wow - thats pretty funny - i just did the same thing last summer - from NY to the bay area.

"Moving....across the country, ocean, planet"

"-just moved about 8 mths ago from NYC to San Francisco - what a nightmare
-looked at pods...the most expensive option we looked at.
-Uhaul and other rental trucks were a close second.
-the option we exploered and adventually went w/ was hiring a moving company to pack up the apt move it into the moving trucks and drive it to SF. and thats where the nitemare began.
-first they estimated our load as a certain cubic footage and told us that they take apart all the furniture and put it back together in the new apt. - on moving day the company showed up 4 hrs late and were extemely rude b/c somehow it was my fault that they could not find a parking spot for their moving truck in brooklyn...WTF? - then they wouldnt take apart any of the furniture - after finally packing up the truck we were ove the estimated load by 100 cubic feet...more dollars. then we made our way to the left coast in my own pick-up - the moving comp. estimated the would be in SF a week from the pick up date...they showed up 3 days later! WTF? then they had this 18 wheeler and were trying to get into SF...they said they couldnt get the truck in to the city and its my fault i didnt tell them they wouldnt get an 18 wheeler into the city. they rented a Uhaul at my expense, pack up the Uhaul and made way for my apt. They got there and said they were going to charge mor cause i had an elevator in the building...the only way they wouldnt charge an extra was if i lived on the first floor of the bldg. then the truck was unpacked and and the duesh bag movers were gone...half of our dishes were broken and our dressers leg was broken off.
-SO DONT EVER HIRE MOVERS ... THEY SUCK!!!
-The next time i ever move further than 1 state i will sell almost everything i have except for the computer, and clothes." - craigslist that shit.

----------i would say if you dont want to sell your stuff then go w/ the uhaul option.

-my truck was originally registered in NY...brought it to cali - sent the NY plates back - took the written DMV test(required for all people who have a valid out of state license and wish to drive in cali - 30-40 questions - pretty easy) - got insurance, registered the truck and got a temp regi - went to get smog checked - went back to the dmv and got my plates...now im good - the dmv in SF is open 1 saturday out of the month, so if you working right away...yeah it might be kinda a pain in the ass.

-BTW - do you have a place yet...Job??????

ooohhhhhhhhh - your the guy who was asking about the scooter in SF - well i still havent seen a scooter on the Bay Bridge...it doesnt look very safe to drive one on the highway anyways. Public transit out here is pretty good - the only gripe i have with it is that the BART stops running at or just around midnite. kinda sux when ur trying to get drunk in Berkeley and go to bed in the city...i think buses leave from the BART stations all nite - about every 1hr.

actually, I went to SF this past wknd and was paying extra close attention to this scooter situation and did in fact see one on the bay bridge. In the city, there are tons of them everywhere...and to see motorcycle only spots is great (considering there are none in NY).

Wow – weird – I did the same trip a number of years ago. I had planned on renting a truck and moving myself, but I opted to go with a company called "lowest priced movers" because they went from the east coast to San Francisco – but I could not find them when I did a Google search so they may not be in business anymore but there are probably other companies that offer similar services.

Essentially, what they do is they drop an 18-wheeler at your location (subcontracted out from a company called Overnight (I think)) and you load your stuff into the space you requested. They give you a couple of days to load your stuff and then they come pick it up and drop it off at the location you designate. There are a few downfalls. You have to be certified in boxology (just kidding – but what I mean is that you have to be really good at fitting all your stuff in a small area). The other downfall is that you have to be at the drop off location when they arrive, so you can't take your own sweet time getting to your final destination. If you don’t have a permanent address to drop it off, you can specify a storage location. Then they leave the truck for a day or two to give you the time you need to unload. Back when I did this, it was the least inexpensive option. I can't remember the figures, but I know the price was cheaper than renting a Uhaul and doing it myself.

I was fortunate that they were able to pull directly up to where I lived because I lived on Bush street (relatively flat) but like weAREtheSTONES said, depending on where you are, you might live at a location that they cant get an 18 wheeler in which means they will have to repack in a smaller truck to get the stuff to you, which means more $$$.

Just read the two moving threads and am wondering do we have any minamilist archinectors or is everyone so materialistic and so sentimental that they can't get rid of their old stuff animals and hubcap collection?

