House Sale Closed

The sale of our house closed today.  It was a few hours late happening and for a while we thought it would have to be delayed to tomorrow.  The sale finally went through at 4pm, just after I'd called the insurance company to extend insurance cover for a couple more days just to be sure.  Oh well, they said they wouldn't charge for just a couple of days, so that doesn't matter.

We dropped off the Miata in Ogden today so that it could be loaded onto the train for its trip to Halifax.  It should set off tomorrow, about the same time all our belongings start their journey.

I also started planning our cross country drive.  First attempt at an itinerary over ten days looks like:

1. Okotoks, AB to Brandon, MB (1111km and our longest planned day)
2. Brandon, MB to St. Cloud MN
3. St. Cloud MN to Chicago, IL
4. Chicago, IL to Buffalo, NY
5. Buffalo, NY to Rochester NY (plenty of time to visit Niagara Falls)
6. Rochester NY to Boston, MA
7. Boston, MA to Portland, ME (plenty of time to explore Boston and the Maine coast)
8. Portland, ME to Fredericton, NB
9. Fredericton NB to Halifax, NS (we have to sign papers here for our house purchase)
10. Halifax, NS to Heckmann's Island and move into our new home.

Will we still be speaking to each other after ten solid days in the car?  We're thinking up things to entertain ourselves on the trip...

And We're Finally Out

The movers turned up nearly two hours later than they said they would.

The plan was to use a small truck to ferry stuff to the end of the driveway and then load it into containers on a big truck.  This was postulated because the estimator figured there wasn't room for the big truck to turn round.  When they arrived they said there was plenty of space to turn round and so drove right in.  It was a good job too because the smaller truck that was parked in front of the front doors wouldn't start so they couldn't move it until a mechanic turned up and fixed it just before they were finished around 4pm!  This meant that stuff was carried into the small truck, through a door in its side and into the container on the big truck.  Quite ingenious and time consuming but better (i.e. cheaper) than transshipping.

The guys worked really hard, running around carrying boxes and furniture we could hardly lift let alone move.

The only other disaster was when moving the washer, one of the movers broke the fitting on the water hose before he'd turned the water off!  Result was a minor flood that made it down into the basement.  Fortunately it looks like no major damage was done as the water ended up in the undeveloped part of the basement.

The cleaners were in yesterday and found all sorts of stuff tucked away where we'd forgotten it.  Anyway, we finally locked up last night and left for nearly the last time.  Just a few bits and pieces in the garage to remove and we're really gone.

We're now staying with Justin in Okotoks for the next couple of weeks, recovering from the strain of all that packing and recuperating ready for the long drive and the unpacking the other end.

 

Two trucks - smaller one broken down and in the way!

Just a few bits left to go into the small container of the three

And the house is empty

Moving Day

It's moving day!  Couldn't have chosen a worse day, it's pouring with rain.  Just waiting for the movers to arrive now.  Annette's gone to take Sam to doggy day care for the day.  The house looks a mess.

Moving Day Approaches

The movers are coming on Thursday, followed by cleaners on Friday.  We're pretty much ready for the movers now.  We started packing over a week ago which I initially thought was way too early.  On reflection though, we started at about the right time.  I've hauled four trailer loads to the dump (with one more to do tomorrow).  I've hauled one trailer load of garage sale stuff to our son's place in Okotoks for a sale this weekend (again with one more load to do tomorrow).

Today we signed papers at the lawyers and got the well shocked (the last condition of the sale).  The sale closes on Tuesday and then I'll be taking a nice fat cheque to the bank.  And then we're homeless for a while.  Our purchase hasn't firmed up yet.  Just one condition left to remove which we expect to occur this week.

Then, we're staying a couple of weeks in Okotoks before starting our trek across the country.

I'll post a moving report Thursday evening or Friday, perhaps with some pictures of an empty house...

Hot Tub Moving Day

Today we moved the hot tub.  Don't know why the new buyers didn't want it as it's left a hole in the deck.  But anyway, we sold it and told the buyers to bring some muscle because it's heavy.  They arrived with six guys in two trucks, a trailer and a quad.

First challenge was to pull the tub off its base.  First attempt used the quad winch but that didn't move it at all.

Pulling with the quad winch didn't work

Next up, they attached a hand winch to a nearby tree and with a bit of levering up of the edges, started it sliding.

