My cross-country journey...revisited
I thought it would be fun to recount the move I made from California to Columbus, Ohio in August of 2004. I kept a journal and even though it's late in arriving, it's always worth a read. The trip was amazing, seeing America again from the driver's seat of my car was eye opening and in some ways, inspiring.
I spent all of Friday from 5:45AM preparing for the movers and then packing everything up into the moving van. This consisted of two parts...loading everything in my storage unit then heading to the house and packing up what consisted of a one bedroom apartment. This took me to about 4:00PM. I then spent the next 5 hours cleaning the house, steam cleaning the carpets, scouring out the bathroom, mopping the floors and taking care of little loose ends. I was going to leave three sand dollars that I kept on the kitchen window sill for the next occupant but at the last minute changed my mind and stuck them in my glove box. I'd find a place for them in Ohio. I thought I'd take a quick walk-through just to be sure I had everything. I went in to the bedroom, opened the mirrored closet doors and discovered that the movers had failed to pack a bunch of stuff, to whit: two violins and their cases, three boxes of my papers and a dufflebag. I let out a howl "OHHHHHHHHH NOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!" that they probably could hear all the way to Bakersfield. My car was nearly jam packed, where would I put all this stuff? I did some creative packing not unlike figuring out a jig-saw puzzle and somehow managed to fit these items in as well as Jackson's food and water dishes. Needless to say, the car was jam packed to the point of almost being uncomfortable but it somehow got done.
It was now 10:30PM. I was physically exhausted but I piled Jackson into the car and took off down Hollywood Blvd. for the last time. On the way out Victoria Avenue I stopped at a little park where I would take Jackson every night for his bedtime pee-pee. I don't know if this little park by the harbor had a name but I always told Jackson that I was taking him to The Green Place, I guess because everything else around there was either sand or concrete so going somewhere green was a little special. We had a routine that I found kind of fun, I would always take Jackson there at around 11:10 and by the time we'd get there it was 11:20. After going a few times I noticed that the sprinklers would come on at 11:25PM and one little piece of the park would get watered for exactly ten minutes, then the next section would get watered until all four segments of the park were watered. I loved watching Jackson as the first sprinklers came on because he would be shocked to hear the hissing and spitting sounds of the sprinkler nozzles. Sometimes he'd get caught out in the grass as the next series of sprinklers would come on and he'd have to run for cover. I'd warn him...but would he listen? Well, sometimes. It was this place I took Jackson to after we'd locked up the house. One last time at The Green Place for old times sake. We were a bit early for the sprinklers but that was alright. Jackson dutifully sniffed about and even left a nice little treasure for whoever might discover it. After having picked up for him religiously for nearly two years, I decided to leave his tribute alone just this once. I figured it was Jackson's offering to the dog gods, who am I to interfere with a holy offering?
We trotted back to the car and set off for points east, me sighing as I realized what a huge drive this was going to be. I looked down at the odometer set to zero and shook my head, such a long way to go. I muttered under my breath the hackneyed old saw of "A journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step"...
So down Pacific Coast Highway we go, heading for Malibu then Santa Monica where we would hook up to 10E then eventually connect with 15N which would take us to Las Vegas. I remember being annoyed that I had to go through L.A. and even when we'd passed it the traffic still seemed tres' Angeleno. I was happy to finally get on Highway 15 and watch the landscape change from urban to arid.
*more to come*
I spent all of Friday from 5:45AM preparing for the movers and then packing everything up into the moving van. This consisted of two parts...loading everything in my storage unit then heading to the house and packing up what consisted of a one bedroom apartment. This took me to about 4:00PM. I then spent the next 5 hours cleaning the house, steam cleaning the carpets, scouring out the bathroom, mopping the floors and taking care of little loose ends. I was going to leave three sand dollars that I kept on the kitchen window sill for the next occupant but at the last minute changed my mind and stuck them in my glove box. I'd find a place for them in Ohio. I thought I'd take a quick walk-through just to be sure I had everything. I went in to the bedroom, opened the mirrored closet doors and discovered that the movers had failed to pack a bunch of stuff, to whit: two violins and their cases, three boxes of my papers and a dufflebag. I let out a howl "OHHHHHHHHH NOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!" that they probably could hear all the way to Bakersfield. My car was nearly jam packed, where would I put all this stuff? I did some creative packing not unlike figuring out a jig-saw puzzle and somehow managed to fit these items in as well as Jackson's food and water dishes. Needless to say, the car was jam packed to the point of almost being uncomfortable but it somehow got done.
It was now 10:30PM. I was physically exhausted but I piled Jackson into the car and took off down Hollywood Blvd. for the last time. On the way out Victoria Avenue I stopped at a little park where I would take Jackson every night for his bedtime pee-pee. I don't know if this little park by the harbor had a name but I always told Jackson that I was taking him to The Green Place, I guess because everything else around there was either sand or concrete so going somewhere green was a little special. We had a routine that I found kind of fun, I would always take Jackson there at around 11:10 and by the time we'd get there it was 11:20. After going a few times I noticed that the sprinklers would come on at 11:25PM and one little piece of the park would get watered for exactly ten minutes, then the next section would get watered until all four segments of the park were watered. I loved watching Jackson as the first sprinklers came on because he would be shocked to hear the hissing and spitting sounds of the sprinkler nozzles. Sometimes he'd get caught out in the grass as the next series of sprinklers would come on and he'd have to run for cover. I'd warn him...but would he listen? Well, sometimes. It was this place I took Jackson to after we'd locked up the house. One last time at The Green Place for old times sake. We were a bit early for the sprinklers but that was alright. Jackson dutifully sniffed about and even left a nice little treasure for whoever might discover it. After having picked up for him religiously for nearly two years, I decided to leave his tribute alone just this once. I figured it was Jackson's offering to the dog gods, who am I to interfere with a holy offering?
We trotted back to the car and set off for points east, me sighing as I realized what a huge drive this was going to be. I looked down at the odometer set to zero and shook my head, such a long way to go. I muttered under my breath the hackneyed old saw of "A journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step"...
So down Pacific Coast Highway we go, heading for Malibu then Santa Monica where we would hook up to 10E then eventually connect with 15N which would take us to Las Vegas. I remember being annoyed that I had to go through L.A. and even when we'd passed it the traffic still seemed tres' Angeleno. I was happy to finally get on Highway 15 and watch the landscape change from urban to arid.
*more to come*
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