I agree with Katze, lifes an adventure and having stories to tell about crossing scary bridges, having your trucked searched and crashing into furniture falling off a pickup truck are what makes us interesting (not the mint condition Crate & Barrel coffee table or set of china from Marshall Fields).

Just something to think about.

I couldn't agree with you more alfrejas24 - life is an adventure – embrace it! Makes life interesting. Plus, we all need stories to tell our grandkids, right?

I'm a bit of a minimalist, so much so that I won't even have a car when I move for grad school! But there are a couple pieces of furniture that pack flat, so I'm going to try to bring them if I can. Does anybody know of a company that will rent cargo vans for interstate moves? I've found them for local moves, but that won't work.

rationalist - once I used a company called "Auto Driveway". Essentially, they are looking for folks to drive cars/trucks/vans from one place to another and they pay you! I did that once and was paid a couple hundred dollars and was able to put all my stuff in the van. I would not announce to the company that this is what you are doing – they are not in the business of renting a moving truck/van :) check out the site – you can call them and ask if they have any vans going from your location to wherever you want to go and they will tell you when/where, etc.

Many downfalls-
--you are on their schedule
--if you get into an accident you have to pay the deductible in cash (I don't believe you can go through your own insurance)
--Its obviously not for everyone – if you have a lot of stuff, forget about this option.

supersupao: Maybe you can hitch a ride with these people who are taking a cab from NYC to Arizona...

I don't know if it still exist but there was once this thing called "Drive
Away Cars." You would put down a deposit with the company they would have you drive someone elses car or van or whatever from the
location you were located to the location they wanted their car delivered. You would sometimes have to pay for the gas, but sometimes they would reimburse you for the gas if they really needed the car delivered. Once you dropped off the car you would get your deposit back. There were two catches, they calculated the distance between point a and point b. You were not to drive all over the countryside with the car so the milage was always checked. They
also gave you a certain number of days inwhich to deliver the car.

I used it once from Boston To Minneapolis. Friends of mine did a Minneapolis Miami run. Other friends did the Minneapolis Boston run.
I never lucked out with a great car, just some average car, but my friends that took the Minneapolis Miami run ended up with a Big Ole
Caddy!

Oh ya I packed everythhing I owned in that car when I made my trip.
Oh it was so nice to be young, with little or near nothing for belongings.

Sweet! Thanks guys, I'll look those up. Even if I can't get a van through that, if I could just get a truck or SUV with a trailer hitch, then I could rent one of those U-Hail trail behind things for any extra.

Gosh, you know, it's just so presumptuous to call somebody "materialistic" because they have a bed and a 6' high by 7' wide wooden storage system and a wooden dresser and a nice desk that they don't want to leave behind, and let's face it, that kind of sh*t just isn't going to fit in the back of my hatchback, which I'm getting rid of anyway, thank you very much. Lots of this stuff I spent good money on so I wouldn't have to replace it any time soon, because guess what? I'm going to grad school to study sustainability, which means I have a vested interest in learning how to use items efficiently and not just throw something away because I'm moving again, which I've done quite a bit.

All of this besides the fact that I paid good money for some of these things to begin with and they are still in great condition, and if I wanted to sell and later replace any of it, I would surely lose hundreds of dollars, which isn't an option for me.....

I am far from being materialistic. I live basically self-contained in a 200 sf area. You should maybe think about the things you say before you assume so much about other people's lives.

It's funny the different values people have... for instance, the things you're least likely to get rid of are the things you paid good money for and have seen depreciate in value. The things I'm least likely to get rid of are the things I've gotten for free but would cost to replace. :)

Well seriously. And I'm already trying to sell a bunch of stuff anyway that I just have no need for anymore. For instance, does anyone need a printer? How about a solid wood headboard? Some computer bags? A Sony Discman? No?

Yeah, well nobody around here wants this crap either, I can't even give it away....

Rationalist – be careful about the trailer hitch option. More than likely the Auto Driveway folks have rules on this - they may not allow it and if you get caught your screwed or even worst, what happens if the transmission blows because of pulling the extra weight:) As I was typing this, I recall fond memories of buying a relatively new Saab and hitching a trailer to it and trekking across the country. The damn transmission kicked the bucket midway through my trip. Ah, those were the good ol days! I can laugh about it now :)

I think alfrejas24 is just trying to state that many of us do have a lot of sentimental junk and sometimes we just have to let go and stop being so materialistic. Why do we need so much materialistic crap anyway?

