The Journey: Part One

"Life is just a journey."

~Princess Diana

After over a year of preparation, the actual journey has begun.

We picked up the U-Haul trailer on Wednesday, July 5th. This alone was a journey (more on this later in a different blog post).

That night, our friend, Mary Hodge (who would come to our rescue over and over during this process) stopped by to help us carry boxes and bins down from our faux trailer (I taped out the measurements in our dining room) to our U-Haul trailer.

A little later, Adam and Diane showed up to help. Every time someone visited, we sent them away with something of ours that would be difficult to part with if it was going to anyone other than our friends!

After a little more packing, we took a break for something to eat and drink. With so much to do, it was difficult to take time to eat dinner, have drinks, socialize, etc. I had to remind myself that it would be the time with friends--those last drinks together in our Kentucky, MainStrasse Village neighborhood--that we would remember. This mattered more than packing two more boxes.

Post-packing dinner and drinks with Adam and Diane

The next day, there was a revolving door of friends stopping in to help, to pick up things we weren't taking with us and to say goodbye (or to say "until later"). We are so lucky to have such amazing friends!

While I spent a lot of time preparing and planning and packing, when the day of our departure finally came, we were still not prepared!

In my mind, everything would be packed and ready to go on Friday morning. Most of it was. The trailer was packed full--and I mean like a game of Tetris. And yet, there was still more to get in. Such a frustrating feeling. Paul and I both realized that we could have purged even more things. Throughout this process, we have truly learned what it means to say that our things own us. I have felt so weighed down and bridled by our belongings over the past few days. I've read about a few people who have made the move with just a couple suitcases. I found myself wishing we had done the same...then I remembered our scuba gear. We love our scuba gear...

Friday morning, I had two tasks still to complete: take the dogs to the vet one last time and pick up our new scuba tanks that were on back-order until the day before. The Jeep was connected to the U-Haul trailer, so I was car-less. Once again, Mary Hodge came to the rescue and let me use her car.

This is Mary Hodge before I dropped her off at work so that I could use her car
(also pictured, Maxxton and Hendrixx--in the backseat)

I took all 3 dogs to the vet to have their exams and get their certificates of health. St Croix does not require that animals are quarantined, but they do require a Certificate of Heath within 10 days of arrival. Since our road trip and stay near Miami is 7 days long, we decided to get them as late as possible (in case anything goes wrong to delay our trip). It was sad to say goodbye to the only vet my pups have ever had (Deer Park Veterinary Hospital)! Everyone came into the room to give hugs and pets and get sugars from the pups. They printed a copy of all of their records for me to pass along to their island vet.

From the vet, we went to pick up our new scuba tanks. Why would we buy scuba tanks at a time that we were trying to purge and decrease our belongings to a bare minimum? Tanks are much more affordable here through our beloved Scuba Unlimited than on the island. We are also preparing for a decreased budget...we'll be able to dive with all of our own gear for just the cost of an air-fill!

After that, I picked up Mary Hodge from work to return her car, and I was back home to finish packing.

Mary Hodge (fresh from work) and me (red-faced, sweaty & exhausted).

We were exhausted. We had run out of room before we ran out of things, and we were completely out of energy. Our friend Barb came to the rescue this time. She showed up and helped us carry down the few remaining things we could squeeze in, throw things out we decided we could do without, and accept a few gift items from us that we had intended to take, but could not fit in the trailer.

We worked as fast as we could and left 3 hours after we had hoped to leave. We were sweaty, tired and out of patience...and not nearly as organized as we thought we'd be. So much for enjoying the journey!

But, we were on the road.

Regardless of what happens, this will be an adventure. An adventurous journey--and that's just what life should be.