Wonder of Wonders...

Let the Heralds sound the trumpets and let the celebration begin!  There IS joy in Mudville tonight!

I do not have to drive the UHaul truck!!  My new employer just came through with some relocation assistance and now I have burly men to load up someone else's truck and deliver the goods to San Jose.  I am now completely indebted to Santa Clara University and decided to become the biggest booster.

The thought of driving a UHaul truck with my car in tow was giving me a case of the cold sweats at night.  It had absolutely nothing to do with actually driving the truck on the freeway.  It had nothing to do with finding a hotel at night that had room for a 15' truck and car trailer.

The cold sweats were caused by the thought of having to get gas.

I just had this image in my head of trying to maneuver around a gas pump and the car is jack-knifed at a 45 degree angle.  People are laughing, my kids are traumatized... you get the picture.  But, I do not have to worry about that anymore.

Go Broncos!!  Santa Clara, here I come!

We have a landing pad...

I do believe that I have found a place to land on this next leg of the adventure.  I am signing a lease in the blind for a year, because hey...I can live anywhere for a year.

On the west side of San Jose it will take me 13-15 minutes to drive to work according to Google Maps.  We shall see.  I am curious as to the traffic patterns and flow.  I have done a quick search as to the restaurants in the area and they seem pretty plentiful.

So let's see what we have here... I have the U-Haul, the apartment, and I have the kid's plane tickets purchased.  That should pretty much wrap it up as far as prep.

I will also admit to being very nervous about driving 2,000 miles towing my car.  I just keep picturing me in a 20 ft U-Haul, towing a car and trying to make too sharp of a turn.  Traffic is backed up for miles and everyone is honking at me.  My kids are totally ashamed (well...that isn't anything new) and I don't know what to do.

But hey... that is just me.  I am sure it will be fine (gulp).

Oh crap... I need boxes!

OK!  We have the rugrats' plane tickets purchased.  They will be flying out of Oakland to Indianapolis on the Fourth of July bright and early.  I have scoped out the U-Haul truck sizes.  I have even started to map out the route and look for hotel rooms along the way.  Everything should be on track.

Sitting down and making lists of all the things that you need to do for a move can be quite the daunting task.  I have moved across states no less than seven times and I still get the butterflies every time.  I am sure that I missed something...

One of the big benefits of working in higher education is that it is assumed that you should be able to give four weeks notice to your prior employer.  This is essential to moving yourself.  If I had to do the two week thing, it would necessitate hiring the movers at a greater cost.  Then I would miss out on the opportunity to break down somewhere in the Arizona desert or in the mountains somewhere.  I would lose out on the opportunity to be eaten by some ferocious wild animal or slowly linger after a rattlesnake bite... but I digress.

Back at the chore of cancelling Comcast, only to reactivate it again in San Jose.

The Plan

All great adventures start with a plan.  A plan that lays out the steps.  A plan that gives direction and purpose.  That is what I will try to create and define...

...then I will probably just panic.

It seems SO simple.  My son and daughter and I will load up a U-Haul truck and drive it from Houston, Texas to my new digs in San Jose, California.  I have mapped it all out.  Four days of driving and family togetherness.

I have plans to stop in Amarillo, Texas because a certain young lady that I have had a major league crush on for the last four years wants us to see the Cadillac Ranch.  Then off to Flagstaff, Arizona and see the Grand Canyon.  Finally the homestretch to San Jose...

...what could go wrong?

Well, dear reader, you will find out because I plan on humiliating myself on the blog for the whole trip.  Then, I will describe my experiences in the new region.  I will probably follow the same format that I used in "A Web Guy in Houston" blog.  Hope you will enjoy.