Alabama to California
Hold onto your butts. This is kind of a long one.
Where to begin?
Oh yes, let’s start at the fun part? Shall we.
Oct. 7th, 2021
Katie’s (Roommate) Room flooded. I’m not talking about extreme flood like wading through water, but the swamp sort of squishy carpet kind when you can see water above your toes or fill your socks kind.
For anyone who’s kept up with me through Twitch you’ve heard me complain about it since May 2021. Mold, Flooding, etc. But as of this date, we’d finally had it. We refused to pay for another month, and with the Apartment Complex finally conceding we were given a mutual release form.
That left us only 23 days to pack and get the F*** out.
Within two days I had a plan for myself since we were in such a hurry. Katie decided to return to her parents not too far away, and myself go through with my plan to go back home to California…only six months too soon.
By this time I turned in my two week notice to my employer and explained the whole situation. Keep in mind he was fully aware that I planned to move next year due to mold and other various issues. Including that I wanted to stay so if anyone heard anything about a great place to rent from keep me informed just in case.
Oct. 13th, 2021
We decided to use “PODS” for moving my crap all the way across the country. It seemed like the best idea, though there were a few things I wish were mentioned before we started down that rabbit hole. I’ll get to that a bit later.
So I had to leave work right in the middle of lunch to get there for my POD to be delivered. It was not ideal but it went quickly. This was one moment of a long downfall with my employer who was an epic asshole about the whole ordeal. So for two days I debated what I wanted to do.
As a logical person would do I considered what would happen either way, but in the end reminded myself that I had only 20 days to move and it wasn’t enough time. For anyone unaware even eviction notices are required by LAW to give 30 days notice. So we were moving in an emergency situation due to weather conditions and the refusal to pay another damn dollar to this Apartment complex who made our lives a living Hell for three solid years. I just couldn’t take it.
Oct. 15th, 2021
I quit my job outright. I wrote a two page Final Notice that explained every moment of our conflicting opinions including the multiple witnesses of these issues. Since I’ve talked about it in depth before I’ll skip the details here. If you’re interested see my VLOGS sometime next year (2022) for the full reflection of those moments since they are not important compared to the rest of my story here.
Oct. 19th, 2021 - Release from Apartment Complex, & cancel all appointments for the end of the year.
Oct. 20th, 2021 - Big Furniture Moving Day
Oct. 22nd, 2021 - Change Mailing Address
Oct. 28th, 2021 - Returned Modem & Router to provider through UPS
Oct. 29th, 2021 - Mom flies into BHM at 6pm
Now let’s get more specific… with Pictures
Cat Preparations
Anyone with Cats is probably wondering what exactly I did to ensure a safe and pleasant travel for my babies. So let’s get into it.
1.) Considering WHERE your cats will be and how they react to new things.
Mine are terrible when it comes to keeping their nose out of shit. Yui is an explorer, and Ahsoka is a fraidy cat who will explore when you’re not looking. So that means Playpens, Backpacks/Carriers, and Collar/Harness.
2.) The Car is its own entity, and the places you’ll be sleeping in are its own entity.
Calming Spray is a necessity for extreme times. There will be some. Especially if you’ve never traveled with pets before.
I kept Shampoo, bowls, food, portable litter, one scratching post and treats available just in case they got into something. And towels. Lots of towels just in case accidents happen. None did for me, but I was prepared nonetheless.
Toys were necessary for when we stopped and I wanted to sleep. They were available so that they could explore the hotel rooms and be at peace so I could enjoy my 8 hours before driving more.
3.) A good pet parent will prepare for everything and accept that something will still happen you didn’t prepare for.
We went to the Vet to finalize stuff with Ahsoka (3 year rabies shot), but while I was there I made sure to get all paperwork regarding their shots/vaccinations because sometimes you will be stopped crossing the border into California. If they didn’t have their proper paperwork it could be a nightmare. So know where you are headed and the requirements. For example Yui already had her 3 year rabies vaccination when she had her last visit, Ahsoka did not therefore I did it before we went.
