New House Blog: Episode CCVIII - The Arrival

After three days of driving, in two trucks, with four cats, we arrived at our new Texas House in the late afternoon of Thursday, July 18, 2019.  The first thing we did when we arrived was to park the trucks.  The second thing was to turn off their engines.

High on our priority list was getting the cats settled in the big upstairs room in our Texas House.  You can see the windows of this big room in the photo at left, above the garage.  We unloaded the cats in the big room, unloaded some cat food, cat water, and cat litter for them, and turned the temperature down in that room.  Then we went to supper at a local Mexican restaurant (just the two of us, not the cats).  The food was wonderful, and it may turn into one of our semi-regular eating places.

On Friday, July 19, 2019, we commenced to unload the trucks.  I had the Uhaul backed up almost to the front door, and we were able to place one end of its built-in ramp inside the house for convenient unloading and dolly use.

Here are the before and after pictures of the back of the Uhaul.  We were pleased to see that there was only a minor shifting of contents, and nothing penetrated the rope, bungee, and plywood partition.  All of the plants survived intact.

Unloading the Uhaul went a lot quicker than loading, and we finished up by sweeping it out and returning the ashtray to the cab.  We also unloaded Becky's truck, but I don't have pictures.

In the afternoon we returned the Uhaul to a local facility.  I was glad to not have to drive it any more.

The professional movers arrived early on Saturday, July 20, 2019, which we were happy to see, in part because they had our bed and we would no longer have to sleep on the floor.  The crew consisted of the same long-haul driver who picked up our stuff in California, and one local loader (unloader).

We kept the cats closed in the big upstairs room while everything was unloaded, and for several days afterward.  During the unloading Becky checked off items as they were brought in, and I (once again) tried to look busy while the movers did their work.

We began to set things up soon after, and that process is still ongoing as of this Episode.

Becky's big ficus seems to be enjoying its new home in the sun.

Becky's home office setup.  The tangle of cords was only a temporary condition.  Her office now has proper cable routing and a proper UPS properly set up.

This is the Texas persimmon tree outside our bedroom window.  It is a female tree, as can be seen by the fact that it has fruit (the male trees do not bear fruit).  These persimmons are ripe and ready to eat when they turn dark, dark purple - almost black.  We have not yet harvested any, partly because they're not that easy to reach.

As you can see, Satchmo is settling in nicely, as are the rest of the cats, for the most part.  After several days of confinement in the big upstairs room we let them, by degrees, explore the rest of our Texas House, and now they all roam freely at will.













We have arrived.
    bIsh

New House Blog: Episode CCVII - The Journey

You will recall from our last Episode that we left our heroes on Tuesday, July 16, 2019, just as they were pulling out of their driveway for the final time to begin their adventuresome trek across the country to their Texas House.  Did they make it out of the driveway?  Did they have an adventuresome time?  Did Bish lessen at all in his dislike for the Uhaul?

Let us join our heroes on their trek, and resume the adventure in their own words.

Journey 1

Two trucks; three days; four cats.  Those are the vital numbers.  Four cats; three days; two trucks.  Keep these numbers in mind as you read on.  I had Satchmo and Daisy in the cab of the Uhaul, and Becky had Miles and Edgar in the cab of her F150.  All cats were in cat carriers, and each of us had one cat in the passenger seat, and one cat in the passenger footwell - with towels and blankets for padding and shade.  To facilitate easy, effective communication between trucks, we used Motorola handheld walky-talkies.

Our adventuresome trek began as we pulled out of our driveway for the last time and made our way to the freeway.  By a prearranged agreement, we decided that Becky would get herself some breakfast in the Jack in the Box drive-thru, and I would just drive southward, and we would meet up at the San Luis Reservoir.  Our route started out on 680 south, then transitioned to 101 south.  From 101 south we headed over 152 east to the San Luis Reservoir.  I arrived first and waited a while for Becky to show up.

Unknown to me at the time, Becky was delayed by having to stop and re-secure the tarp in the back of her truck.  Eventually she arrived, we availed ourselves of the facilities, and we resumed our journey, together.

The cats did not like this start to our journey, and they let us know for a while.  Eventually they seemed to calm down, but they were not happy to be cooped up in their carriers.  Fortunately, both Becky and I had downloaded sufficient numbers of old time radio shows, onto various media, that we did not have to listen solely to the cats' complaints, or, in my case, the noise of the noisy Uhaul cab.  Mainly, I listened to High Adventure before our daily lunch stops and Lux Radio Theatre after our daily lunch stops.

After our brief stop at San Luis Reservoir, and a quick readjustment of the tarp on Becky's truck, we continued east on 152 and then turned south on 5.  Traffic was not too bad on 5, and we stopped in Kettleman City for some food for us,  and gas for the Uhaul.  Because of the cats, we had to do most of our on-the-road eating in our trucks, with the AC on.  One positive thing about the Uhaul was its AC - it worked quite well.  Over the course of our trek I was only getting about 300 to 325 miles per tankful in the Uhaul, and I think it had a 30-ish gallon tank.

