Not as in “the dog days of summer” – those steamy, hot days that seem to last forever – our dog days were spent working like dogs.
In 4 weeks in the PNW we put hands on just about every item that we own. We got rid of 2 running motorcycles and 2 rolling chassis’ with enough motor/parts for one amazing bike. We became familiar faces to the people at the dump and household haz waste and Goodwill. Luckily we had a GREAT place to stay, that included a relaxing outdoor space.
Take a good look around your living space. Imagine paring all of that down into a 5 x 8 x 10 foot storage unit and half of a garage bay. We were a few steps ahead of you, because last summer we hired a PHENOMENAL friend who helped us sort the house to get it ready to rent. Therefore, much of our stuff was already packed and in storage. Our task was to see what we’d kept (sorting on Skype for multiple hours per day, we didn’t always make the best decisions!), re-sort and create a packing manifest for eventually bringing stuff to Mexico, and clean out the garage. OOF!
For those of you who know us, you know that our garage held 20 years worth of stuff, motorcycles, parts, tools, and all of those “we might be able to use this for parts, later” things.
We started on the storage unit – it was less daunting than the garage. In our first day of sorting, we realized that we needed a staging area, so that we didn’t have to pull out/sort/pack and then re-Tetris the unit on a daily basis. The Basha brilliantly suggested “throwing money at the problem”. We rented another unit on the same floor where we put the “DONE” boxes! We only kept it long enough to sort and re-pack stuff, and it was a lifesaver.
The garage was rather overwhelming. Just the CLEANING – dust, spider webs, things left by… critters – was a never ending process. We had 4 running motorcycles, 2 rolling chassis’ (one with a mostly defunct motor), spare parts and body panels for all the bikes (and some we no longer had), a bicycle, camping gear, tools and tools and tools. We were pleasantly surprised that 2 bikes (forgot to get a pic of one as it left) and the “project” chassis’ found new homes fairly easily. We have GREAT friends!
Our other reason for the trip to the PNW was vaccination. Our area of Mexico was having a LOT of problems with the rollout, and it was looking like we’d be waiting a LONG time to get ours. Also, for each “wave” of vaccinations in our state it was a different vaccine – you never knew what you were going to get. So PNW vaccines could be scheduled in advance, AND you knew which one you would get. So… Fauci Ouchies for both of us!
Four weeks, almost to the day, and all the To Do’s (that we could be bothered with) were checked off. A few things got ignored, and they will be there on the next trip! The Basha’s vehicle was desert-ready, so we packed up with “essentials” and headed for the border.