Grand and Glorious Curmudgeon

 So I got back from my trip to Cheyenne. It turns out it is an easy 2.5 hour trip down (with virtually no traffic congestion at all).  I learned a lot about the Anti-Collision camera systems. 

More importantly I drove down early enough to stop at the Chili’s in Cheyenne for lunch. If you were following along in the last episode (here), I had the windshield replaced in Casper, but encountered problems with calibrating the Anti-Collision cameras.

When I got into Spradley Barr Hyundai in Cheyenne, the mechanic (Matt Peters) told me it might be a quick check. Sure enough he was back in 10 minutes with the explanation. It turns out that merely replacing the glass doesn’t require a re-calibration if you don’t disturb the cameras. Merely replacing the glass doesn’t necessarily require a calibration. He also pointed out that if the cameras are disturbed, the embedded display system will alert you that the cameras need re-alignment. He apologized that my trip down wasn’t required (certainly not his fault) and I pointed out that I had scored lunch at Chili’s so the trip wasn’t wasted.

The other good news is that the trip down to Cheyenne saved me $250. in an unnecessary re-calibration which was also a net savings. Matt also insisted on giving me his card and invited me to call his direct line if I had any other issues. In the future, for any car issues, oil changes, etc. I will probably just plan on driving down to Cheyenne to get it done (and hit Chili’s of course).

 It’s now April 2nd and I’ve mostly settled in.  The drive turned out to be mostly anti-climatic. Without having the trailer, we loaded the car to the gills with moving boxes with the cat squeezed up behind the driver/passenger seats. Kate came with me to help with the moving. Steve arranged to get us accommodations from Fri-Mon so we had good sleeping arrangements pending getting moved in. It turns out that all of the shopping is within a half-mile of the intersection of Wyoming Blvd and 2nd Street.  But over the weekend we made multiple trips back and forth, to wit:

• Walmart 5 trips
•  Home Depot 4 trips
• Sam’s Club 3 trips
• Staples 2 trips
• Best Buy 2 trips

1. Rented a bed for a month for $90. as a bridge to when my Sleep Number bed arrives. Currently scheduled to arrive April 20th (just in time for my birthday).

2. Got recliner loveseat to provide seating in the living room. And a 55″ Roku enabled TV.  I didn’t bother to get cable, but am relying on internet connection.

5. Kate flew out on Monday after having worked mightily to get me unpacked. She was a tremendous help in making the move easier. More info later. 

I’m counting down my last week as an Oregon resident. I bought my first major purchase (to be delivered in WY) – a smaller electric washer/dryer sized for a person. In the old days, you would wander into an appliance store, look over what they had and decide on what you wanted. Today I spend most of an evening surveying what was available with the characteristics I wanted. I found the one I wanted –  a 2021 Equator EZ-5500CV – that was available from Home Depot and ordered it with expected delivery 31 March-4 April.

Overnight, Home Depot cancelled the order for reasons unknown. While researching why, I discovered that it was actually coming from from a firm called  Builder Depot. So I looked them up and discovered that those washers were backordered from the mfg with no estimate on actual shipping, but they had last year’s model – a 4400N available. Since it only lacks the smart phone connection via WiFi and COVID specific sanitizing I figured I could live without the new features. I ordered it directly from Builder Depot to be delivered in the same time frame.

Update: The next day Builder Depot also cancelled the order. Their email blamed Visa and recommended I contact them before reordering. So I called up the number on the back of the card. They claimed that they did not cancel, but did see the charge and the refund. They suggested I call Visa directly (it turns out they are just a servicing company that handles Visa on behalf of the bank). I called Visa directly and they said the couldn’t help me, they also showed the transaction and refund, but with a strong Indian accent.  I researched some more and discovered that the Builder Depot order form now showed a higher shipping amount ($177.00 to $336.00). Hmmm. So I flipped back over to Home Depot’s website and ordered the EZ-4400N with store delivery for $100. less. Third try is the charm.

I’ve also got the Best Buy website queued up with a WiFi router (Linksys – Max-Stream AX6000 Mesh Wi-Fi 6 Router – Black) and a TV (LG – 55″ Class UN7000 Series LED 4K UHD Smart webOS TV). When I get in I can trigger it and go over and pick them up. 

The rest of the furniture gets a little iffier. I realized last night that this will be the first bedroom set I have ever purchased. Early years the Navy provided most furnishing, or I had a furnished apartment/mobile home. When I got to UW in Seattle I bought half a house and we semi-furnished from an estate auction place down the road. 

For a bedroom set I had a waterbed on the floor (hey, it was the 1970’s). When Lindsay’s divorce was finalized, she got the full up bedroom set; king size bed in dark wood with dressers, mirror, bedside cabinets – the works. When we moved from Silverdale Washington, the house buyers wanted to buy the bedroom set (it fit the room perfectly). So when we moved to Oregon we bought the current bedroom set, which will stay in the condo. Which is all a long introduction to my needing to finally have to decide what to buy. 

I’m still noodling what I want, but this has the looks that fit the Wyoming vibe for the bedroom set.

And it also has a dining room set in the same décor.

 After getting a better view of how much cubic footage I wanted to take (roughly 2x of the pile shown previously). I was stumped. One option was to have Kate drive as well, but then she has to get her car home. After noodling through some options, I settled on getting a trailer through U-Haul. 

Of course first I needed a trailer hitch installed.  Fortunately U-Haul does this as well. After plugging in my car’s specs (2019 Hyundai Santa Fe w/ 2.4 liter engine) it offered a hitch and wiring package for $400.00.  Scheduled for 3/22 at 2:00pm. Of course this is permanently installed and will be available for further use as desired.

Hitch

Ball

Ball Mount

Wiring

I found out I could rent a 4×8 closed cargo trailer with drop off in Casper for ~$260.00 including 5 day rental, so I’m scheduled to pick that up on Thursday 3/25 at 10:00am. 

So I now have 128 cubic foot plus what will fit in the car. This will also give me the option of taking a couple of plants, notably the Christmas Cactus that we budded off the one at our house on Aries Drive in Mira Mesa in 1977.

Son-of-a-Gun! I idly looked up Mira Mesa on Google Maps and found Aries Drive. I remembered that we were on the corner and I found 8414 Aries Drive.

 Here it Is!!!

I toggled over to satellite view and it is amazing. The solar panels on the roof are new, but that is the first house we bought together (at a 14% interest rate – thank you Jimmy Carter). If you click on the ground level pictures on the lower left you can even see in the garage. Amazing.

 Well now I’m gearing up to actually move. The plan is to leave for WY on Friday 3/26. Kathryn will probably go with me, returning on Monday 3/29. She’s offered to drive, if we need more space, I’m hoping to be able to fit everything in my Santa Fe.

This is the first eight boxes staged by the front door. I would guess that’s about 50% of what I intended to take.

 So the morning after the funeral I packed up and left. Jan & Mike had a flooding casualty that rendered the guest bathroom unavailable and shut off water to the whole house (it was not due to any malfeasance by me, but was a preexisting condition). I stopped by Steve’s new house in Irving to greet the Addie, Andy and Joshua (and of course Irene). It was a masked and socially distanced, but was a great chance to see the kids briefly before they had to go off to Montessori school.

After a brief visit I got back on the road and headed North. I caught a couple of slow spots in LA, but it opened back up and I cruised back up I-5. This was the first time I had taken the newish car up this route and it was much more comfortable that my previous trips. 

I rolled back into Beaverton about 11:30pm. I was tired, but glad the trip was over.

The next step is packing up and preparing for the move on March 25th.