Timelapse vidoe of me moving my stuff in.

Here is a time lapse video of Katie and I moving my stuff in.
The time of no activity near the beginning is when I was taking the tarp off and untying the load. This video is over the course of 4 and a half hours.



I am happy to report that the fish tanks survived the trip! The trailer and the tarp are the worse for wear. I have to weld up the trailer some from when the spare tire tried to fall off. The tarp is basically a loss. I expected this though.

The cats are loving the new jungle gym!

Google Map of my travels

I exported the data points out of my GPS logger and saved them as a KMZ file. Here is my journey.

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It looks like I am going to need to clean up the data points a touch, as the GPS got a little jumpy when it was indoors.

Home Sweet Home

Home again home again clickety clack

Traffic !@#$%

No major traffic issues until now outside of Gainesville. North bound accident that they landed a helicopter on the south bound side for.

Back in Florida

Florida. I guess this means back to reality.

Bookstore!

Well that was the best three and a half hour spent getting gas. Well we found a book store. We got a lot of books. The best way to travel.

Rats!

We were getting gas and this ratty old car pulled up. I watched a rat jump out, make a mad scramble picking up food in the lot and jump back in.

Forsyth GA

We made good time last night, making it to Forsyth GA around 8 last night I think. I would need to check the GPS to be sure.
We ate at a Waffle House and got a shower at a Days Inn here.

Well, first thing's first, starting at this weekend. We arrived at my sisters place around 1:30 in the morning.

Saturday, Dad helped me get some of the stuff I was giving to my sister out of the storage locker. I also grabbed a lot of the boxes of printer paper, and other stuff that I did not want to get wet and put that in the truck.

Sunday, Katie and I loaded the rest of the stuff into the truck and trailer and left Jen's around dark. We wanted to get through Chicago at night.

We ended up driving completely around it, going though Rockford on 43. The truck decided it wanted to go that way (wrong turn knowing it was wrong when it was taken - goofy truck. Hangs out with Herby and Christine when I am at work I think).

We drove straight through IL and Kentucky. We stopped in Tennessee for a nap, and drove slowly through the state, watching the scenery.

We pulled off the side of the road when we got to GA and decided to watch a movie to kill time so we would go through Atlanta later in the day, and realized after we got to the theatre that we had gone through a time zone.

Today, back to home, and see if the cats are OK.

Nashville Traffic

Nashville at one thirty. A touch busy but not bad.

Back to Tennessee!

Tennessee. We are making good time.

See you later, Illinois!

Out of Illinois.

The gas milage isn't as bad as I feared!

16.85mpg on the first tank of gas with a full load. And we are getting closer and closer to Normal.

Illinois!

Illinois again? I thought i had gotten out of this state. More tolls.

Starting back towards Florida

All loaded up. We are eating at Culvers. We decided to leave tonight to get through Chicago at might. Cross your fingers the trailer holds out.

Welcome to Wisconsin, Illinois state park.

Welcome to Wisconsin, Illinois state park.

I294 costs a lot, and is a lousy road!

Sorry but Chicago roads suck. The poor trailer is bouncing around like an eight year old at a birthday party.

Supper at the first Culvers we found...

Supper. Culvers.My favorite. I got a basket of cheese curds. A discussion with a local gave me a route through Chicago. That will save time.

Kentrucky

Kentucky seems a nice state.rolling hills. Deer. Trees.

T T T Tennessee!

Tennessee. A new time zone. I watched the time on phone change. Looking for a place to stop for the night.

Gas Refill

Another tank of gas a little north of Atlanta. This tank was 20.8mpg. We where only doing about 65 for most of this tank

The First Road Trip Adventure!

Our first adventure. The trailer lights came unplugged and we wore them out on the ground. Had to put a new plug onto the trailer.

Georgia

Georgia is glad I have Georgia on my mind.
I just got gas in FL. Taking a gamble that gas is cheaper in FL than in GA. I lost. That is why I don't gamble. Looks to be about $.06 cheaper in GA.

I am not 100% sure, because I also filled my little gas can, but it looks like i am getting 18.7mpg hauling the empty trailer at 75mph. Recalculating my projected gas expenses to somewhere around $500. I have budgeted $600.

I had filled up the tires on the truck before we left this morning. They where all at 25psi. I think the dealership put them that low. Not sure though. Odd they where all the SAME low preasure. I filled them up to 40psi (44 psi max) and the air compressor timed out. I stopped at this gas station for air as well, and put the trailer up to 75psi from 45 psi, and set the truck tires to 44 psi hot. Maybe this will help with milage a bit.

So far, so good.

Finishing moving to Florida

Well, I am finally doing it. After nearly 3 years of being here, I am moving to Florida.

Katie was gracious enough to come along. She likes driving, me... not so much. Don't get me wrong, I love road trips, I just don't like the whole driving part.

I tricked out the new truck a bit for the trip. CB & Scanner antenas, GPS, the whole 9 yards!

I am borrowing a trailer from some of Katie's family. In return, I bought a spare tire for the trailer. I am not driving that far without a spare!

We are currently driving by Gainsville FL.

This is the route that google suggests I take.

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I am not fond of it. It runs me through Chicago. Bleh.

I am going to take this route instead.

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I avoid Chicago. YAY. I also bypass Indianapolis and Louisville.

Oh brother, where art thou?

Brother, my cat, just LOVES to go outside. The street on live on is pretty busy, and there is a lot of traffic in the parking lot here, so I don't let the poor deprived feline out.

Well, he got out today, I was moving my plants into the house so I could paint, and he literally jumped right over me to get out!

It doesn't seem that I am all that bad at cat-herding. Maybe I found my life calling?

Sister locked me out of the house today!

My cat 'Sister' locked me out of the house today!

I was working on repainting a new bike for a friend of mine so I was in and out all morning. Sister here was playing with the door knob, and when I went to come in to the house, I about walked right into the door!

Pretty smart for a cat, lock out the hand that feeds her!

CB antenia for the new truck

 I installed a CB antenia on my truck this weekend. I have always been kinda a nut about installing them in the center of the vehicle as you get much better broadcasts and reception that way. I attached this one to the luggage rack instead of drilling it through the roof like I did my station wagon.
 The luggage rack bars have plastic endcaps, so they are non-conductive. I am not sure if this will really work, but I wanted the bar to be electrically connected to the rest of the truck for a better ground-plane for the antenia. So I by-passed the plastic end caps with some wire.
 Here is one side of the luggage bar where you can see the wire connecting the bar to the truck. I did this on both sides. I have good conductivity, so I am hoping it works.
 The clamp wasn't biting through the paint, so it was isolated from the bar I worked so hard in modifying. Here you can see I snipped off a #6 screw and placed it between the clamp and the luggage bar so it digs through the paint. It seems to work so far. Time will tell if it will work itself loose or not.

Cabinet kittys are looking down at you.

 

Makes a person afraid for their lives to cook with two ferocious preditors setting ambush on top of the kitchen cabinets!

I need to get me one of these....

 

A couple of weekends ago I helped Matt move the boat over to his house. We had to stop and air up the tires at a gas station.

I think I need to finish up my Kayak so I can go fishing!