I see WK's point – I mean, a bed is more of a necessity (well at one time I use to sleep on the floor so I could easily make due without a mattress) but trying to trek a bed on top of your car is something I wouldn't want to do.

WK – do you have a fax machine in that junk you want to get rid of? I would be willing to take that off your hands cuz I need one :0) Just playing. I hope you find someone willing to take your stuff – goodwill maybe? They will come to your house to pick it up (at least they did at one time in California and Oregon) and you can use it as a tax write-off.

i've had a lot of experience in this department. here's what i say: go to u-haul, get four of the largest boxes you have, and ship them. buy a car (1000k should be enough for a decent one that will make it). fit everything else you can in the car, and get rid of the rest, or store it in your parents basement. i've been doing this for the last 9 years and have never looked back.

I have a bit of experience in this department as well. When I moved from NYC to Oregon in 2004, I priced out renting a modest U-Haul truck to carry all my belongings cross-country. Cost: about $2000, plus gas, and I wouldn't have had a car when I got to Oregon.

What I ended up doing was spending that $2000 on a used Jeep Cherokee. I loaded it up with my most precious items and discarded anything that didn't fit. And when I got to Oregon, I had a reliable car to hang onto.

The most risky part of the move for me was buying the Jeep a week before driving across the continent, so I didn't really have much time to test it out for mechanical problems. Luckily, the Jeep turned out to be a solid vehicle, and I made it all the way to Oregon (and back to Chicago three months later) without any trouble. But if the Jeep had turned out to be a lemon, I'd have been screwed.

If you're going from NYC to SF, I'd suggest I-70 over I-80, if only because I-80 west of Chicago is the most boring highway on the face of the earth. I-70 at least takes you through the Rockies, while I-80 only goes through hundreds of miles of high plateau scrubland.

LIG - a toast to mechanical free cars! You are right, it is a bit of a risk of buying a car and taking it on a long trip before you really give it a good test run. Its funny you bring up highways – I think I ran into trouble with the transmission because I selected the Rockies route over the plateaus. I didn't want a long boring trip but I think I paid the price for the picturesque scenery.

True. If you're going up long or steep hills while carrying a heavy load, be sure to disable the overdrive on your vehicle (assuming your vehicle has an overdrive on/off switch), or else you could end up with a fried transmission.

All that said, I also agree with WonderK; some of us are no longer in a position to toss all our worldly goods into the back of a Jeep and hit the road. Since returning from Oregon, I've managed to accumulate some half-decent furniture (including a nice Eames lounge chair and ottoman), because I was sick of living in a home that resembled a college dorm room. For my upcoming move to NYC, I'll have to rent a truck. And somewhat ironically, I'll be selling the Jeep to help pay for this move.

Good luck with the move!

ah yes, disable the overdrive – excellent advice! Did that, but in my case, I don't think it would have made any difference one way or another. I found out after the car was in the shop that there was a recall on my transmission and they ultimately replaced it free of charge (thank god because they were talking about thousands of dollars to replace the damn thing):)

Thanks Katze :) I'm glad you got the gist of what I was saying.

WK i do apologize if I struck a nerve with the materialistic comment. I merely wanted to give everyone something to think about. I agree that the issues of sustainablity, recycling, etc. are very important and something we should all take very seriously. I surely wouldn't want you to add the growing garbage problem but as stated previously maybe you could donate it to goodwill, Salvation Army etc. I would say about 80% of my furniture is from the Salvation Army (including an Eames Lounge chair, 50's Danish daybed and cabinet system). On the flip side once you've reached your grad school destination I'm pretty sure you can pick up a desk, chairs, etc. for less than $100 at the local goodwill or SA. Not sure where you're heading off too but if I recall I think you're doing west coast? If so that market is flooded with great vintage furniture that I pretty sure you can by relatively cheap.

LIG great jeep story. 15 years ago my father and 2 brothers did a cross country trek in an old rusted 77 grand prix. We figured if it broke down we would jump on a Amtrak train and just come home. That car got us from Chicago to Prince George Canada down to San Fran and back to Chicago and then to Mexico city a few months later. My brother and I drove the hell out of the car for 2 years after that before the engine finally gave out. All that for $250.

