Plans and Plan Bs....All Flexible.

Faith is taking the first step even when you can't see the whole staircase.

~Martin Luther King Jr.

Now that we have a dependable island Jeep, planning can resume.

One-way tickets have been purchased! We fly from Miami to St Croix on Thursday, July 13, 2017. This is the first time I've ever bought one-way tickets...such a strange and wonderful feeling.

Here's the plan: We'll pull out of our parking lot in Covington, KY for the last time on Friday, July 7th. Our island Jeep will be pulling a 5' x 10' enclosed trailer, packed with our belongings. And...size does matter! The trailer must fit inside a shipping container. Interior measurements of a shipping container are  19'2" (L) x 7'8" (W) x 7'9" (H). Our trailer's exterior measurements are 13'8" (L) x 6'6" (W) x 6'11" (H). Plenty of room to spare.

We'll drop off the Jeep and the trailer on Monday, the 10th to Paradise Freight. Paradise Freight will ship the Jeep and the packed trailer from Miami to St Croix. They will leave Miami on Thursday the 13th, and arrive in St Croix on Monday, the 17th. They'll be held up in customs for a few days, then ready for pick-up on Friday, July 21st.

If things go according to plan, this is how it looks:

I believe the key to enjoying this trip will be to stay adaptable....so many things could require a change to the plans!

Our big move starts with a last goodbye to our current home in Mainstrasse Covington, KY. We'll head out on a 6 1/2 drive from Covington to Woodstock, GA on Friday the 7th. Not quite half-way to Miami, but a perfect stopping point so that we can spend the night with my sister, Lisa.

• Things that could require a change of plan:
• We had to special order a trailer this size--it SHOULD arrive about 2 weeks before we are scheduled to drive away.
• We've never pulled a trailer with a Jeep Wrangler, and this is a lot of distance to cover. We have an extra day as buffer, and some wriggle room for dropping off the trailer (Wednesday is the last day for things to be added to the shipment). 

Saturday morning, we'll get up and be on our way from Georgia to Miami, Florida--about 10 hours. If we need to, we can split up this part of the trip, as well. We'll arrive in Miami Sunday night or Monday morning.

Monday, July 10th, we'll deliver our Jeep and trailer (packed full of our belongings) to Paradise Freight. They have been very helpful so far in the process--quick to respond to emails and phone calls.

• Things that could require a change of plan:
• I'm not really sure, but until all of our cargo is dropped off and approved for shipping, I feel like there are so many things that might not go as planned?
• There is a lot of paperwork required for shipping a vehicle and a trailer full of belongings.
• I am working very closely with Paradise Freight to try to alleviate any chance of missing paperwork. They have been very helpful.

For the next few days, we'll relax and play in Florida. I still haven't booked a place to stay....any suggestions? We'll probably use Airbnb.

• Things that could require a change of plan:
• We haven't booked a place yet, and we are travelling with 3 dogs...

On Thursday, our friends, Diane and Adam, will fly from Cincinnati to St Croix with a layover in Miami. Their second flight is our flight. They are coming along to help us fly with 3 pups (and vacation in St Croix as our first visitors)!

Our friends, and volunteer travel helpers, Adam and Diane. We're so lucky!
Back row: me & Paul, Front row: Adam & Diane

This will be the first time I've flown with pups. Hartman & Maxxton will be carry-on, and Hendrixx is Paul's support dog.

• Things that could require a change of plan:
• The airline told me that flying with animals is first come, first served (a limited number are permitted on each flight). 
• There is one more flight from Miami to St Croix on the 13th, just in case we get booted.
• None of the dogs have ever been on a plane...need I say more?

Once we arrive in St Croix....ahhhhh....we can breathe. We're home. Now we just have to wait for our things to arrive. We'll rent a car for the interim until our Jeep is ready for pick-up.

• Things that could require a change of plan:
• I have heard from several people that shipments often do not go as planned or scheduled.
• I have to fly out for some training on Sunday, July 23rd. If our belongings aren't ready for pick-up on the scheduled day (Friday, the 21st), Paul will have to find someone else to help him retrieve the items.

I feel like we are as prepared as we can be. There are lots of things that could happen that would require us to change our plans somewhere along the way. I've tried to work in enough pre-planning, extra time and plan Bs to allow for this. We'll just have to remind ourselves to relax and enjoy the process. All we can do is have a little faith each step of the way.

Handling some Bumps in the Road

One who gains strength through overcoming obstacles possesses the only strength which can overcome adversity.

~Albert Schweitzer

If everything went perfectly smoothly all the time, what would I learn?

I took my Jeep to the mechanic to make sure it was ready to pull a trailer from Cincinnati to Miami, and to be sure that it was "island rated." When I arrived to pick it up at the end of the work day, I knew it was bad news when the mechanic said, "I left it on the lift so that I could show you a few things."

Flashback: On the way to buy the Jeep, I said to Paul, "I'm not sure why, but something about this doesn't feel right to me. I don't have a good feeling about this."

What did the mechanic show me?...

...A whole lot of rust!

The frame was rusted. My mechanic recommended that we not drive it anymore...much less from Cincinnati to Miami with a trailer behind it. Sadly, this was not meant to be our island Jeep.

I took it to All-Terrain Outfitters in West Chester, Ohio, just to be sure the prognosis would be the same from "Jeep People." And it was. Jacob tapped a few times with his hammer, crawled around under it a little and told me that it would probably take close to $4000 to fix the damage.

