Movin' cross country. No local friends, little money, tiny car.

Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share
61

… just looked around a bit more.

I will cop to having a lot of miscellaneous smaller stuff: boxes of photographs and CDs (yeah, I know, I’m a dinosaur) beading and candlemaking supplies, my Cooks Illustrated and Cooks Country magazines. Cigar boxes. Small mirrors. Maaaybe a hundred or so books.

A lot of this supports various little hobbies and pastimes, so I’m loathe to jettison that and then find myself in a strange city, not knowing a soul … and no way to occupy my time.

But again, no super large or heavy furniture items.

62

I will definitely be renting. Ideally a small house with a little yard, and I’m o.k. with being out in the boonies or even a semi-shady area if it makes rent affordable.

I’d much prefer a house or duplex, instead of an apartment. Is that gonna be a pipe dream? Coming from Tx I’ve already got sticker shock at housing costs.

What are the names or zip codes of the cheaper areas? I’m not saying ghetto, but … where’s semi-ghetto?

63

Outer southeast and northeast, so east of I-205 is a more low rent part of town, lots of small houses on small lots, not a ton of apartments. Rockwood is the belt that divides Portland from Gresham, SE 181st is the dividing line and east of that is Rockwood out to maybe 202nd or so, then Gresham starts after that. Going further east you have Sandy and Troutdale, go a bit further south of that and you’re in Estacada, Boring, Damascus–more rural areas of town but possible to find something you like. On the west side it stays spendy for quite a while but if you go up the Columbia river you can find some less expensive housing in St Helens, Scappoose and Rainier. Go south from there and Hillsboro, Forest Grove, Laurel, Cornelius, Gaston, Newberg, McMinnville, Wilsonville are all areas you can scout out. It really depends on if you prefer to be in a denser population area or like the semi-rural to rural areas.

You can also look over in Vancouver, Camas, Washougal in Washington–tends to be a bit less spendy. Longview is pretty far out there but dirt cheap comparatively speaking.

I would say that if you can swing $1500/month for rent you should be able to score a small house or a duplex no problem. If you’re expecting to pay much less than that, you’re likely going to have to settle for an apartment.

64

Ah, HR requirements, thats a shame Purple. There is a ton of stuff that those of us that live in the region are quite proud of. You say you’re not especially outgoing, is that because you’re not interested or because the climate in TX is uncomfortable, or some other reason. I ask because in my bit of the Northwest (pacific northwest is a smaller more well known part of Northwest btw coastal/western WA and OR) outdoor recreation is…almost at the level that football is in other places for popularity.

Once up here and settled, if you ever decide you want to spend a few days exploring the state, I live at the other end (basically) and would be willing to offer a place to sleep and eat.

26, that’s the central route that takes you through John Day and Prairie City? That is lovely, bit scary in the winter driving a 14 foot van before the plows get out, but I will say this for Oregon, they do not fool around with keeping roads plowed sanded and whatnot during the snow season.

65

I wanna be outside! It’s one of the myriad reasons I want to move out of Dallas. It’s too damn hot to do ANYTHING outside, for months straight.

In fact, I forgot one more set of items to pack: I have camping gear including a nice tent, that My Othet Shoe got a couple years before he died. We only got to use it a couple or three times together. But I still have it.

Fuck camping in 95+ sticky heat. I love tent camping, though, so hellz yeah I wanna start doing outdoorsy things!

I’ve quietly wanted to adopt a retired greyhound for a long time now, and fantasize about taking long, leisurely walks together without sweating like a whore in church.

66

Ditch them all and buy a laptop. They’re as cheap as chips nowadays. You can always buy misc furniture when you find somewhere to live.

Good idea. Bedframes are cheap too.

Do you know someone who would care for your snakes or could you donate them to a sanctuary or wildlife centre? I think it’s mad to be considering taking pets when you don’t yet have somewhere to live. But whatever.

