Moving day is nearly upon and there is much yet to be organized/packed. I kind of made a car shape in our living room with the boxes that I’ve packed so far as my best guess effort at what will fit in the Focus on this ride out (I really do trust our current neighbors to happily smash my car windows out should a single box be left out overnight). The dogs are going with Mary when she comes out once a house is purchased (hopefully within four weeks or so), so the more I can fit on this trip the better for her. We’ve already been approved for a workably-sized mortgage from a couple of different lenders and I am in the process of comparing and leveraging these offers. We’ve also briefly been in touch with a realtor in Yakima who has started to point us toward homes and neighborhoods.

All in all this move feels as if it’s progressing appropriately for a move that has been planned in two weeks time.

I just thought this picture was funny. So I’m sharing. I’m sure the next thirty seconds were not pleasant. Oh no!

A couple of months ago the Meijer close to my job was running a sale on Frosted Mini Wheats at $1.50 a box. For the big 24 oz boxes, not those little pipsqueak ones. Now, I eat a lot of cereal and am pretty cognizant of fluctuating cereal prices, so when I saw this deal, I thought it might be the cereal deal of the year. Usually you’re lucky to get a 16 oz box of generic Cheerios for that price. You know?

So I promptly purchased approximately twenty boxes of Mini Wheats. I mean that’s the thing to do right? That’s some bang for your buck right there. Anyway, I’ve whittled it down to about six boxes, but only with a very concerted cereal-eating regimen over the past week and a half.

These are the things you have to worry about when you plan on moving sans moving van. Trying to get the cupboards all Old Mother Hubbard as much as possible before moving next week (yes I just adjectived OMH… and verbed adjective). Our freezer is down to half a bag of frozen mangos and the fridge is inching toward a condiments-only existence.

Soon I will be eating ranch dressing with a spoon.

When I was a kid I would form these attachments to my possessions that bordered on obsessive. Skateboarding around my neighborhood, I’d wear my Converse All-Stars ragged and put gaping holes in the knees of my jeans, then freak out when I found out that I needed to get something new/respectable to replace my threadbare clothes. It wasn’t because I couldn’t grow to love that new thing (I always did), it was just that the familiar was comfortable and held my memories and it seemed wrong to throw away something that I liked just because it had taken on a slightly more entropic form.

I feel kind of like that these days. I look at the things I enjoy around me and feel sad to be losing them. The nostalgia is weighing heavy. I have talked so long about getting away from this city and into a setting where I can experience grandeur and have more opportunities for outdoor play (and really I am excited to be doing this), but as the departure date approaches I really do find myself looking at places and activities through blue-colored glasses (or whatever color nostalgia-inducing glasses might be).

I love my twice-weekly basketball game. Love it. The people I play with are friendly, nonjudgmental, and down to earth, but still play at their limits creating an environment of competitiveness and hard work. It’s a great fun way to get two hours of hard exercise and probably will be hard to replicate in a new city (I’ve played at public gyms before and it’s definitely not the same). There are a lot of little senses of security like that that will be missed. Having a basketball game that I know I like. Fun and exercise security. Shoot, just having access to an enormous gym will be tough to lose. I have my own set of keys to a full-sized basketball court. How great is that? If I’ve got a hankering at two in the morning to go shoot around, theoretically I could do so.

But, really I am mostly just excited. There will be a new pair of All-Stars break to in and the nuances will come.

One possible route. Google Maps and Mapquest both tell me to take I-90 across South Dakota when I plug in Grand Rapids to Yakima, but I’ve never been to North Dakota and would like to check that one off my state list. Thus, I’m leaning toward toward turning up toward Minneapolis and then taking I-94 across. And actually when I force Google Maps to make that my route of choice the result seems to be a trip that is thirty miles shorter and also slightly less time consuming. (Click the blurry image below for the actual interactive map.) Any suggestions from those of you who have driven either of these two routes? Either way it’s thirty plus hours of solo driving.