The headline is true! We are finally on the road! We left Binghamton on Thursday, April 5, which was about five days later than we wanted to leave. We had planned to have a nice, two-week drive down the east coast, but that will now be abbreviated and a bit more rushed. Nonetheless, we are on the road! We spent Thursday night in Maryland right outside of Baltimore, and on Friday we visited my old alma mater, the University of Maryland. Duffy even met Testudo, the Maryland mascot!
After spending a few hours boring Andrea and Duffy with my college memories, we moved on to visit my sister Robin in Richmond, Virginia. Unfortunately, it took us SIX HOURS to make the two hour drive from College Park to Richmond, so we didn’t get to spend as much time with her family as we would have liked. Still, it was great to see her and her family, especially my nephew Brandon and my niece Kayla.
On Saturday we left Richmond and headed down to Raleigh, North Carolina, to visit my parents and my sister Shelley and her family. We had a great time seeing them, and my niece Ashley is adorable! Sadly we couldn’t stay too long because we are behind in our travels from all the house delays. So on Monday we left for Charlotte, North Carolina, which is where we are now! We’ll be in Charlotte for a few days, and I’m hoping to get to visit briefly with my old friend Pete Smolowitz! I recently got to see my friend Greg Bonczkowski while in upstate New York (unfortunately I didn’t get to spend as much time with him as I would have liked — sorry Bonz! — it’s amazing how working on that house sucked the life out of us!), and I also got to have lunch with my friend Ken Speanburg briefly while driving through Albany. So it will be nice to catch up with Pete, even if it’s just briefly.
After Charlotte, we will continue to head south, so if anyone is on the route between Charlotte and Ft. Lauderdale, let me know!
THE HOUSE AND THE POD
As I mentioned, we spent a lot of time working on Andrea’s house (fixing it up and getting it ready to sell) and loading up the pod. We’ve been up in Binghamton for more than two months, and all I’ll say is that Andrea and I are both happy to be done and on the road. We got everything done that we needed to, but it was hard work and very stressful. In fact, we were discussing it and we realized that from mid-March through April 5, we didn’t do ANYTHING fun — just work on the the house all day long. It was really a tough process, but it paid off, and the house looks great. Don’t believe me? Here is a video tour of the house!
As if fixing and cleaning the house wasn’t enough, packing up the pod was also an ordeal! We loaded that thing to the brim! Take a look at a few of the different layers of the pod, each packed full:
Also, check out this very short little video of the pod:
The most amazing thing about the pod was how they picked it up. They brought in a flatbed truck, unloaded a lifting device from it, raised the Pod off the ground, and then drove the truck under it. Take a look at these pictures:
So now the pod is packed and loaded, and will be stored in a warehouse in Scranton, Pennsylvania for the next two years or so. Once we’re finally back and settled and have a house big enough to put our stuff in, we’ll call for it and they’ll ship it to us, and then we’ll face the difficult task of unloading the pod. But until then, the only possessions we have are those that can fit in our car.
And speaking of cars, we had car problems that contributed to the delay in our departure. Our car had transmission problems, and our mechanic (a family friend of the Cserenyi’s) didn’t think it could make it to Florida. To make a long story short, we now have a NEW (used) CAR! We upgraded from a 1998 Jeep Grand Cherokee with 148,000 miles to a 2001 Jeep Grand Cherokee with about 80,000 miles. It cost us a bit of money, but in the long run it will be well worth it (I hope!).
Here’s a picture of our new car, complete with the turtle-top that we needed to help carry our stuff down to Florida:
And that’s what’s new with us! Sorry that posts have been so infrequent, but hopefully we’ll have a lot more to post about soon, as we contiinue down the east coast, move in to the house we are renting in Ft. Lauderdale, and then start our dive classes! So keep checking the site for new updates! (Also, check out Duffy’s Corner to see his easter picture!)
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