Take as much clothing as will fit into a small carry-on on an airplane. You’d be surprised at how much stuff you have that you don’t need. Kitchenware can be gotten for supercheap at Goodwill stores. Take a thermos and a cup, plate and bowl. And some cutlery and decent knives. Less washing up that way too. :smiley:

Seriously, the cost of moving your stuff across country will be vastly more than the cost of replacing essential stuff. And I swear, not being tied to material possessions that aren’t necessary for my wellbeing, has been incredibly liberating.

Just do it fer’ gawdsakes.

67

Bring the camping gear, use the moving survival kit list, do what everyone else is saying and ditch the furniture (excepting pet items of course) but definately bring the camp gear. Camping is god up here. As I understand it, WA requires a paid permit to go camping. I understand the reasons why but emotionally its still a WTF thing for me. No idea about OR, last time I was camping there, I was a kid. ID has so much BLM and National Forest land that you can go pretty much anywhere you want, for pretty much how long you want, and you only have to pay for developed campsites (firepits tables outhouse style toilets) and some of the parks and monuments(parks monuments and developed sites often require reservations during peak season)

68

Well, shit, in that case, who needs an apartment anyway?

69

I would head to Ohio. I’m from the Midwest and appreciate 4 seasons. Winter can be nasty but only for a few days. I don’t know much about specific Ohio cities but college towns are cheaper, quieter, and if weed isn’t legal in Ohio, things a bit more lax in a college town. College towns also have furnished apartments for rent which would negate you having to move furniture. Of course, avoid whatever city The Ohio State University is in, and stay away from Lake Erie.

70

Check yer map. I-40 does NOT go through Vegas.

Take I-40 to where it ends (technically where it begins) to Barstow. Then take I-15 South to San Bernardino, then take I-10 West to LA. Pick up I-5 North, and keep going to Portland, Oregon.
~VOW
(retired CalTrans)

71

A very good friend of mine did exactly what you are contemplating several years ago.

Backstory: said friend–we’ll call her “Jane”–and her husband moved East from SCal so her husband could get his PhD from a big name school. After he got the degree, he became a professor there.

Fast forward twent-some years. Her husband became extremely disabled, and because he didn’t have tenure, he was discharged. Jane had been a stay at home housewife (no kids) and she re-entered the work force with a retail job.

They were hideously behind with their bills. Her husband had chronic, severe pain, brittle Diabetes, and other disabilities. Jane went to work at her retail job one day. She arrived to a big meeting, where Management told everyone the store was closing, and nobody had a job any more.

She drove home to find the County Coroner parked on her front lawn. Her husband had saved up his pain pills, and took his own life.

She got in touch with me in AZ, barely coherent. I told her she was coming to live with me. I said if everything there was simply too much of a mess for her to handle, she was to just walk out the front door, get to the airport, and I’d have a plane ticket waiting for her.

She put on her Big Girl Shoes and liquidated everything she had, except for the few items she could cram in her car. She brought her sewing machines, sewing projects, shoes, clothes, some books, her professional model Kitchen Aid mixer, and other miscellany. I plotted out a route for her to drive, made all motel reservations for her, and she arrived safely in AZ.

Purple, sometimes Life dumps on you. And it can be easier to just leave the mess than trying to clean it all up into something you can live with. I’m sorry you don’t have a VOW at your destination to give you a hand.

Decide where you want to go. Do a list of pros and cons, and also let your heart weigh in.

Decide when you want to go. Don’t go in winter. Just. Don’t.

Liquidate EVERYTHING. You will have enough to occupy your mind with navigating freeways and ramps and big trucks without trying to handle a U-Haul trailer. Take your clothes, some kitchen stuff, electronics, and ABSOLUTELY your favorite pillow.

Plan your route carefully. Decide how many miles (or how many hours) you want to drive per day. Make reservations at motels adjacent to the freeway (trust me on that one).

Have somewhere to stay at your destination.

All of this will take a LOT of research. Talk to people. Take suggestions.

