Florida to Oregon along the NB trail?

[Froggy]

My husband and I are planning a huge move cross-country to Oregon. We'd be leaving from Flagler Beach, going up I-95 and to South Carolina to see my twin most likely, then on to Longmont Colorado to see a long-time video game friend, and from there to the final destination of Klamath Falls Oregon. It takes roughly 2 days and change, not counting visitations.

I wondered two things.

1) If we could inspire impromptu get-togethers all along our route (which I admittedly don't know yet beyond what I described). We most likely might not attend all of them due to, you know, driving, but I thought it was a neat excuse to get other folks together.

2) My husband mentioned hotel stays possibly. I didn't know how far the new beetle enthusiasm and goodwill might extend, but I thought I'd ask- anyone interested in housing a poor beetle-less girl and her husband for a night of sleep? We have two dogs- a beagle and old sleepy jack russel with crates for both (though they share a bed with us given a choice). I don't even know if my husband would go for this idea even if one of you pipes up, its a long shot but my idealist heart had to bring it up. We could pay for the space like a hotel, only cheaper I'd bet. We're already going to be spending a fortune in fuel.

Anyway, our current plan is to fix the Caprice's transmission and install a hitch, acquire a car dolly or trailer, and then in July we skidattle from Flagler in the Caprice towing the camaro and the only things we're bringing have to fit in one or the other.

What do you think Southeasterners?

[Wingnut_rb]

I grew up in K Falls and my parents still live there. Beautiful country. Good luck on the journey.

[vwgary]

We have a big South Carolina "hospitality" group Impromptu GTG's are the norm Put out a timeframe and we'll go from there. If this is a life changing move, you must have some sort of schedule, start to finish?

[Froggy]

Perfect timing! As discussed with the husband over google chat while we were both at work (google is awesome):

Leave Flagler Beach FL in AM go to Jessie (my twin) (Greenville SC) 7h 34m 460mi
figure we leave around 5 am get to her around 1 or 2
Spend the evening with her, sleep there,

Then leave SC in the AM aroun 6
15 hours of drive time later, 899 miles, we are in Kansas City MO and we sleep

Wake up at 6 again, drive 10.5 hours, 635 miles and we're in Longmont CO, have dinner with Pappy, sleep there and spend a whole day with them, sleep there again,

Leave at 6AM, drive 712 miles 11hours and we're in Elko NV sleep there

Wake up at 6am drive 8 hours 430miles and we're at Klamath Falls.

The actual routing is most likely just using googlemaps directions. Like this

Of course, we could tweak the two hotel stops at Kansas City and Elko, but Jessie and Pappy are destinations on the way.

I don't want to spam, but should I post this to the other relevant geographical sections also?

[dnyed]

Woohoo! You will be, well, in the general area, for our local GTGS!

I must ask. What is bringing you to K-Falls?

[Froggy]

We moved into a larger house here on the beach with the mom-in-law, and we were excited to have a bigger place, and thought about buying it, since the owner said she was ready to get it off her hands.

Well then we got to thinking. We don't really LIKE Florida that much. My husband hates being hot, and I grew up partially in Maryland, and I love the mountains and I remember snow being fun. (Although I generally hate being cold, I think snow jackets are an acceptible trade if I actually get snow for my trouble.)

So we were wondering where we should go if not Florida. We play World of Warcraft and have friends there in Klamath Falls, a vet who actually helped us out a ton when we were in a bad situation and our beagle got in a fight and was injured. Twice. They made a point to rent a car and drive up to see us during a christmas visit to south florida, and well, we like them a bunch! So to Klamath Falls we go.

I'll tell you, I'm really enjoying some of the photos of the area I can find online! We're super excited, if you can't tell by our planning in March a trip which won't happen until July.

And thanks for the good wishes, Wingnut_RB

Oh hey, I didn't need to post this in southeast section, there are just threads after I click the Event section, and then this is an event sub-forum. Oh well.

[Froggy]

We got a trailer!!

Jamie didn't even try to talk the price down, it was better than what we were looking for and for a super cheap price at $400. Craigslist is awesome.

So now we just have to keep saving, get the hauling car fixed (and other minor details), and we're good to go.

[Froggy]

We've pretty much had as much as we can stand of the immediate family here. We won't be staying til July for a 4th of July get-together with everyone on my side, though I do hope to have one last big event. Maybe this Easter Sunday.

We're aiming to get my 4 withheld summertime checks and skidattle! June 10th is hopefully when I get those.

So far the hauling car is NOT fixed. Transmission solenoid replaced and that didn't fix it. One more solenoid to try and we found a leak I think he said near the torque converter. Not sure how bad that might be but I hope the next try fixes the transmission so they can move to the engine. We have I think all the parts bought, at least.

Headed to bed now. The Black-Eyed Peas have soured my mood.
Good night.

[Blaize]

Since you're coming through CO, I would enjoy meeting you. Brand new to all of this, so can't speak for any GtG, but lunch or something?

[Froggy]

I'm honestly not sure about the timing about all of this. My original silly hope was to spawn local get-togethers along the route as we passed through, not to actually participate. My husband isn't a people person by any means

So, unfortunately while I think that would be a great idea, I'm not sure if we could. It would take a huge coordinating effort to get a place/time and get us there that I doubt Hubby is up to with strangers.
He saw me come to this thread to pull up the easy-to-find link with the route mapped out so he could figure what fuel for this exodus might cost ballpark, and he specifically said he wasn't planning on beetle-people-meeting. or something to that effect.
Killjoy.

Sowwy

[Froggy]

Added a thread in the marketplace section in case any locals would like to help out. Sort of like a virtual yard sale. Also added a link in my signature to view the items for sale.

