The end of the beginning part 1: Letting go
After our “Perfect San Francisco Day” it dawned on us that in a few short weeks we’d have to move all our worldly possessions to Chicago; marking the end of our West Coast Fun and starting our transition to Adventures in Asia. But first we had to cross one more item off our San Francisco bucket list: floating down the Russian River. So we wrangled a few of our closest friends and many of our favorite drinks for a day of fun and relaxation. We dubbed it “H&A’s Floating Away.”
After 4 hours of floating down the Russian River we made it to our destination, Sunset Beach. On dry land Helen took her first steps and to her surprise the ground was shaky: if she was in a clearer state of mind, she would have thought “oh shit, maybe I should have eaten more than 1/2 a Starbucks egg white breakfast wrap before four hours of float-fueled drinking.” Instead Helen’s emotions reached a fever pitch as the reality of this being our last hoorah in California set in. As we said goodbye to some of our favorite people in one of our favorite places, the tears flowed like the Russian River, but we pulled it together for one last picture.
Once back in SF the days ticked rapidly by and the panic levels slowly creeped up. Our plan to move across the country with only a Subaru Crosstrek was soon to be tested and we still had an apartment full of too many things. We each soothed our anxieties with our own variations on productive procrastination. Adam created ever more elaborate spreadsheets. There was one that compared costs of different shipping rates, one to track each of the 28 items we’d attempt to sell; and who could forget the one that meticulously cataloged each item with search functionality as we stowed it into a numbered shipping box.
Helen, on the other hand, opted for escapism. She dreamt up new Southeast Asia destinations, often spending a whole morning reading travel blogs and Reddit threads, agonizing over where to stay in one country or what to do in another. As the sun set on each highly productive day we logged into the PS5 to accomplish ever more pressing tasks for the good citizens of Baldur‘s Gate.
At one week, we said our hardest “see you later” yet. We packed Kovu in his cat carrier and shipped him off to boarding school at Aunt Susan and Uncle James’ Palo Alto oasis with his pal, cousin Maki, where he’ll be spending the next 6 months.
With Kovu safely away from the moving noise, it was time to sell sell sell!!! By the end of the week we had sold 3 of our 4 motorcycles and 22 of our 28 sellable items on Facebook Marketplace. It was now Friday and Adam was desperate to sell the last motorcycle. The dealership is closed on Sunday; which meant that he’d have to sell his bike to a dealership tomorrow at whatever price they’d offer.
On Saturday morning Adam woke to a 7:30am email from a prospective buyer. Hardly able to believe his good fortune he responded immediately. The prospective buyers, probably sensing a good deal, said they could come in a couple hours. Pink slips were signed and cash was transferred by 10:30. We had done the impossible! We sold the last motorcycle in the final dark hour. We breathed a sigh of relief and moved on to the considerably more formidable phase 2 of the plan: packing the Subaru.
