I was listening to the song “Cold” on the radio this morning, wondering about the artist. I had to finish my run to Google the answer: Chris Singleton. It seemed appropriate considering the chance of snow in the Portland forecast and a winter fog lingering in the air. As I learned yesterday on my Word of the Day calendar, I was experiencing a pogonip. All I could dream of was next year at this time living in Florida. Despite the chill, running has been very rewarding this week with the discovery of a quarter and two dimes on the downtown streets, nearly enough to buy a stamp. Today, #4426, was fruitless, not even a penny.

I have a bunch of paperwork and a credit card form to fill out for North American Van Lines. They were the winner of the moving lottery, over two other competitors for the honor of moving our stuff across the country. It’s a pricy ordeal, more expensive than buying my first tiny house. The only things they won’t move are our dog Tally, the liquor supply, perishables, and household cleaners. We’re doing our best to finish off these items, especially the wine. Tally will ride with us in our remaining car as we stop to stop friends and family on the 3,000-plus mile journey. Hopefully, it will be the last of cold weather that we will see for awhile.

I’ve already booked dog friendly hotels in Ogden, Utah and Burlington, Colorado for early April. We’ll spend the first night after the move here in Portland, at the Residence Inn where we lived the first couple weeks of our first days in the city. We don’t know how long the loading process will take that day, so we’ll start driving East the next morning. Several days will be spent in Indiana at about the half-way point of our journey. Tally will get to visit with her dog cousins while we’re there. From the point, we’ll head South through Atlanta. We’ll have to time our drive to coordinate with the moving truck’s ultimate arrival at our new Venice, Florida home to supervise the unloading process. 

Instead of cooking tonight, I’ll be heating up leftovers. We continue to try to conserve on expenses, knowing there will be plenty of them once we get to Florida. Plantation shutters, custom built-ins, wine replenishment, bar stools, guest bed, pool chairs, and lighting will be the move-in spending priorities. We’ll need to get set-up quickly in anticipation of visitors, also seeking warm weather. In the meantime, it looks like the possibility of snow during the week ahead. Burrrrrr! It’s Cold!