Erin's Travels: Cross country road trip again! - Atlanta, GA to Ottawa, IL (Days 1-4)

I wish I could say I have been looking forward to this one as much as I was the last one, but that would be a big ol' lie. I am, however, excited about having it over with (too bad that is still 5 days from now). It will mean all of my possessions are reunited in the same city, and that I will be living in an awesome place - the San Francisco Bay Area. Honestly, I really lucked out with my EIS placement. I think I am going to love it out in California. The weather, the water, the mountains, the wineries, the hiking, the biking, well, I could go on and on but I think you get the picture. The best part is that now that I have a car I will be able to access all of it (one of the unforeseen downsides of living in NYC sans vehicle, at least for me).

EIS started on July 1 in Atlanta, GA. I have already survived living in a hotel for nearly a month and all of the associated pros and cons of living such a life. My friends, both old and new, made it bearable and actually quite fun. Believe it or not, I was sad to say goodbye to the hotel. Scratch that, I was sad to say goodbye to my friends in the hotel (and in Atlanta), not so much hotel life. By the time I reach my new home, I will have been living out of a suitcase for 4 months, so I am very much looking forward to getting back into a routine, particularly one that involves exercise. I am supposedly training for a November 1 marathon. I need to get my butt in gear.

Anyways, I digress, back to the cross country road trip. CDC is paying for part of my move, a whopping $3000. When I left Atlanta for NYC I downsized from a 3 bedroom house to a studio apartment, and while I got rid of a lot of stuff, I still ended up with a storage space in Atlanta. I also ended up with a storage space in NYC when I vacated my apartment last April. With a place big enough to hold everything out in CA, I had to figure out how to get everything there from two different cities. Ideally, I would have had professional movers do everything for me, but let's face it, with a $3000 budget, that wasn't going to happen. The most economical method was for me to do it, hence another cross country road trip. And this isn't just any cross country road trip, it is an Atlanta to NYC to Richmond, CA road trip - bleh.

One might say perhaps, NYC to Atlanta to Richmond would be the more sensical route, but since I was already in Atlanta for work I picked up the moving truck (a 22' monster) there and loaded up my stuff. I got myself to Roanoke, VA before stopping for the night. It was a long day. Day 2 was spent going from Roanoke to Edgewater, NJ - just a hop, skip, and a jump across the Hudson to my storage space in the Bronx. All in all the day's driving wasn't so bad, but naturally I hit Newark at ruch hour heading toward NYC. Talk about instant stress. I quickly learned that being the "nice" driver wasn't going to get me anywhere, so I took a more agressive approach. Namely, I went where I wanted to go and let the size of my truck scare off all the little cars.

Before I go too much further, I should stop to say that I did hire "professional" movers to load my truck for me in Atlanta - Atlanta Peach Movers. The reviews online were good; however, that is about to change because I will be adding my 2 cents. When I made my reservation, I made it clear that there would be some packing that needed to be done and specifically requested that they have packing supplies with them. Two guys showed up with a little bit of tape and saran wrap left in the truck from another move. They didn't even have a hand truck, let alone boxes. Luckily, I had gotten a few boxes from a friend and had a hand truck in the storage space, so my packing needs ended up being covered (not that that makes things okay). Packing the truck was a different matter entirely. They did a horrible job. I'm not a professional mover, so when we closed up the truck after loading, things looked good to me, but when I opened it up again in NYC things were a mess. Boxes had fallen and broken open, so there were books all over the place. My big antique mirror had fallen, but luckily didn't break (the mirror part at least, the woodwork will need further inspection once it is unpacked in CA). I am quite concerned about breakage because of these guys' incompetence. On the bright side, the guys I hired in NYC, Big John's Moving, were great. They fixed everything that had fallen because of the Atlanta guys and super securely loaded all of my NYC stuff. It has not budged. Yay for Big John's Moving and boo, hiss for Atlanta Peach Movers.

I soloed the Atlanta to NYC drive but am super happy that my friend Michelle in joining me for the NYC to Richmond leg. It is making it so much better. I'm rather stressed out over this whole process, so I am really glad she is here with me. Arriving in CA 4 days from now will not come soon enough, but having her with me is making a really not fun thing at least a bit of fun.

The two of us made it to my folks' place in OH last night and are now in a divey hotel in Ottawa, IL. When staying in a hotel on this trip, I've been staying in Choice Hotels (Comfort Inns, Quality Inns, etc.), and the ones in Roanoke and Edgewater were quite nice. The one in Ottawa, IL, not so much. It'll do though - there don't appear to be any bed bugs (yes, we felt the need to check).

Thanks to Michelle for taking pictures along the way.

The long open road ahead of us.