Leaving Portland and driving east: the farewell tour
The last minute packing chaos and exhaustion, the night before we left.
I began writing this 9 days before leaving Portland. The house was really feeling empty. Most of the furniture was gone. Most of our bags were packed. It was just cleaning house and getting rid of the dregs. Just that. It still felt like a lot of work, but we did it. And we did it with some unexpected obstacles to boot!
Both dogs; first Stevie, then Chase, had bouts of stomach trouble. Which meant unexpected expenses and trips to the vet. Chase’s appointment the Monday afternoon before the Tuesday morning departure. We also had to pick up the cargo van we’d rented nearly two months prior that morning. You have no idea how challenging it is to find someplace that rents cargo or passenger vans for one way journeys out of state, but I had and was excited to get it early on Monday so we could sort out our packing strategy.
Penske to the rescue with our cross country whip.
When we arrived at Budget Monday morning to pick up the van, the guy proclaims “great news, we’re giving you a free upgrade to a box truck!” But… I don’t want a box truck. He didn’t care, and Budget had NO cargo vans to rent in the greater Portland area. Cool. We ducked into the parking lot to recalibrate, both Nick and I searching our phones for someplace that had a van available to pick up immediately. Thanks to a very nice woman at Penske, we were on our way to north Portland to pick up a cargo van an hour later. This whole process stole about 3 hours of our last day.
Oh did I mention we also still had to sell our car to Carmax? But between the delay in acquiring the van, and the unexpected late day vet appointment, that also ended up happening later than planned. Nick dropped me and the dogs at the vet and went to Carmax, but when he arrived he realized that he’d left the title to the car at home, along with his house keys, so that took way longer as well. The rest of the evening was spent panic cleaning. purging and last minute packing. There was also sporadic crying, although that had been happening with increasing frequency leading up to moving day (and continues as we say goodbyes to friends and family across the country).
Last shot of our little Portland house before we drove away.
We managed to get everything done, said one last good bye to our home, and hit the road Tuesday morning around 7:00 AM. It’s here I should mention that my studio assistant and her partner will be renting our house, so the studio is largely in tact. This means Anna can help do some small production of my designs, AND I can come back once a year to make a collection of work here in the US.
The first couple days of the trip were a bit bumpy. The dogs hate the van life, and my new hip doesn’t love the long distance driving, so we’ve had to stop more frequently for everyone to have rest breaks. At times, Chase has straight up refused to get back into the van; hiding in corners or under tables, or walking in the opposite direction, but all in all it’s been a smooth journey.
Our Route and noteworthy events along the way:
Leave Portland 8/20 and drive to Ogden, Utah (just outside of SLC). Let’s just say it was far from a super experience.
8/21 drove to Denver to spend the night with one of my oldest friends, and have dinner with a new friend and fellow ceramic artist Liz Cohen. The dogs were really happy to be able to spread out a bit at Pavel’s house.
8/22 drive to Columbia, MO. We stopped in Kansas City for BBQ, and even found a place with a dog friendly patio. We fed the dogs dinner before we went in, and upon sitting down, Chase chugged a bowl of water and immediately booted his dinner on the patio. About 2 hours later we arrived to our Aibnb, but damn if the place wasn’t really hard to find! It was a long day, and everyone was a little grumpy after walking around in the dark looking for the unnumbered house.
Amanda and I in Indiana.
8/23 Drive to Peru, Indiana with a small detour to Jeffersonville, Indiana to meet my pal @amandaandtheplants for a quick pizza dinner in the park. Amanda is an absolute saint, as she kindly boiled chicken and white rice for Chase (he’s on a bland diet for his bad belly). What a wonderful moment to be able to meet someone who I have talked with almost daily for almost three years. We arrived late to our hotel, and went to sleep immediately.
Me and my Uncle Ziggy.
8/24 Drive to Grand Rapids, MI to spend the day with my Uncle Ziggy (fun fact: my mom is one of ten and I have family all over the US). We arrived around noon, and just hung out in his yard. Chase (13.5 years old) fell in love with Ziggy’s dachshunds, and spent most of the day trying to get them to play with him. The aussies were so happy for the short driving day and extended down time.
Quick visit with Nancy in Michigan.
8/25 we met a long time Instagram friend (not art or plant related) for breakfast before driving to Cleveland to see Nick’s family. I realized that another Instagram friend, Nancy was literally on our way, so we made q short detour to meet her as well and see her beautiful home and small farm. We got to Cleveland around 6:30 pm and it’s been mostly resting at the house here so far.
8/26 - 8/27 Family time in Cleveland (we are here as I type this)
8/28 We drive to Connecticut to see my family.
8/29-8/30 we stay in my hometown of Trumbull, CT
8/31 We are off to Boston to fly to Lisbon!
9/1 5:50 AM Arrive in Lisbon
The biggest two obstacles for the whole trip so far, came early on. As we were driving through Wyoming, on day 3, the driver who is picking us up in Lisbon called to warn me about the baggage handlers strike happening in Portugal on August 31 and September 1. In previous strikes, he’d noted that it took as long as six hours for people to get their bags and clear the airport, and that our flights might be canceled all together. This wouldn’t be a huge deal, except for the dog’s time sensitive pet passports.You have to see a USDA certified vet within 30 days of travel, and then the USDA needs to certify the paperwork within 10 days of travel, and ship the documents to us, so we can then email the vet in Lisbon within 48 hours of travel. We looked into changing our flights to leave ahead of the strike, but we didn’t want to make the costly changes to the flights (close to $2,000), without knowing if we would have the documents in time. The airline will cover changes if they cancel the flight, but they won’t do that until the last minute. A cancellation causes a new problem: if they rebook us after the passports expire, will we be able to enter with the dogs? After emails and several calls, with no concrete answer, my Portuguese friend, Mariana called for us and confirmed that they will allow late entry as long as we have proof of the original tickets being within the required time frame. A small relief.
Ultimately we decided to leave the tickets as is. We were assured that getting animals off the planes is a priority during a strike, which was our biggest concern. As of yesterday the USDA had still not signed off on the passports and mailed them to my mom’s in CT. It’s Tuesday. We need to have them in hand by tomorrow night to email them to the vet on time. They need to overnight them today. Will it happen? Will our flight be canceled due to the strike? Will we need to just foot the extra bill and postpone our travel another day or two because of the pet passports?
Stay tuned…