After lunch we continued south on 5, and at some point we turned east.  At this time I don't recall if we took 58, or if we took Stockdale Highway.  Either way, we bypassed Rosedale by using the wonderful Westside Parkway, after which we continued eastward on 58.  The Uhaul did pretty well going through the hills leading to Tehachapi, and I was not, as I feared I might be, slower traffic.  I pushed that Uhaul pretty hard at times, and mechanically it was sound and never let me down.  On 58 east there is one, single, solitary, random stoplight in the middle of the desert, at a place called Kramer's Junction.  I think I have had to stop for it just about every single time I've driven that way, and this trip was no exception.

After the stoplight, we continued on to Barstow, where we may or may not have stopped for gas - I don't recall.  At Barstow we switched to 40 east, and drove through the hills and high desert all the way to our stop for the night in Needles.

As you can see, it was quite a warm day in Needles, and our sympathetic hotel clerk gave us our room keys and encouraged us to get the cats out of the trucks and into the air conditioned rooms before we checked in.  We had two rooms at each hotel, and in Needles they were not adjacent rooms.  The cats seemed to enjoy being out of their carriers, and they seemed to get used to the strange rooms pretty quickly.

As the cats explored their rooms, we ate at the local Giggling Cactus, where we each enjoyed a wonderful Cuban sandwich.








Journey 2

Four cats; three days; two trucks.  After loading the cats into their respective trucks we set off once more toward Texas and our Texas House.  We started out on 40 east into Arizona, and made a mid-morning gas stop (for the Uhaul, of course).  When I went around to the passenger side of the Uhaul and opened the door to check on Satchmo and Daisy I discovered that someone had had an accident.  It was Satchmo, and fortunately, it was the better kind of accident to have.  Unfortunately, there was nothing we could do at the gas station other than to add more layers of towels underneath his cat carrier so as to keep the Uhaul's seat clean.  As it turned out, this was the only cat accident of the trip, and the Uhaul's strong AC and my strong air fresheners covered up the smell.

This is me at the gas stop.  For the most part, on this trip we mainly stopped at large truck stop type facilities for gas.  They tend to have very clean bathrooms a lot of pumps, and large, well-stocked convenience stores.  I remember that this particular place was having some kind of special hot dog sale because it was, according to the loudspeakers, National Hot Dog Day.

We departed without further incident and continued generally easterly on 40.  Sometime in the middle of the day we hit a large traffic delay due to road construction.  This afforded me the opportunity to take a few photos with my non-phone, real camera.

As you can see, it was a bright, sunny day.

The view from the driver's side mirror.

The view from the passenger's side mirror.

Hmmm...  What's that ahead?

Now we're a little closer, and zoomed in quite a bit.  What can it be?

Extremely zoomed in now, but I still don't know exactly what it is.  Power plant?  Cement factory?  Smelter?  Gold refinery?

At least we weren't outside in the heat doing road work.  And we had our radio shows to listen to.

Eventually we made it through the back-up, and continued on 40 until we turned roughly south at Clines Corners onto 285 south.

A late afternoon gas stop.  There were no regular pumps available for me, so I had to use the RV gas pump.  Eventually 285 south brought us to our stop for the night in Roswell, New Mexico.  No, we didn't see or hear anything about UFOs or aliens or such-like.

We stayed at the Roadway Inn, and we had adjacent rooms, with connecting doors, which allowed the cats to roam freely between the two rooms.  We went down the street to Sonic to pick up dinner as the cats explored the motel rooms, and after dinner I used A LOT of hot water and soap cleaning Satchmo's carrier, and all of the towels and shirts that had been under and around his cat carrier.  Day two ends with me strongly advising all of you to AVOID the Roadway Inn in Roswell, New Mexico.  Stay away!  Trust me on this - you don't want to stay there.  I'm not going to go into details here, but just stay away.  If you absolutely need a pet room in the area, find another hotel, or another town.  DO NOT stay at the Roswell Roadway Inn.

Journey 3

Three days; four cats; two trucks.  Satchmo's carrier was dry in the morning, and we loaded up the cats and got on the road for our third, and last, day of traveling on our adventuresome trek.  I'm not certain, but I think we may have started on 285 south, and then turned on to 10 east.  I am certain, however, that we stopped for lunch, and I had ice cream.

As usual, we mostly ate in the trucks with the AC running.  You can see Becky's white F150 in the rearview mirror.

This is also at our lunch stop.  We  saw quite a bit of wind power as we drove through Texas.

I don't recall exactly where we got off of 10 east, but we ended up on some farm roads, some winding, hilly back roads, and eventually 46 east and some other roads.

Epilogue

We leave our heroes on those other roads for now as we wrap up this exciting Episode of the New House Blog.  Will they find their Texas House?  Will they unload the cats in time?  Will Bish say any more nice things about the Uhaul?  Tune in next time to the New House Blog!