Packing
Ohhh how much fun this was…
Yeah I’m totally lying.
My best suggestions for packing is realize ahead of time what you will and won’t need right away. This was a major help in naming my boxes. I also kept quite a specific inventory of them with color coded dots and labels. Not only were they written to have each separate room’s items, but the essential priority.
For example: Black Dot means Closet Item. The label next to it says “Immediate Clothing” which I’m SO glad I did, because I needed winter clothes and scarfs for being there in the winter. Normally when I move I’ve never considered these things, but because I knew it was going to be such a clusterf*** I decided ahead of time to be smart about it. Highly recommend.
Keeping everything SUPER organized pretty much saved my TIME. When we pulled everything out, it was easy to find and put into storage in special places so now every time I need another box I have it labeled specifically and know exactly where to find my items.
Now onto the process. The DAY I needed to move items the Apartment Complex hired people to come in and dig up rows outside the buildings (to help lessen the flooding) and what a SHOCKER (not really) they left soft dirt out in front of the entry so that when it rained all week I had to track through mud. It was brilliant.
But not only was mud a factor, I couldn’t pull too many boxes at once. There was a large hill I had to pull them up. Was definitely not fun. Thanks to Katie she called a friend to come help one day and get the big furniture out so that we could make our selected out date of October 29th.
Notes:
I kept a detailed record through social media (Mostly Instagram) of the packing phase, and Facebook for the actual Moving Phase. Some of these are not new to you guys.
Good to note stuff here.
I almost broke both of my arms Day 2 of moving. Yep! It was great and I’m NOT exaggerating. Note to any Cintiq users: Be careful with your Cintiq stands. Especially if they are Spring Loaded. I was pulling mine into place to put back into packaging when I hit the lever by accident and both ends flipped up and hit both of my forearms with a ton of power simultaneously.
Just ask Katie. I screamed.
Then she came over going “Are you okay?” to which my exact response was “FUCK NO KATIE! I’m not okay.”
Was totally okay. Although I did bruise those forearms really good. Had to have Mom inspect the worse one that night she arrived to make sure there wasn’t a hairline fracture. Safe to say there was not but I hurt it well enough I had to be careful for 3 weeks.
I was pretty miserable packing with bruises and other various injuries. By day 10 I was so happy it was over.
Six days left to pack the Car which went rather well despite the freezing cold finally hitting that week.
PODS Experience
Oct. 29th, 2021
They claim it’s easy and you can just text for when you want your stuff moved and picked up. Well….LIES. False advertisement all over. BUT, I have to say anytime I had a problem you can get on and do a small window chat with a rep and it was quick and painless. They always answered all of my questions even if they were dumb questions. They were quite used to it.
First and foremost, this is how the process for payment works: (in USD)
Deliver Empty Container to Your Location $139.00
Contents Protection While in Transit Fee & Contents Protection $ 10,000 Value $50.00
Monthly Rental of Container in Storage Center (IF applicable) $249.00 - We did not do the Storage.
Transportation Mileage From Alabama to California (Exact Locations) $2,640.63
Redeliver Container to Your Location $139.00
Pickup Empty Container From Your Location $0.00
Disc Lock Max Security Stainless 2.75" / 70mm $12.95 (Definitely Recommend, you get to keep it.)
Using PODS was definitely a better choice for the distance I was moving. And I did overall enjoy it. But there were a few little things that they don’t tell you guys that I’m going to get into here.
1.) PODS needs 4 business days to process your transit. So when you think you’re saying “okay come pick it up” and they’ll deliver it on time…HA! You’re funny. Prepare the extra time.
2.) “Just tell us when you are ready and we’ll come pick it up.”
No, you cannot just text a time to come pick the container up for transit. They also claim you can just place that order online. NO! You cannot. You have to CALL and sit on hold for a good hour so that you can talk to a representative and verbally communicate that you need a time and date set for transit.
3.) They also tell you that you can set your payments to not be automatic online. No, you can’t. I changed it SIXTEEN TIMES over a week and it never stopped trying to automatically take payments. My bank and I were dealing with the constant automatic declines because I had to transfer money into the account I put that on, for that reason. I wasn’t going to give them my information to my main account. GOOD THING I DIDN’T.
