We’re heading out to sea from Bellingham today (Friday), bound for Juneau with little promise of wifi or cell service.
Track where we are using the Alaska Marine Highway Vessel Tracker!
Our vessel is The Columbia.
Category: Moving
Ep. 7B: Driving to Alaska – Colorado, Utah, Idaho, Oregon, Washington
This is a retroactive update. I’ve been in Juneau since June 4, 2019, and it’s now almost 2 months later.
The itinerary:
THIS is the big road trip. The one where we drive for some days and then get on the car ferry for some more days. Here’s the rough itinerary:
Fly Detroit to Denver- Drive Denver to Moab, UT
- Drive Moab, UT to Pocatello, ID
- Drive Pocatello, ID to Boise ID
- Drive Boise, ID to Vancouver, WA
- Drive Vancouver, WA to Seattle, WA
- Drive Seattle, WA to Bellingham, WA
- Ferry ride from Bellingham, WA to Juneau, AK – boat ride, 2.5 days
- Arrive in Juneau, AK, and start work!
Ep. 7A: Driving to Alaska – (prelude) Detroit, Denver
Leg 1 is nearly complete! We made it from Detroit to Denver to pick up my car, and run some final errands before hitting the road!
Wait, I thought you moved already?
It’s confusing, I know. Earlier this month I was in Juneau for 2 weeks doing house hunting and work, and then I came back to the lower 48 for a few weeks for a work trip in North Carolina, and to work remotely from Michigan.
THIS is the big road trip. The one where we drive for some days and then get on the car ferry for some more days. Here’s the rough itinerary:
Fly Detroit to Denver- Drive Denver to Moab, UT – hit Arches, Canyonlands, and the general area
- Drive Moab, UT to Pocatello, ID
- Drive Pocatello, ID to Boise ID – hit Craters of the Moon National Park
- Drive Boise, ID to Vancouver, WA – recoop, drive lots, check out Portland
- Drive Vancouver, WA to Seattle, WA – check out Mount St. Helens, meet up for dinner in Seattle
- Drive Seattle, WA to Bellingham, WA – pack the car, get groceries, get ready to board the ferry, board the ferry
- Ferry ride from Bellingham, WA to Juneau, AK – boat ride, 2.5 days
- Arrive in Juneau, AK, and start work!
Detroit to Denver
On Friday my dad and I flew from Detroit to Denver, and started final preparation in Denver before heading on the road. We got up bright and early, leaving the house at 5:30 AM to catch an early flight. We arrived in Denver at 8:30 AM local time, magically traveling back in time so that we were ready for second breakfast.
Denver errands
Of course I had a few remaining loose ends to tie up in Denver before leaving:
BREAKFAST – If you want a recommendation for dinner or lunch in Denver I might have a few, but breakfast…. that’s my specialty. We have hit a few favorite breakfast spots this weekend one last time before leaving.
PACKING THE BIKE – I had some issues getting my bike packed up for moving before the movers came, so my friends helped me out and took it to a bike shop while I was out of town where they disassembled it and packed it in a box. We picked it up and it fit EXACTLY in the remaining space in my car on top of the back seats, with the pre-packed boxes and our suitcases underneath. It was perfection.
We dropped the bike off at a UPS Store where they marveled at their own high cost to ship such a large package to Juneau. With that, my bike began its journey to Juneau!
PUPPIES – I had to say a final farewell to the puppies at the shelter. I’ve been volunteering at Maxfund for about 6 months and have fallen in love with several dogs. My dad and I went and spent a few hours wrangling some newer crazy puppies, and took a few older dogs out for walks.
The most important goodbye was to three puppies from the “chili pepper” litter. These little pups were abandoned in a box of chili peppers, and came into the shelter one night in horrible condition. Their bellies were full of worms, they had ticks, they had skin burns from the peppers, and they were understandably hungry, tired, and scared. I was there the night they arrived at the shelter, helping bathe them, remove ticks, and feed them. This weekend I got to visit them, over a month later, and they are grown, healthy puppies! Still a little shy, but absolutely adorable.
