By 4:00 PM the movers had gone, Helaine and I (mostly Helaine) had straightened up. It was time to go.

Emotional? Of course. How can you leave a house of 23 years without a few tears? It’s a great house. It’s full of memories.

And then there’s the whole leaving Connecticut thing. 28 years a Nutmegger. That’s emotional too.

“I’ve never seen traffic like this,” Helaine said that before we’d left Hamden! Probably a product of the thunderstorms and rain showers we’d experience for the next four hours.

It was a slow go across Connecticut, New York and New Jersey. We were both surprised how far from New York City we had stop-and-go traffic from homebound commuters.

The traffic thinned as we approached the northwestern corner of New Jersey. It’s hilly and rural. That’s not what you expect in New Jersey!

We pulled into a rest area and fired up my laptop. Another hour and a half seemed easily accomplished, so I made reservations in Danville, PA.

The goal was Pennsylvania. Mission accomplished.

We’re 238 miles into our journey–less than 10% of the way to SoCal. Tomorrow should produce a lot more miles with a lot more hours behind the wheel.

I thought I’d give a little running commentary on what’s going on today. The movers are here. They’re taking the things we’ve packed over the past few weeks and putting them on a truck.

The goal is to get out of here in the next few hours. I’m not actually sure we’ll achieve that, but it is the goal.

If things go smoothly, we’ll try to make it through New York and New Jersey and into Pennsylvania before stopping for the night.

We didn’t get to bed until after 2am last night, so even at 11 am I’m dragging.

I’ll try to make a few posts today, but reading comments will have to wait.

This is what it’s like to be on crack, right?

No blog today.

Things from the house promised to others are going out. That brought me in contact with online shipping. Until now I’d gone to the post office or one of the other carriers.

It doesn’t matter which one I used. I came to an epiphany tonight. When you do the postage at home there’s a little more leeway than at the post office.

Someone correct me if I’m wrong. Weights and measurements for shipping are like the speed limit. It says 65, but you can probably get away with 72… maybe faster.

I realized this too late to be a rogue. It’s wisdom passed along.

The other thing clarified, every package has a different price. It’s as if I was at the wrong end of a random number generator. I’m sure there’s sense to the rates, but not that real humans can understand. Complex.

In retrospect our move would have made a perfect Gantt Chart. So many deadlines. So many actions that had to be completed within a window of time–not too early, not too late.

For instance, the cable boxes and phone modem go back to Comcast tomorrow. There was no way we could have done that earlier.

Helaine is taking me out for Father’s Day dinner at 5:00. In retrospect, not the best use of our time, but I’m looking forward to it. We both need a little decompression.

We’re down to the point where most of what’s left are odd shaped pieces that will have to be bubble wrapped. We still have loads of boxes to pack.

The movers arrive Tuesday morning. They will do some last minute packing, especially more delicate items. After that we head out. We’ll be reunited with our stuff in a few weeks.

We’re almost done. All we need accomplish are two house closings, a cross-country drive, delivery of new furniture, craftsmen adding additional features to our new home, unpacking our Connecticut stuff, changing our addresses with everyone and collapsing.

There’s probably more. I’m really looking forward to my opportunity to collapse.

We are moving to Irvine, California. It is a lovely city 2,867 driving miles from here. So says Google.

It is an easy route. That hasn’t always been the case.

Across the GWB, then Interstate 80. We’ll cross New Jersey then Pennsylvania, Ohio, Indiana, Illinois and Iowa, before getting on Interstate 76 in Nebraska.

That’s 1,673 miles down. There’s still 1194 to go!

I-76 heads toward Denver where we’ll pick up I-70. Then under the Continental Divide in the Eisenhower Tunnel.

Past the Rockies the population gets very sparse. Between Green River and Salina, Utah, I-70 sets the record for longest distance on any Interstate between gas stations–110 miles! We’ll drive through an area known for its dinosaur finds, many exposed.

No one comes here by accident. Everyone’s just passing through. It’s places like this where you realize the Mountain West is mostly empty.

Next up I-15. I’ve driven this part before. Unusually ‘twisty’ for an Interstate. Mountain passes, then down in elevation and through the desert, past Las Vegas, all the way to Los Angeles. This part of the trip contains some of the ugliest land known to man!

Our new home is around 40 miles south, in Orange County.

It’s tough to say how many days, but my early guess is Tuesday departure, Sundayish arrival.

This will be an electronically aided drive. We’ll have a computer with cell service to the Internet, plus my cell phone. Helaine’s car has a few outlets. Batteries alone won’t be enough.

I even bought a cable to allow my phone to play into her car’s “AUX” channel. Pandora or virtually any radio station in the world… where there’s cell service.

We’d both like to log our progress. I’ll figure a way to digitally record that. Probably won’t post it real time, because it’s creepy enough with AT&T knowing where I am every moment of the day.

