Agony of De Feet

Yeah, I know - lame title.

Anyway, here is what happens when one undertakes a major move:

I'm down to just two socks, neither of them match, and one has a big hole in the heel.

Better than Packing, Much Better

Today, we drove to Point Roberts, Washington, and had lunch with our friend Gordon Dower. Here's a picture of Gordon:

You are asking, "What's that?" Go here to find out:  www.allpointbulletin.com/news/article.exm/2010-11-19_riding_the_ridek_with_gordon_dower

We even had a ride around Point Roberts in Gordon's Ridek - so interesting the way it works and lots of heads were turned when we drove by. I was occupying a back seat and felt like I should be waving the way Queen Elizabeth does.

To further top up our day, we had lunch at www.brewstersfinefoods.com. Are we fortunate to have such friends or what?

17 Days and Counting

I'm using the day we board the Amtrak Cascades to Seattle as the beginning of our epic adventure but we actually don't land in San Jose until May 31st.

Here's what our living room looks like:

I'm particularly pleased with our lamp tables. Genny likes to have an afternoon snooze in her small carrier so we leave it out for her. That is good, actually, because she'll have to get used to spending travel time in her larger, airline carrier (provided by World Pet Travel, so I don't have to buy one).

The big suitcase is one of two we are taking, in addition to two smaller ones. I have them all sitting out so we can experiment with how much we can pack in each - have to watch the weight. Amtrak has a 50 lb. limit on each bag. American Airlines does also but if a bag is over, they just charge for it.  Amtrak won't accept an overage at all.

Oh my goodness, I just noticed my ship's clock on the wall - that has to be boxed up. It was a gift from the Canadian Coast Guard when I retired.

Terrific Friends

Yesterday, our friends Maeghan and Jim drove all the way from their home in Oliver, B.C., to have dinner with us. After dinner, they turned around and drove all the way back to Oliver. That is a distance of about 833.62 km return, or 520 miles return. They were not able to stay overnight on this visit.

How many friends would do that? It was the last time we'll see them before we leave. Maeghan even brought me a bottle of 2009 Plumiscuous fruit wine from Forbidden Fruit Winery in Cawston, B.C. It is so good chilled and poured over ice. Cawston is in the Similkameen Valley.

We enjoyed a great Greek dinner and our time together was all too short.

We're trying to convince them to move to Costa Rica.

                                                       Jim, Maeghan, Diana, Lance

20 Days, Only 20 Days

How come time drags at the beginning of a major project, then speeds along near the end?

Spent today packing and repacking two more plastic bins. We're getting worried that we won't have enough room in our storage container. I've ended up with 16 bins and my husband has quite a few bankers boxes. Plus looks like we'll have to also put our pine dining table and four chairs, one rattan chair with footstool, and a teak coffee table in the same container. Nobody has offered to buy them - fools. Appears that the legs can be removed from both tables so that is a help.

I threw out so much stuff, sold a lot, gave away a lot and I still end up with 16 bins....and I was ruthless. Also started entering the contents of each container on computer inventory lists - that's when I realized we still have a lot of STUFF - yikes, now I'm yelling.

Also trying to convince a potential buyer of a box of A4 paper that, yes, it really is A4, not letter size. I do know one from the other and I'm not trying to cheat you.

I just want to board that train south, then board that plane even further south!

Check List

Done:

• Amtrak Cascades reservations made
• Hotel in Seattle reservations made
• Amtrak Coast Starlight reservations made
• Hotel in San Francisco reservations made
• Flight reservations San Francisco to San Jose, Costa Rica, made
• Our house has new tenants

Almost Done:

• Only a couple more plastic bins to fill up - once I put the few cooking utensils that I want to keep in storage, guess we'll be heating frozen food in the microwave. Oh wait, the microwave is going into storage too. Well, there's still the oven and restaurants.
• Genny's travel to be finalized.
• Need a hotel in Vancouver for a couple of nights.
• Need a rental car for a couple of days. 

Whatever extra things we want to bring with us, we'll buy in San Francisco. Our strong Canadian dollar will do very well there. Oh yes, I want to get tickets to the Mariners/Yankees game in Seattle.

Oh My Gawd! It's May!

This is zero month, the month we leave, no more sitting around saying "when we go to Costa Rica" - because we really are going there this month.

So much has been happening. A lovely young couple with a toddler have rented the house we have been leasing. Genny our cat had a wellness exam last week, plus a chip inserted, rabies shot and one of her innoculations. She goes back on May 9th for a couple of more tests and another innoculation. We are liaising with her vet, World Pet Travel and Veterinarios Asociados in San Jose, Costa Rica, where Genny will be boarding until we find our long term accommodations.

I'm now down to packing the last few storage bins and my paintings. We went to Rona this morning and bought pipe insulation tubes. They are perfect for putting around the edges of paintings to protect them from damage.

Here are some photos of Genny helping me pack today, the paintings I need to pack and the insulation tubes around some paintings.