LIG not sure when you plan to move to NYC but I'd be more than happy to help you move your stuff in, just give me a jingle. Also since you've already lived in NYC and are very familiar to Chicago. What's your take on Brooklyn, specifically theBrooklyn Heights area? Would you compare it to Lakeview or Lincoln Park or is it more of a WickerPark Logan vibe? Thanks in advance.

snooker

was there coke in the quarter panels of that Caddy from Miami?

alfrejas24: I may take you up on your offer to help unload. Stay tuned. As far Brooklyn Heights, I think it's one of the most beautiful neighborhoods in New York, and it's incredibly convenient as well. Probably comparible to Lincoln Park or the Gold Coast here in Chicago. As such, it also tends to be very expensive, but if you can find an affordable place there, more power to you. If you're looking for more of a Wicker Park vibe, then Williamsburg would be worth checking out.

Thanks LIG.

like i said - i will sell or get rid of somehow almost every possesion i own before moving again. Plus i could have a whole new look in the living room w/ all the new furniture i would make.
As far as having a bunch of stuffed animals and all the sort...i really dont have the space in my no-bedroom apt. - i think its like 350 SF - talk about fitting square pegs in round holes - or having a doctorate in Boxology
-oh BTW - KATZE - u lived on Bush - i live on Bush...small world

weird! where about? I lived in the 1100 block across from the hospital). Maybe we've run into each other :)

1300 BLOCK - THE BUILDING W/ THE RITE-AID ON THE CORNER...I PASS ST. FRANCIS HOSPITAL EVERYDAY ON MY BIKE RIDE INTO WORK...I ONLY MOVED HERE THIS PAST SEPTEMBER...WHEN DID YOU LEAVE SAN FRANCISCO?

i personally..have a lot of stuff...i should have a house by now but
i live in nyc. but i don't think i'm materialistic perse. i paint, work
as an architect, make furniture, have a lot of really nice art and
architecture books, and furniture.

part of me says that i could get rid of all that sure.. but why? i like
being able to thumb through an el croquis if i want to.. i like the
fact that i have a router when i need one... i have to have brushes
and paint and material for painting.

just don't quite understand why gettin rid of all your stuff is
commendable vs. owning and keeping well designed/made stuff
that i won't have to replace ever if i so choose...and i'll probably
have the eames furniture i own for that long.

is either view better for our environment?

damn! I use to get my car broken into on a regular basis from the parking lot across from the rite-aid! I left oh, about 5 years ago, although I come back to visit friends quite a bit. I loved SF just couldn't aford to buy a home :(

yeah i herd about the frequent break-ins in SF before i moved here - so i had to find an apt w/ a protected garage... everyday i see cars w/ cardboard windows parked all over the street. SF is kinda expensive, but i came from NY so its kinda comparable...well hit me up the next time ur in the Bay Area we'll have to get a drink...cheers!

I'm down with drinks! Sounds like a blast. Protected garage - now thats a smart move; its almost a "must have" in SF:) smart move!

Seriously.....wood headboard.....unfinished....great condition....anyone want it?

;o)

larslarson-the way i like to...think i should consolidate my belongings would be to sell the furniture and stuff that i built(w/ my name on it of course) - keep all my tools so that i could make newer and better furniture w/ my name on it...now im getting better at designing and building furniture. yay! - not sustainable u say????? - o contrare - shop at the local dumpster, salvation army, thrift store, for used furniture...hack it up into something that i can use and turn it into a masterpiece....

--heres a piece of trash thats in the works right now!

well as you might be able to see - there's a golden rectangle in there somewhere - anyway this thread is suppose to be about moving your shit from one side of the country to the other...sooooo dont move ur shit - sell it and then build new shit from other peoples trashy shit!!!

sorry for hijacking.

i've moved about ten times in the last ten years...but never cross
country. usually between cities i would just take several trips and
use a van..very inefficient, but made the transition a bit less final.

STONES,
you should have cropped the drug paraphernalia from the picture a little more.

i have moved from both coasts, the southwest, the mid west and the north west. none of the moves have been under 1000 miles. i have had moving companies, U-haul, sold everything, etc. all i can suggest is get rid of everything that you can. i am moving back to the east coast in a few weeks and the unloading of belongings have begun - i lost the girlfriend a while ago so this move is going to be the easiest. i am going to rent a uhaul trailer for $200 and try to get everything i still own into it - books, artwork, models, computer, tv, drafting table, my clothes and what ever furniture i can fit. if anyone wants to go it is going to be 2500 miles of pure bliss.

yeah! lol - thanks for pointing that out to everyone!