Cross country move

[Prodigy]

I'm planning on moving from Miami, to Eugene Oregon (not 100% yet) and it's going to be a 4 day trip in the moving truck.

Anybody with experience moving very far away? Any tips? Moving tips? Traveling tips?

I'm renting a 16' truck, and will have to stop at motels on the way, any red flags I should look out for when searching for motels? What difficulties did you encounter that made you think to do something differently?

I've never done this before, so any advice, input, suggestion is very much appreciated.

Thank you

[RichDesmond]

Originally Posted by Prodigy

I'm planning on moving from Miami, to Eugene Oregon (not 100% yet) and it's going to be a 4 day trip in the moving truck.

Anybody with experience moving very far away? Any tips? Moving tips? Traveling tips?

I'm renting a 16' truck, and will have to stop at motels on the way, any red flags I should look out for when searching for motels? What difficulties did you encounter that made you think to do something differently?

I've never done this before, so any advice, input, suggestion is very much appreciated.

Thank you

Each day, start early and end early. Try to be off the road by 4:30 - 5:00. Makes it easier to find a hotel room, and to get a primo parking spot. (Well lit and in view of the front desk.) And since you're headed west that keeps you from driving right into the sun. Get a hotel that has a restaurant you like in walking distance.
Get a disk lock for the truck's rear door.
Pack the truck carefully. Stuff is going to move and jiggle around more than you think, so furniture's got to be well padded or it's going to get marred.

[RMAN]

Save yourself some money and pack a cooler and buy food at local supermarkets to make lunch at least. Bring a large thermos as well and drink plenty of water. People who drive for long hours seem to forget to hydrate.

[PaPa-G]

Depends on your budget I would say.

I helped a friend move from Chicago to Seattle. We took our time. 4 days, three nights. Two of the days we drove longer than the other...the short day was because we stopped at Mount Rushmore to do sight seeing.

We also didn't have a moving truck, just a Honda Fit jammed packed.

She planned ahead where we were stopping for the night, booked the hotels in advance. Planned it in a way that we weren't on the road too long in a day. That made it way easier than just "well, I"m tired now...let's find some seedy motel to stay in that's somewhere in this location".

Again, depends on your budget. We also generally just ate twice a day and snacked in between. If you have the time, you might as well make a road trip out of it and see anything you can that's on the way. MIght not get that chance again. Are you going by yourself?

[daviddowns2000]

Originally Posted by Prodigy

I'm planning on moving from Miami, to Eugene Oregon (not 100% yet) and it's going to be a 4 day trip in the moving truck.

Anybody with experience moving very far away? Any tips? Moving tips? Traveling tips?

I'm renting a 16' truck, and will have to stop at motels on the way, any red flags I should look out for when searching for motels? What difficulties did you encounter that made you think to do something differently?

I've never done this before, so any advice, input, suggestion is very much appreciated.

Thank you

Have you looked into the cost of having professional movers do it instead of DIY? Check out www.uShip.com, movers bid your job, we had good luck with them getting us great prices on a couple of occasions a few years back.

By the time you add up all the costs of rental, gas, meals, motels, etc. plus the labor and aggravation, it might not be much of a savings to DIY.

[Digasi]

+1 to everything

Also, it is going to take longer then you think, so if you have the time then take it. Don't be afraid to have a couple of short days. The seats in the rental trucks are not very nice after a while.

If you do move down, give me a PM, maybe we can meet up some time for a ride

[jbswear]

I've moved from one end of the country to another multiple times. The advice given above is all good.

5 Hour Energy. Works great for me. I tend to use it twice a year--on each leg of our annual summer drive down to Florida and back. We leave after work, around 10pm, so the kids will sleep, which means I get home from work, take a power nap, and we're on our way. Around midnight I'll take one and chase it with something to wash the horrid taste from my mouth, and then have another every 4.5 hours. Keeps me going for the 14-17 hour drive.

[Prodigy]

Thank you for the suggestions, keep em coming!

Well the sucky part is that in september i start the fire academy, I will have to stop working during that time, so I'm trying to get as many hours right now, and making this trip shortest possible, is my goal.

My wife will need to have all her stuff there for 3 months while I finish the academy, so the plan is that we will both drive together with the truck, and tow her car up, my aunt and uncle probably will fly there to help us set everything up, so I can build the furniture etc, and have her not worry about anything else.

I will then fly back and do what I have to do in the academy. and then meet her up there for the beginning of december.

If she will feel comfortable driving the truck, then we can take turns, so we can drive as much as possible, in the least amount of time.

I will look more into moving companies, but I doubt it will be cheaper.

Right now I got a quote from penske and they're charging me 1200 for the 16' truck and the dolly for the car. Gas will probably be another 1200, motels another 400 bucks and food maybe 200, so around $3000 total I think. Her company hopefully will give her at least 1000 bucks for moving expenses. The rest oh well...