Good luck on your adventure!
~VOW

72

That’s the one, and Prairie City was right where my jaw dropped. We left Ontario just after a good rainy spell and it was mostly dry the whole way back but the mountains above PC were dusted with new snow and the clouds were shredding themselves all over the mountains as huge shafts of sunlight lit up the green fields. Just wow. All the way back I noticed that I was going 15-20 minutes between seeing other cars–that is not a well travelled route this time of year, obviously. I will be exploring that area a lot more in future–my daughter and son in law and I have been thinking of going in together on a piece of land to see how self sufficient we can get and boy howdy does that look like a place where such a thing might be possible. Bet the growing season is a bit short though–gonna need a few greenhouses.

If you’re going to travel into Portland in winter, I-84 is the major route in and out and probably the safest choice if it gets snowy. I-5 north is fine until you hit the Siskiyous then the twisty bits coupled with some good sized summits and the truck traffic turn it into a white knuckle adventure–if there’s going to be weather I duck off in Northern California and take 97 up through Klamath Falls because it’s straight as an arrow, the snow is drier and there’s a lot more room to steer off the road safely if things go pear shaped. I usually then come up 58 to Eugene and rejoin I-5 after the scary parts. Or over 22 into Salem, that’s a very well plowed and maintained road too.

Good advice here about leaving most of your shit behind–have an epic garage sale, then use that money to go thrift shopping once you’re here. IKEA mattresses are cheap and super comfortable and the bed frames likewise. Only bring pets, pet stuff, camping gear (very replaceable, of course, but it’s spendy) hobby stuff if it’s unusual or small enough not to make a big difference and your kitchen essentials. A lot of your clothes won’t be suitable up here–tank top season is about three months long and I bet you don’t have anything wool at all, but you’ll need it once you’re here.

One way to stage things would be to drive the Honda here and go house shopping and once you have a place secured, fly back and bring a smaller truck with just what you really need and want to bring. You’ll have driven the route already so it won’t be as scary and a smallish box truck isn’t really all that hard to handle–but a truck towing a car definitely IS.

73

Just curious … why go that way instead of 58 to Bakersfield via Tehachapi?

74

That works too.

58 is a secondary road, plus it cuts through some very rural country, with few services. If Purple decides to go this Winter, there could be a snow flake or three that won’t be cleared right away.

Snow is horrible trouble at Gorman on I-5, but there are plows and CHP escorts. Plus if push comes to shove, there will be plenty of company by the wayside until the pass is cleared.
~VOW

75

I’ve moved a hundred or so books at a time a few different ways and have found the least stressful, cheapest way to do it is Medial Mail via the postal service. Just reinforce the boxes at their corners and seams like mad. They’ll take about a week to get to your new place (or friend’s house if you don’t have an new address yet).

76

Purple, if you take this route you’ll be going right by my house in southern Oregon – near Roseburg. Give me a heads-up and I’ll treat you to lunch before you take the last leg up into Portland.

Oregon in general and Portland specifically is wonderful. I’d love to return to Portland (I took my BA from Portland State), there’s so much to do and see and the people are wonderful. Lots of Starbucks-sipping, Subaru-driving hipsters, but that’s ok. I loved it.

77

We have furniture here! You don’t need to bring your own! I’m another one in favor of ditching it. It’s way too much trouble and so replaceable. I’m sure you could find decent furniture for what you’d pay for the truck, trailer, and gas. If/when I move out of this area, the only furniture I’m taking is a small cabinet my dad made for me when I was a kid.

I-5 is BORING. ETA: No offense, Lancia!

78

If those need to be heated/air conditioned/tended to during the trip, then that’s a very serious moving issue… you’re going to need a good-sized van of some sort. Plus towing your car, which a van might not be able to do, and not a lot of room left over for your furniture…

79

Hey, I’ve driven through there once, couple of years ago on my way back to Boise after delivering some household goods in Medford. It was a day trip and no way was I going back the way I came at night(the very dreary boring southern route)

Ethilrist has a good point that I hadn’t thought of. Would the reptiles just go into a state of torpor or hibernation? How do you move reptiles?

80

I like this idea!