The engine is out of the Caprice and the poor car looks mortally wounded, of course. Jamie is in the process of tearing it down in order to use the good parts to put onto the good bottom end of the other motor so we'll actually have the car in the condition it was meant to be in. I'm very excited, I admit. I've heard many a story of it's performance in the past and I expect it was a force to be reckoned with while in the police force. We still need to add a tow hitch. Grandad has one that they think will fit, or can be made to fit. I hope it does, its rust-colored and monstrous.

The gold truck has been sold, so Jamie's plan to quit early has officially "paid off". I can't imagine how far behind he'd be in the actual repairs if we'd been only able to get up there on weekends! As it is he's spending half the week up there and I'm commuting with the air-conditioned cruise-controlled CD-playing Altima affectionately called "the Duck". What a shame, really. It's torturous

Anyway, just figured I'd update.

[Froggy]

Meh.

This thread was a stupid idea. I don't even own a beetle yet.

If anyone is interested, our car got put back together... with the same transmission issue. Something about the 3-4 band being broken, it's apparhently a common enough issue. My husband called around this morning for a shop to rebuild ours, which the guy traded back to us with our money (yay!), and instead has found a transmission for $300. He figures its worth one more try at a straight swap. Its relatively easy I guess to get it in and out.

I got the car re-registered today and I guess I need to focus on packing the few things we'll be taking.

8 days left of school. Still hoping to leave on the 10th.

[dnyed]

Limp it out west, and find a New Beetle when you get here.

[deenalouise]

I second K Falls being nice. I worked at the Crater Lake Lodge one summerbreak during college. K Falls is one of the larger cities we'd go to on days off. I'm hopefully taking my dad on a father's day/birthday trip to that area in Aug or Sept. Collier State park apparently has a nice logging museum that he will love (I hope). Anyway best of luck on everything coming together for your move. Also, an early welcome to the NW and on becoming a bug owner

[Froggy]

We made it!

I am officially an Oregonian now, as I've just gotten my physical and Oregon CDL so I can be a school bus driver here. Have to love a job like this

We took our time on the trip, left June 10th at 3:45am (ok june 11th) and arrived at final destination around 8 or 9 i think Tuesday the 22nd after spending a good amount of time in Colorado. We started out rough with having to condense what we thought we'd packed already, then hit mechanical trouble involving a wheel coming off the trailer, then driving the second car and realizing squirrels and their taste for wiring =bad. My parents came to Jacksonville, which is as far as we made it, and took that stupid trailer away (and some more stuff we decided we really didn't need).

Once we finally DID make it to South Carolina we had a great day with my twin and got a towbar. Pretty smooth after that, had a box shift onto the steering wheel of the towed car which made it not want to turn, and also the brakes grabbed and had to be loosened. The camaro had a few too many hands helping check it out before the trip and the brake adjuster got put back on wrong I guess.

We got to Colorado, pretty much stopping every night to sleep, because we had a lot of catching up to do. We really enjoyed meeting our online friends for the first time ever. Hubby did game things and outtings with the guys, and I did crafts with Mammy. I made late Father's Day cards for both our dads and one for Pappy too. We were sort of reluctant to leave, knowing we still had a ways to go, but we did finally.

It's gorgeous here!! The weather is so wonderful, even though my nose complains, my skin is chalky-dry, and I needed chap stick badly the first week from the lack of humidity. Its a bit strange to be cold at night but know that it will be a lovely summer day later. I like the way the daylight is working- I wake up at 6am with bright sunlight thinking I missed my alarm, and of course I didn't because i actually get another whole hour. Then in the evening, the sun is still bright and cheery until around 9pm I think. The lack of bugs is wonderful, though they have lots of little tiny spiders. Surprisingly, they don't bother me at all, but I do squish those that I find indoors.

I was surprised in a creepy sort of way to have gotten a call from the school transportation supervisor the day after we arrived, because he was checking to see if we'd made it here. I had planned to call him that afternoon and he beat me to it. After a few days of training and confirmation testing (the state just took my Florida CDL and gave me an Oregon one, but the county school board needs better proof of my driving abilities), I'm all lined up to start next year as a regular school bus driver.

I didn't see as many beetles on the trip as I thought I might, but once we got here I've seen a few. There is a new beige one and a yellow one that live nearby, I've seen a bright red classic convertible all shiny and perfect, and even a classic hardtop which was black that was aged to grey on the top. It was actually a nice effect, though I don't think intentional. I've seen a yellow one for sale.

Work is only 3 miles away so I'm looking forward to riding my bicycle. We've also found a game store where Hubby can play Magic, and where our group can play D&D. Yay!

So far I'm absolutely loving it here, and I figured I'd let you all know that we made it here safely, though a bit belated.

[Wingnut_rb]

Glad you made it ok! I will be in K Falls at the end of this month for my 20th class reunion (Klamath Union HS) I'm amazed to hear there's no bugs!! I lived there for 12 years and the mosquitos were terrible, but we lived right on the edge of the lake too.

[akasha1963]

Darn it! Y'all came thru Nashville too.

[dnyed]

Congratulations to you for the next chapter of your lives! Oregon rocks!

[Froggy]

I suppose there were a few mosquitos at lake... Malorne? A reservoir maybe 20 minutes from Bonanza with a dam to feed an irrigation ditch.

Actually we're going back there today to swim and the boys are fixing the dock.

Anyway, those tiny little skeeters don't count, not unless they're swarming like a dematerialized vampire out for a date. They don't even bite as badly as Florida's breed

[Wingnut_rb]

You haven't swam in Klamath Lake yet? You must not like the flavor of the blue algae huh? It's one of a very small number of lakes in the world to have it. If you get some time, take a 40 minute drive up to Crater Lake, you won't regret it! Not for swimming though!