60 Days to - "The Plan"

As of today, we officially have exactly sixty days until we head out to begin our adventure. We've given ourselves a timeline on when all of our stuff has to be either stored, packed for moving, or gotten rid of. Of course, we've already begun said timeline. Every weekend we pick a new room in the apartment to cull through and decide what we're doing with each item. We've decided, when things are sitting around in closets and cabinets, that they must use the dark quiet places to quickly breed additional useless items. We sold our house last year and "downsized" to half the living space. We literally got rid of a room full of boxes and furniture back then. Yet somehow, we still manage to take an average of six boxes/bags of useless crap out of the apartment EVERY week!!! Seriously, where is it all coming from??? Anyway, for now the focus is on permanent storage.

Storage will contain the furniture and boxes of things that we won't be actively using, but want to keep. The storage unit is a 10x10 (which means it's actually 9'6" x 9'6" - I know because I measured it). So somehow we have to cram all of the "kept" items into one room. Fortunately, our current unused dining room is exactly 9'6" x 9'6". So (being the OCD person that I am) I have begun filling "storage" into the dining room. So far I have crammed two twin beds, a queen bed (with bed slats), five bookcases, a dresser, three desks, a tv stand, a full size keyboard, two shoe holders, two suitcases, a christmas tree, three christmas ornament/decoration boxes, four barstools, a box full of the camping/fishing stuff, and a wardrobe box (containing the only clothes to be stored) into a 9'6" x 5'4" space. That not's bad considering I only have a TV stand, a TV, and several boxes to go. I should still have plenty of room to get it all in there. Working as a loader at UPS years ago, and all those hours of playing Tetris, are actually paying off:

Now many people (who have suddenly realized we are seriously leaving) have been asking the same question: So, what exactly is the plan? (I mean seriously, like we wouldn't actually have a plan. This is us after all - of course there's a plan. There's even a backup plan at each step - that I won't go into just now). Anyway, here's "The Plan":

• Move stuff into permanent storage two weeks before Thanksgiving.
• Have Salvation Army pick up the remaining large "get rid of" stuff one week before Thanksgiving (because they are closed the entire last week of November).
• Sleep on the floor, eat off of paper plates, and finish packing the week of Thanksgiving (we'll spend Thanksgiving outside the apartment at friends' or families' houses).
• Move into a hotel room the last Saturday of November for three nights while we pack the trailer, clean out the apartment, turn in keys, and drop off the last few boxes at storage/donation.
• Roll out of here (with us and the cat in the Durango - and the trailer in tow) on December 1st.
• Arrive and spend two nights and a day in New Orleans enjoying the French Quarter and eating beignets.
• Drive all day and spend one night in Tallahassee.
• Drive to Orlando, drop off the trailer, and put the contents of the trailer into a small storage space until needed (this will be the stuff we won't need until we're on the boat).
• Enjoy a week in a hotel, in Orlando, spending ample time at Universal Studios (we've already done Disney World, but have never been to Universal Studios).
• Drive on to Melbourne, Florida and arrive at a rented vacation home (furnished of course).
• Spend the rest of December, and most of January, finding and buying a catamaran.
• February and March will be used for any repairs or changes we want to make on the boat, and retrieving our stored stuff from Orlando.
• By the end of March, the Durango will be turned into the dealer (it's on a lease) and we will sail away South towards the Bahamas!
• Island hop south through the Caribbean to get to Granada before hurricane season starts. - Then the world is ours!!!

Now of course this sounds very simple when listed out like this, but keep in mind that the entire time we will have the cat with us, and the children have to continue with schoolwork. We've already devised a "portable" system for all of the school stuff. The cat will be visiting the vet prior to leaving to get all of his vaccines up to date, and I will obtain plenty of "kitty valium" while I'm there. Of course we have already made all of the hotel arrangements at all stops (including pet fees) and have the vacation home rented as well. We also have already obtained our new permanent address and phone number (through a mail handling place that caters to travelers) which will show us as Florida residents even when we aren't there. It will also serve to show we are not "homeless" ;p

As the time flies by, the excitement is building, the contents of the apartment are shrinking, the Texas heat is beginning to break, and the unavoidable stress is attempting to mount. We are already currently sleeping on mattresses on the floor and our clothing is stored on boxes. However, we are all hanging in there keeping the end goal in mind. We use a lot of sarcasm and humor to deflate tense moments and keep each other hanging on and moving forward. So far so good, and look out Florida, because here we come!!!