I plan on blogging during the trip, with photos and video. You are encouraged to read.

Oh, I forgot to mention, Google also calculates the driving time to SoCal: “In current traffic 43 hours.”

Doppler, who spent the day being praised and petted by strangers, is bushed too. She is currently in a state of suspended animation on the sofa to my right.

Tag sale day. Yikes!

The sale was to begin at 9:00 AM. My wake-up was at 4:40 AM when Helaine discovered the lawn sprinklers had fired. Uh oh.

Luckily, few things were hit or hurt. Still, who expects to be awakened for that? I went back to bed after assessing the situation with Helaine, but that kind of sleep is not the same.

Helaine, joined by next door neighbor Margie and friend (and Bentley’s mommy) Cheryl, were out before the official start time. The early bird predictions many of you made were for naught. There were a few before 9:00 AM, but no onslaught.

The first sale went to across-the-street neighbor, Joe.

I ambled out a few minutes after nine, cup of coffee in hand, as if I was an observer. That attitude quickly faded. From then until well after noon there was a steady rush of pickers.

We sold a lot, not everything. Much is being donated to a variety of charities. The rest hit the dumpster.

Helaine and I found that part therapeutic. It’s part of letting go. Twenty three years in this house. We have to let go!

Helaine rented fifteen industrial strength tables for the tag sale items. She’s very smart. Of course, it also meant 15 tables to knock down and carry at the end of the day.

Actually, most of what I remember from today has to do with carrying. That’s why I’m so physically spent.

It was great to meet those of you who came to say hello. I was touched by your kind words and how you remembered specific times I was part of your life.

People came with dogs. We love dogs. A majority of the dogs were small. Many resembled Doppler!

Every tag sale is different. This one was to save things we like, but can no longer use, and find them new homes. The money (as our prices reflected) was secondary.

In that regard… in all regards, the sale was a major success.

Our garage has been purged. Another step on-the-way to Tuesday’s move.

Thanks to Tom Powers for all the photos.

With a few days left before we drive off into the sunset, Helaine decided a tag sale was in order. As I’ve found out, we’ve accrued a boatload of stuff!

By 6:00 PM everything was out on the driveway, neatly displayed on the 15 tables Helaine rented.

Then came the text message. Rain on the radar! Seriously, Mother Nature? I thought we were friends.

Within a few minutes EVERYTHING was back in the garage.

We did get a little rain. Not much. It didn’t make any difference. Any rain was too much.

It’s all back outside now. We’re ready for our 9:00 AM kickoff.

My back will never be the same.

It’s pouring tonight! We’re in the midst of a rainy stretch in the Northeast. Connecticut is as green and lush as it ever gets.

Look out our back windows. Jungle!

It’s just a pain to deal with.

Friday morning is our normal trash pick-up. We’re ‘super users’ this week. Helaine and I carried trash out in the back of her SUV. Doppler came and supervised.

We’ve got a dumpster too. Don’t ask.

Many of you think we are moving where there’s no weather. Not so. There’s just less weather and it’s not as extreme.

Southern California has very noticeable dry and wet seasons. Summers are dry. It gets hot inland, mild closer to the coast. The Pacific’s reach inland is much greater than Long Island Sound’s influence here.

It seldom gets humid.

Winter is rainy season. Depending on how that goes, you get mud slides and/or brush fires.

People in California build in dangerous places, like on canyon walls, because they’re unbelievably beautiful. Homes that make you gasp. Fire danger is factored into your life.

I was never a lover of snow. Remember, while you were checking to see if work or school was closed, I was working. I drove in every storm. I’m a very good snow driver, though I have never been more scared than driving after the October snowstorm.

Beyond that, we haven’t mastered the science of snow. Yes, I can predict it’s coming, but there’s little skill with snowfall amounts. Forecasts are more accurate than ever before. Not enough.

It bothered me greatly I couldn’t be more accurate with snow amounts. If I could have worked longer, or studied more, I would have. It’s just beyond the current grasp of atmospheric science.

I won’t miss snow.

Parts of tonight’s dinner were served on Barbie paper plates. Does that give you an idea?

We’re moving with no furniture. Most is staying with the house.

What to do with the rest? We have a veritable lost and found after 23 years in this place.

Helaine has organized a tag sale for Saturday 9:00 AM to 4:00 PM. We’re selling household goods, lots of ties and some odds and ends of furniture. We even took out an ad on Craigslist.

I’ll admit it. It’s weird for me, someone who’s been in the public eye for decades, to mention our tag sale online. It seems the right thing to do.

I suspect some of you might come to say hi (no goodbyes, please). That’s fine. There’s no obligation to buy.

I have no idea how many people will come. In case there is a crowd, I ask you please be respectful of my neighbors and neighborhood.

See you Saturday. The weather will cooperate!