Pulling with a hand winch attached to a convenient tree did work

Then we upended the tub into the old trailer we had.  Since there's quite a slope, the trailer was at an angle and the main problem was making sure the tub didn't roll over and out of the trailer.

Upending the tub onto the trailer

On the way up the slope, we again had to make sure the tub didn't roll out.

Up the slope, making sure it didn't tip over

To avoid any further manhandling of the weight, we decided to drag our old trailer straight onto their trailer.  Fortunately, the same buyers were taking our old trailer too so we weren't worried about not getting it back again.

Let's get it on the trailer

Which worked pretty well, again making sure it didn't roll over of course.

Nearly loaded

Then it was time for a few beers as it had taken us quite a while to get this far.  We blocked up our old trailer to give it some stability.  It'll then be easy to roll the combo off the big trailer the other end.

Breaking Out The Beer

And off they go.  I wonder how they're going to unload it the other end?  Fortunately, that's not my problem.

Goodbye Hot Tub

Moving Is Expensive

It's a lot of work this moving thing.  We're busy packing stuff into boxes and have selected a moving company.  Unfortunately, because of the short time frame, the only day the movers can come is next Thursday morning!  That's a couple of days earlier than we were expecting.  We'll just have to pick up the pace of packing I guess.

Moving right across the country is expensive.  I know it's a long way but I wasn't expecting to pay $0.70/lb of goods.  When expressed like that, you pick something up, weigh it in your hands and think do I want to spend $xx to move that?

We've decided to invest in a new utility trailer as we're going to need one the other end and our current trailer is past the end of its useful life.  Doing the math, it makes sense to buy one in Alberta (5% GST instead of 15% HST), pack some of our treasured heavy items in it (1000 lbs of stuff saves us $700 in moving costs and the trailer only costs $1,260, including GST).  It does mean using more fuel to cross the country and it won't do our carbon footprint much good but financially it seems to make sense.

On Saturday we're doing a big distribution of stuff. Couch and bookcase to Sarah, bed frame and chair to James, all the garage sale stuff to Justin because it makes more sense to have a sale there than here, chairs and other things to Kathy, more junk to the dump...

The list of things to do goes on and on.

Back In Calgary Again

Flew back from Nova Scotia last night.  Now the sorting out and the packing begins in earnest.  Utilities here have already been cancelled.  Many items we don't want to move are on sale on Kijiji.  It certainly helps to know where we're going so we can figure out what's going to fit and what isn't.  Inspections are organized for the NS house.  A few other things to organize...

We also started thinking about our cross country route.  Since we have Sam to consider we're driving the old Subaru across the country.  TomTom says 51 hours 10 minutes driving over a distance of 5523 km (that's 3432 miles).  At 30 miles to the gallon (which we should be able to achieve even with the top box on) that's 115 gallons (520 litres or about $625) of fuel.  We had quotes for shipping the Miata across country for between $1500 and $1700.  Anyone want to drive it across for us?  I'll pay for your fuel if you pay for your return flight and your expenses along the way.

TomTom's suggested route looks quite interesting.  Basically Highway 1 to Winnipeg, cut south via Minneapolis to Chicago, across to Toledo, follow the south shore of Lake Erie to Buffalo (side trip to Niagara Falls), cut across to Boston then up the coast through Maine, New Brunswick and finally into Nova Scotia.  We should be able to easily average 500km/day so that's about 10 days on the road.  We need to arrive at the house on the morning of July 15th for the move in inspection so I guess we leave on or about July 4th.

We Bought A House

After a long day of negotiations, we finally concluded a deal to buy the house at 10pm last night.  We've just got a few things to sort out; make sure the septic's OK, etc. and if all goes well we move in on July 15th.  I guess we're no longer homeless and are now maritimer's.

Viewing Properties

A gruelling and mostly frustrating day yesterday looking at properties.  Most places we looked at were totally unsuitable.  Lousy ocean access, house in desperate need of renovation, neighbours too close, etc.

Anyway, we did see one property whose location was just superb.  Of course the house on it was less than optimal.  Quite small, poorly designed and cheaply built.  Also on the property were an excellent double garage and a huge stable!

After a long second visit to that property today, we put in an offer this evening.  We'll find out tomorrow if we're successful...

Just to whet your appetite, here are a few pictures:

The view from the beach across the bay.

From the beach up to the house.

Stable block - suitable for conversion to a large studio?  You can just see part of the garage behind and to the left - suitable for conversion to a guest cottage?

 

View from deck across the bay