PACKING, PACKING, and more PACKING – I bought some totes at Costco, figured out that 4 would fit nicely in my trunk, and then used those to pack stuff for the past few months so that I’d know how much space I had in the car. When I left Denver 4 weeks ago I had them packed and stacked perfectly in my car, with room to spare, and even closed the cargo cover in the back.
When we arrived on Friday and reunited with my partially-packed car, we had a few more suitcases, and one more box stored at a friend’s house to fit in the car. I also had all kinds of clothes for work, hiking, travel, weather, special occasions, and random stuff that got thrown in at the last minute. We had to repack everything strategically based on what we’ll need for the next week. I’m sick of packing, but I also kind of like the puzzle. Plus, there is nothing as satisfying as a well-packed trip.
Fun in RiNo – We got our errands done early, and had time to explore Denver’s RiNo (River North) arts neighborhood.
Goodbye Denver!
Being a tour guide during two days of beautiful weather in Denver have really tugged at the heartstrings. Ok Denver, I get it, you’re very missable and cool. It turns out you became home at some point. I will miss your food and parks and bike trails, and endless amounts of things to do and eat.
Also you have a lot of sunshine. Almost an excessive amount – in fact it’s annoying. Who wants to hang out somewhere with pleasant sunny weather? Yuck.
Speaking of sunny places,
Next stop Moab, UT!
Ep. 6 BONUS: Moving instruments to Alaska
One major snag in my packing process was figuring out how to get musical instruments from Colorado to Alaska safely. Usually I just bring them along in the car, but usually I’m only driving for a few days and not making any long stops along the way. This time I need premium packing space in my car, plan to make many stops, and have to bring everything on the ferry.
Whats the big deal?
In addition to attracting attention and taking up a lot of space, string instruments are sensitive to temperature, humidity, and even a firm jostle since they are generally made of wood components that expand and contract, and may or may not be held together with only string tension, friction, and a prayer. This makes a long transcontinental journey fraught with opportunity for disaster. Park in the sun for an hour and you could get a crack.
Checking them on a plane
Since mine generally don’t fit as carry on luggage, they would have to travel as checked luggage. Issues with this method include: TSA will probably open your case and mess around with things doing their security checks, baggage handlers don’t exactly have a gentle touch, the cargo hold may have some extreme temperatures, and things shift around so it could fall or get hit by something bigger and get damaged. This was my original cello plan until I saw horror photos online of cello carnage (thanks internet), and had doubts that my case was truly flight-worthy.
Car travel
I really wanted to rule this one out because they take up about half of he cargo space in my car, and I’d have to unload and load them every night we stopped. Plus, stopping for an hour or two to hike would be pretty impossible. I also have no idea what the situation on the ferry is like temperature and space-wise. Ultimately this option would be the cheapest, but would put a damper on the road trip fun.
Shipping
This is the option I went with. One key factor is the fact that my agency is reimbursing me for the shipping costs. Otherwise I’d have serious pause about this option as well. To ship my cello cost over $1,000, and to ship my guitar coat about $400. There are obviously risks because someone else is handling it, and it goes all over the place en route to the final destination. Ultimately I went with this option because the shipper insures the item, and because my instruments would have the best protection and handling on the way up.
This worked out well, as both arrived in good shape! I simply had them shipped to the hotel I’m staying at this week, and they’re now hanging out at a coworker’s home until I have a more permanent living situation.
To prepare them, I got humidification packets to put in their cases to make sure they didn’t have dry-out problems, and packed them with extra towels and T-shirts to support fragile parts and prevent movement within the cases. I loosened all of the string to prevent a snap, but kept enough tension to keep everything holding together in tension. For the guitar I nabbed a great free guitar shipping box from the Guitar Center (they tend to have some lying around). For the cello I packed it in my Travelite case, and had to have a custom box built by UPS.
Home is where your cello is
More than just the relief of having them arrive safely, heaving them here makes it feel more like home. It’s still a month or more before I can actually spend time with them, but it’s nice to know some familiar friends have joined me in Juneau.
ROAD TRIP 