4.) Be sure to set your bank up to process these large payments. Every bank has a thing where you can only take so much out at once. I didn’t know this, and so when the 2k payment needed to come out for transit and it wasn’t going through but the money was in fact in the account at that time. So when I called they said I had to up the limit. I was like whaaaaaaat? So be sure to do that if you’ve never done that before.
Now onto some of the good things.
They do train their people really well. The guy who brought the container to the Alabama residence was great about communicating and a great driver. Granted, I’ve driven a 17 foot truck up that steep ass hill and made it so I’m glad he was easily able to drive up too.
Even the guy who brought my container to my Grandmother’s house was smart enough to realize we were putting it on an adjacent street. It does let you specify where you want to put it on a map when you do your final address delivery.
They also have documents you have to sign based on where you are going, so they are fully aware of the laws and requirements of the state. California had some kind of moth and other beetle inspection you had to do. So pretty much check your items to make sure there were no stowaway bugs and then finalize your documents. Easy peasy. They require those documents or else California would NOT allow the PODS into the state. Funny because literally as we were crossing the border there was a truck full of six PODS at the side station having their documents checked.
More Notes
We stopped in Arkansas to see my Great Aunt Fran. Mom wanted to visit considering we were out there, and of course it might be the last time I got to see her.
She’s in her 80s. So definitely a well decided stop. We spent the night and got to hang out with the family. It was a very luxurious mini vacation if you ask me.
We learned a few new things about that side of the family’s history and bloodlines which was cool. And Mom might end up moving to Arkansas since she’s tired of Northern California (Oakland) area. That’s fair. She’s been out there a little longer than I’ve been in Alabama which is nearly a decade.
We’ve decided it’s time for new things. Haha!
Kitties
Honestly the majority of the trip was amazing. They behaved in every place we went to.
There was only one moment when it finally came crumbling down for Yui. After we went through Flagstaff, Arizona. It’s a mountain and even I got altitude sickness, but it was really bad for Yui. She cried pretty much ALL the way home by then. She threw lots of temper tantrums and at one point she gave up and cuddled in Ahsoka’s Carrier with her and clucked out for a few hours.
Of course we got to Grandmas at night and I couldn’t take many pictures but by the next day they were feeling better and Yui slept off a lot of what was bothering her.
I’m so grateful that this trip was made with these guys. I was very stressed about it at first but knowing how it would go I can easily say I’d do it again the same way.
Nov. 2nd, 2021
Since I’ve been here
Today being the 30th of December, 2021…
I’d like to mention the important things I’ve done since I got here.
1.) Get Health Insurance
2.) Get Car Insurance
3.) Get a new License for California
4.) Birthday with Family
5.) Get car Smog Check (A Cali specific requirement that’s hard to pass.)
6.) Register my Car with California & receive license plates
7.) Rework Patreon for 2022
8.) Christmas with Family
9.) Get new Car Title
I’m of course feeling insanely accomplished. I’ve not done so much in so little time for about a decade. Everything I’ve done since I got here has been freakishly perfect. I usually expect a lot of trouble with needing to get important things done but I suppose this is my proof that I belong home.
Final Thoughts
One of the things that really pissed me off was how long it took to pretty much pack the majority of my POD by myself. And when I had my POD delivered it was just me and my Dad. Together we emptied it out in less than 24 hours. That extra muscle made everything so much easier all I wanted to do was cry at how much I suffered trying to get those f***ing boxes all in there. I acknowledge the little help I got, and I do appreciate it with every fiber of my being, but I’m still salty I didn’t get more help. But oh well.
What’s Next?
There is a lot more to see, and I will have various other Blogs to document more for you guys.
This was already a long time coming but the organization and editing of pictures took forever.
This is partially why I would have preferred a Video Log but we didn’t have any way to do that. Maybe some time soon.
And maybe we’ll talk later about how this Mentally affected me now that we’ve covered the Physical aspects.