All-Terrain Outfitters has all 5-Star ratings on their FaceBook page, and I couldn't agree more! Jacob offered to help me shop for a Jeep, and volunteered to go look at them with me, if I found something local (I clearly can't be trusted to pick a road-worthy Jeep, after all!). He also recommended that I look in Tennessee (or Georgia) for a Jeep...places where they don't salt the road each winter. My sister lives in Georgia, so this was definitely an option.

In planning for this move, everything is interwoven and there is so much that needs to be done in preparation for shipping a vehicle. I need to be sure the island car is ready to tow a trailer 1200 miles. I need to start getting insurance quotes, fill out paperwork for it to be shipped, etc. Less than two months before the move, and I'm back to step one with a vehicle.

I set aside all purging attempts and concentrated on finding the perfect island car. I knew I still wanted a Jeep, so I started searching the Craigslist sites in Tennessee and Georgia along the travel route to my sister's place in Woodstock, GA.

It didn't take long to find this ad:

I sent the information to Jacob (along with a couple other Jeeps) and he was quick to respond with: "The white one is a little more tempting to me. Seems to have a bit better value to it."

After several communications with the seller, my intuition said he was an honest, trustworthy guy. Even so, I felt a little "once bitten, twice shy" about buying another used Jeep. I expressed this to my sister, and she echoed my feelings (Wayne is the mechanic and Joseph is the seller):

With my sister in Georgia doing all the legwork, soon we had an appointment for the Jeep to get checked by a mechanic, money ready to purchase if all went well, and paperwork ready for signatures.

The next day, the white Jeep was in the air with Wayne the mechanic (from Atlanta Undercar Specialists) underneath. It turns out this Jeep is in great condition. And after several hours of running around, my sister pulled my new Jeep into her garage.

This Jeep is four years newer and is a 6 cylinder (the other was a 4 cylinder). So, even though there was a little stress involved in this last-minute discovery, I feel that we are better for it in the end.

I learned a lot about buying a used vehicle through this process...and we are more prepared now. It's always the bumps in the road--and learning how to overcome them--that makes you stronger! 

Anchors Aweigh (and Things Away)!

My favorite things in life don't cost any money. It's really clear that the most precious resource we all have is time.
~Steve Jobs
The things you own, end up owning you.
~Tyler Durden

It's getting real!

Now that I am officially employed and we have a home, I feel like there is so much that needs to be done. So many things need to come together in the right time for the next thing to come together. This move is like a tapestry in that everything we do, every decision we make is a part of the whole, and it is all woven together--individual threads holding onto each other to create the whole.

When you move 2000 miles away, partially over land and partially over sea, one huge consideration is...

...Things!

What do we take? What do we need? What things are worth a 2000 mile journey to our new home?

Several months ago, I sold my beloved Metallic Ray of Sunshine--a beautiful limited edition orange convertible 350 Z with which I thought I'd never part. You might think this would be a perfect island car, right? After our first visit to the island, we realized that there are many roads I would not be able to drive down in this car. Some roads require a 4-wheel drive. A Jeep seemed a much more practical car for the island. Luckily, I've always loved Jeeps, as well. So, we sold the Orange One and bought a Jeep.

We've also been purging our belongings for several months now. This process starts out easier and gets more difficult as you go. I even bought a book on the concept: Clutter Free by Kathi Lipp. I like to read a chapter of this book right before I go through an area to purge. One concept she describes in the book is emptying an area and asking yourself what you want to keep rather than what you want to discard. She also challenges you to make decisions about what you want to keep by asking these three questions: Do I love it? Do I use it? Would I replace it? Once I am finished with this book, I have several others to look into (recommended by friends who know I am purging): Project 333 by Courtney Carver (her idea is to wear only 33 things for 3 month), The Life-Changing Magic of Tidying Up by Marie Kondo, Enough: Finding More By Living with Less by Will Davis Jr., and The Minimalists, who have a blog, podcasts, a book, etc.

It feels pretty amazing to own less. We have four garbage bags of clothes to donate, as well as extra kitchen supplies, DVDs, knick-knacks, etc. I'll keep you updated as we continue this process.

In the meantime, I challenge you to fill a box this week of things you can donate!

But, what about all of the things we are keeping?

This is where timing becomes art. It is a dance.

We decided to purchase an enclosed trailer and pack all of our belongings in the trailer (this was an idea passed along to us from a friend).

We will tow the trailer behind our Jeep to Miami, FL. The trailer and Jeep will be shipped to St Croix from Miami through Paradise Freight. I've been in contact with Charlene from Paradise Freight, and she has been extremely responsive and so helpful. If you take a look at the Paradise Freight Facebook Page, it looks like others have had the same positive experience.

We will drive to Miami Florida and deliver the Jeep and the Trailer to the shipping doc on Monday (Wednesday is the deadline for things to make the Thursday shipping date). The ship leaves the port on Thursday and arrives in St Croix on Monday. We can pick up our belongings on Friday (the Jeep has to go through a mandatory customs inspection). Every week, this is the same schedule.

We'll fly from Miami to St Croix with the pups and two friends who have volunteered to help out. We'll rent a car until we are able to pick up ours and begin learning all the details of being caretakers for our new island home.

Moving to St Croix would be easier if we didn't have any belongings we wanted to take. However, there are some things we really want to have--items that own us: scuba gear, games, clothes, tools a few mementos and some colorful, unique tile tables we think are perfect for a Caribbean home. We are continuously decreasing the load and taking only those things that we love, we use regularly, or would be more expensive to replace than to ship. We plan to be out doing the things we love about our island...not spending time at home with things. :)