So long, and Happy Landing!
    bIsh

New House Blog: Episode CIIII - The Departure

Yes, the time had come to finish packing up and to leave our first New House.  It was a good house (and still is), and we learned a lot while living in it, maintaining it, repairing it, and generally improving its overall condition. 

Departure 1

I returned from my epic journey, chronicled in this Episode, on a Friday evening, and we resumed preparations for our trip.  Saturday afternoon we attended a going-away event put on by Becky's friends, and on Sunday, July 14, 2019, we picked up the Uhaul. 

From the start I didn't like that Uhaul.  The cab was loud and echoey, and the stereo was just an AM/FM radio - no USB inputs, no bluetooth, we thought it had no audio input at all, and it smelled faintly of cigarette smoke.  We got a bunch of air fresheners, and I actually put the ashtray in the back of the truck, which helped.  The engine was noisy, there was not much seat adjustment, the high beams were useless, and the mirrors could not be adjusted from the inside.  On the plus side, the AC was quite good, and I did become quite adept at backing the truck into parking spaces.  On the second day of driving I finally noticed the big, blue sticker on the dashboard with instructions for plugging in to the 1/8" audio input for the stereo.  As it turned out, sound quality from the stereo was pretty bad, so that didn't help a lot.

Departure 2

Boxes!  We got boxes!  Stacks and stacks of boxes!

After picking up the Uhaul, deciding I didn't like it, and picking up the air fresheners, we actually started packing it.

Most of these boxes did not go into the Uhaul.

We had already kind of decided on what would be in the Uhaul, and what would be carried by a professional moving company.

We would like to thank Becky's sister, Amy, for coming over and helping us pack both the Uhaul and Becky's truck.  Thank you, Amy.

This is the Uhaul after the initial pack.  The front section houses the precious plants that we did not want the movers to move, along with strategically-placed bracing boxes.  The rope, bungy, and plywood partition was set up to keep items from moving forward and damaging the plants.  Said partition worked amazingly well.  Nothing broke through to the plant area.

After the initial pack I moved the Uhaul to make room for the professionals.











Departure 3

The professional movers arrived bright and early (ahead of schedule, actually) on Monday, July 15, 2019.

The crew, consisting of the long-haul driver and two local loaders, was professional and efficient.  They did the heavy lifting, and we watched and directed, and I tried to find things to do, so as not to appear idle in front of the movers.

One thing I did was to take pictures of the cactus garden.  Look at these huge blooms on the Apple Cactus (Cereus Peruvianus).

Here we see an overview of the cactus garden in its final Bishopian form.

This Devil's Tongue Cactus (ferocactus latispinus) is low to the ground, and hard to see in the overview, so it gets a close-up.

This is the orange room after the movers had finished up and left.  Notice that we kept only the bare minimum unpacked.

Monday night we went to our usual Monday night band rehearsal.  Afterward we came home, I did final prep in the cab of the Uhaul, and we slept on the floor (of the house, not the Uhaul).

Departure 4

Tuesday, July 16, 2019, dawned bright and early, as is usual for the dawn, and Becky got up before me and put Miles in his pet carrier.  I think I had a hasty breakfast of a Hot Pocket, then we finished up our preparations for departing.  Let us take one last look around our New House before we depart.

Look at that back yard, and that blue sky.  It promised to be a day of adventure.

The master bedroom, with its awesome paint scheme.

And its dais for the bed.  Can you spot Miles in his cat carrier?

The fireplace room, also known as the red room.  Which cats do you see there?

Becky's office, with its happy monkey.

And its great view of the back yard.

My office, with its whimsical paint scheme.

Ocean waves beneath green, grassy hills, beneath a blue sky.

Let's all take a moment to just appreciate the whimsy.

The orange room.  Look at all that empty space.

And look at those cute cats.  The bricks on the floor stayed on the floor.  The cat accoutrements came with us.

The kitchen and the trip supplies we anticipated possibly needing on the road.

The large island stayed with the kitchen.  That kitchen really needs an island.

The garage, where nary a car set foot while we lived there.  The last couple of boxes can be seen, and some cat items.  The workbench stayed put.  I have plans (in my head) to build a new workbench at our Texas House.

We left some surplus supplies for whoever moves in next, including all of our wonderful paint colors, and some genuine VW G-12 antifreeze/coolant.

El Toro also stayed in San Jose.  As I explained in this Episode, we have a new, electric, mower at our Texas House.

The back view and the spacious back yard.  Did we uncover all of the buried concrete?  Did we dig up all of the hidden conduit?  Are there more tile fragments to be found?

The front view, and the beautiful succulent garden.  We brought some of the succulent garden and the cactus garden with us.  Hopefully they will thrive at our Texas House.





Departure 5

And now, friends, it is time to say Goodbye to our San Jose House.

The final items are packed into the trucks, and the cats are all in their carriers.

My bluetooth speaker is set up in my cab, and snacks are within reach.  Walkie talkies are powered on and ready.  Time to hit the road.

Onward!
    bIsh