We closed on the house at the very end of October, our goal was to get moved pretty quickly to avoid wintery weather and bad travel conditions. As we were preparing to move, I thought we were so organized and had everything planned out and there were definitely a few things we didn’t see coming which made for a few stressful days before we could get going.
Speed bump 1: Unexpected car repair. Saturday morning, Chris headed off to go pickup the u-haul trailer and thought it wouldn’t be a bad idea to have the tech peek under the hood just in case. That is when we learned one of our hydraulic motor mounts was leaking. The car was driveable enough to pick up the trailer so Chris brought it back since we needed to load up our stuff anyway.
Speed bump 2: Trailer is too small – we have too much stuff to move! A few weeks beforehand, we were at u-haul picking up some supplies and we saw the trailer in person. I thought to myself, I’m not so sure all our stuff is going to fit but we figured it would work itself out. Well that was wrong. As we started loading, it quickly became apparent that not everything was going to fit.
By the end of the day, we decided to get a storage unit for the leftovers and managed to snag a car appointment for Monday which gave us hope that we could still get going soonish.
Speed bump 3: One car repair fixed – another problem revealed. All day Monday we were anxiously awaiting news of the car being good as new. Around 4ish, we got word and picked it up, feeling like things were getting back on track. It didn’t take long for Chris to realize something just wasn’t right and we had to circle back.
Tuesday morning we were regrouping on our plans once again trying to figure out how to work through these challenges. We realize that now being 2 days late to leave, the prospect of driving our stuff back by towing it wasn’t seeming like the best plan. We decided to make the drive a bit easier by shipping everything instead. We had initially looked into shipping options but couldn’t find anything door to door. At this point, it was the best option and was going to make driving faster and easier.
Later on Tuesday, we got word that the car was ready (again) and we were hoping this time it was actually ready. Turns out, there was a bad transmission solenoid that went out during the initial repair. We also had an appointment for Wednesday morning to take our stuff and load it into the U-pack trailer and get rid of the u-haul.
Wednesday is the day (finally!) The car is working better than ever and after loading everything up and dropping off the u-haul we were on our way! Without dragging a heavy trailer, we made great time and ended up staying in Missoula Montana for our first night of the trip!
Thanksgiving day we headed out from Missoula early and were back on I-90 heading East. We were watching some winter weather and hoping to avoid it. As we got into Wyoming – it was very cold and blowing snow. Wyoming is pretty desolate and towns are very few and far between. Driving through the snow in the dark there was a little stressful but we made it to Gillette for the night. By this time of night on Thanksgiving you better believe not much was open – we were very grateful for gas station snacks – the most memorable Thanksgiving dinner ever!
After a snowy second day – the weather was looking clear the rest of the way. Friday, we made a pit stop at Al’s Oasis in South Dakota and found a hysterical mechanical shooting game! We went right through Minnesota and landed in Wisconsin for the evening. Another late night where finding food was a bit challenging but luckily there was an Olive Garden right near our hotel.
We were now over the half-way point and were looking at the final night on the road before we made it to our new home! This part of our journey was to drive, gas, eat and sleep. We took turns along the way. We both thought drivers in Seattle were aggressive but they’ve got nothing on people in Chicago. Drivers in Chicago are absolutely crazy and fortunately we made it through unscathed. Before leaving the midwest region, we discovered an awesome fast food place called Culvers. They had so many good options it was hard to choose! We went for their main burger and fries option and shared a chocolate milkshake. Hopefully they keep expanding because it’s so tasty and different from the usual options.
Food was definitely a fun part of our journey – getting to try new places that we wouldn’t normally have access to. On our last night of the trip, we stayed outside of Cleveland – we chose a nicer hotel and got off the road a bit earlier than our two longest days. There was an Irish pub right near where we stayed which had a nice vibe and tasty food.
After a complete whirlwind of getting ready and bolting out of Seattle – the finish line was within sight. Our final day of getting up early, gassing up and hitting the road. We made our way through Pennsylvania and then crossed over into our new home state – New York. Only a few more hours until we were there.
We drove East to Utica and then started making our way south. Utica looks like a really fun place to explore and it is definitely on our list. We made our way through Fly Creek which we would later discover is home to the most delightful Cider Mill – more to come on that later too. Then driving through Cooperstown – getting closer and closer. And finally we were driving up the driveway to our new home!
It was quite overwhelming to see it for the first time in person (me) as Chris was here just a few weeks earlier for closing. We now need to wait for our stuff to arrive – at this point it is bouncing across the country – we’ve been tracking it which is fun. Our forest is amazing and I can’t wait to see what wildlife is home here and all the plants and trees fill out with the warmer weather.
For now we will be staying at the cabin until our stuff arrives. We are so thankful to have a place to stay that is just like home until we can get moved in. So glad we get to relax now.
Check out all our road trip photos here!
