

Before leaving town I managed to squeeze in a few very important activities: a hike in Mt Rainier National park, lunch/coffee/cocktails with several friends (Judy, Denise, Janice, Robert, and others), a brisk and beautiful motorcycle ride with Steve on the Olympic Peninsula, dental work including a new crown (ugh!), and of course I turned in my mostly blue absentee ballot.

Most of my final weeks in Seattle centered on packing up and closing out my apartment and preparing bills and banking and etc. for an extended absence. No matter how long I allowed for such things, I could have used just one more day. My final week in Seattle didn't exactly go as planned...

THE WISH
I had arranged for delivery of storage crates on Monday and movers for two hours early Wednesday, expecting to be packed and locked up by noon and downtown at Ummelina day spa for massage and pedicure by 2 PM, then to join Keith and Sarah at her Redmond Jr High School choral concert on Wednesday evening, get to bed early on their comfy sofa to be well rested for my Thursday morning flight.

THE REALITY
Here's what actually happened: The wrong crates were delivered about 90 minutes late on Monday. I ordered shipping/storage crates "that could be delivered to anywhere in the world" and received local storage/delivery crates. The driver from Hansen Brothers Moving and Storage was awesome and helped to coordinate delivery of the more appropriate crates on Tuesday -- but this still put be a day behind plan. The Hansen Bros driver and dispatcher also talked me into taking two crates instead of three, to save a fortune on later trucking costs. Sounded like a good idea at the time...

I spent quite of bit of time Monday and Tuesday having one last lunch/coffee/cocktail with friends, and found myself staying up VERY late Tuesday night to finish packing.

On Wednesday morning two very nice young guys from F.A.S.T. Moving arrived to help pack up the containers. Even though they were extremely conscientious about padding the furniture and tightly packing the crates like a masterful Tetris game, after four (not two) hours of packing and re-packing it was clear that not everything would fit. The spa visit to Ummelina would have to be canceled so I could figure out how to dispose of the stuff that just wouldn't fit.

After not sleeping much on Tuesday I wasn't thinking very well, and my dear friend Keith managed to swoop in to save my day (YAY!) Keith "talked me off the ledge", helped to repack a bit to fit in a few more items, and agreed to take care of the remaining furniture (dining table/chairs, side chair, antique umbrella stand, and a variety of other items. Between Keith and Steve I'm hoping everything can either be stored or sold without too much inconvenience to either of them.

For anything not worth keeping or selling, I took advantage of the "Magical Disappearing Room" in my apartment building. Since I first moved into the building, tenants have left usable items in the basement laundry room for other tenants to take. I've found a great lamp, some kitchen gadgets, and a sweater through this system. I've left items there before and usually within a day or two things simply disappear. My last night at the building was no different. I started putting boxes of "good free stuff" in the magical disappearing room at around midnight, with additional loads dropped until around 3:30 AM. Even in the half-hour between loads, stuff simply disappeared. When I checked back in the morning before heading to the airport at 7 AM, well over half the stuff I'd left out was gone. Crazy, but true!

I managed to sleep fitfully on the floor of my apartment between 3:30 and 5 AM, then showered and did a bit more cleaning before heading downtown to catch the bus to the airport. And I'm on my way out to see the world!

Many thanks to Keith and Steve for all your help and support in my last week in Seattle. I couldn't have done it without you!

(Photos)

Next up: Amsterdam!