Shit, so much has happened in the last few days, I'm probably at least 5 or 6 good posts from getting us caught up. But there's no time for that right now, one of these days (never?) I'll circle back and talk about the million things I want to... but for now, I'm sitting in a Denny's waiting for my omelet dinner and trying to bang out an update for you beautiful people. 🙂

We've got a lot of ground to cover, so let's hit it.

Friday - The Exit

As planned, I woke up early (6am) Friday and brought home a 10' U-Haul truck. With the elevator fixed, the move would be fine as long as my back held up. Honestly, my back wasn't perfect or anything, but holy shit, was it a fucking champ. I really cannot complain, considering how much it hurt just a few days prior. I strapped that back-support brace super tight and with only minor exception, my back went into beast mode right when I needed to. If I could fist-bump my back, I would.

Anyway... enough... about the back.

I got shit packed pretty well. My first load went into the truck (heeheehee) at 9:57 am. My final load went in at 1:49 pm. So, about 4 hours to get it all packed in. The day started off cool, but it would end up warming to 90° by the end of the day.

Tetris level: 80.

By 2pm it was warm (and the A/C unit in my apartment was already packed as well, so, double warm), I was happy to be done with the pack, but it had taken longer my than my 3 hour estimate, and it was already 2pm... I began to worry about not having enough time to pack the storage pod. I headed over to the U-Haul place with my storage pod.

Luckily, they were open until 7pm, so I'd have time. But fuck, it was hot. I didn't want to, but I had to get going.

After parking the truck right in front of the storage pod, I opened up the pod an realized just how small it was. Haha, oh shit. I mean, I was pretty impressed with myself that I got everything fit into the 10' truck. I did end up leaving a couple of pieces of furniture I probably would've kept otherwise, but aside from that, the truck was packed and had room to spare. This is important, since the 10' truck has more space than the pod.

So I was prepared for a smaller space... but shit... this was tight.

I got to work.

2:41 pm I started. By 4:24 pm, I was done. Less than 2 hours. In 90 fucking degrees. Like. A. Beast.

Honestly, by the end, I was taking 3-5 minute breaks between each haul, just to prevent overheating. And still I was pouring water on my head and back throughout.

And you know what? Everything fit. Rawr!

Tetris level: 150.

Now, since I rented the truck from a nearer uhaul place, but rented the storage pod from a different uhaul location (which was, as you guessed, further) I still had to drop of the truck.

So, one last trip and I was done. 4:52 pm my day ended.

I was tired. I was proud of my back, but was sure the next day it would make me pay. So I planned on taking Saturday off, as a rest day. There was a fair in town and I figured I'd go watch the Blue Angels fly around. But that was tomorrow. When I got home, I didn't want to just sit around... not only because my apartment was empty 🥲 , but also because I wanted to walk around and keep my back loose.

Almost Sentimental

You know, in these past weeks, as I've had time to kill 'cause of that fucking elevator, I've been asking myself what sort of experiences I want to have in Seattle before I go. What am I going to miss? Well, to be honest, I had a hard time coming up with a real list.

I hit up my favorite pizza place, my favorite boba place and my favorite park (which is awesome because it's an unofficial off-leash dog park). But I couldn't come up with much else.

Well with time to spend in one of my final nights in Seattle, I went for stroll that included all three of the above. Maybe I knew this was the last time, or maybe the heat of the move had really soaked through my skull, but if there were brief moments of where I recognized that there would be things in Seattle that I'd miss. And that this was the end of more than just Seattle.

Seattle has it's charms and it's bright spots, for sure. Yet I'm finding, of all the places I've lived, Seattle is the easiest place to leave.

But Friday night, I found myself focused on the those bright spots. It was an adventure that didn't work out. But Seattle will forever hold a special marker in the timeline and story of my life, and as I steps the last of my Seattle steps there was no reason to consider the great many things I didn't enjoy about my time here.

I never fell in love with Seattle. But for that brief moment, walking along, I appreciated the city that gave me the room to crash when I needed to crash. It is a city with its charms for sure, and while it's not likely that I'll call it home again, it's not entirely out of the question.

Cheers Seattle.

Saturday - The Fair that never was

So, I had assumed that my back would be complete trash on Saturday. And, as it happened to coincide with Seattle's annual SeaFair fair, I thought I would take the day off and go watch the Blue Angels.

I woke up early to a back that was ever so slightly stiff.

That's it. "ever so slightly stiff". I mean, I don't get it either. But when we finally kick of the Religion of Kane, I think there's going to have to be a holiday dedicated just to this event. "A back which was only strong enough to move a quarter of an apartment, moved an entire apartment... TWICE! And on the 2nd day, it was only 'ever so slightly stiff'". The Great Backstory they'll call it. 😋

Anyway... so I woke up feeling OK. It was super early still, and the Blue Angels weren't set to flight until 4pm, so I figured I'd take advantage and do some cleaning. So I cleaned. And I cleaned. And then it was noon. Shit. I grabbed a quick shower and headed out. By the time I got to the rail station it was 1 o'clock and the rail ride take almost an hour. Well... fuck, now do I really want to travel 2 hours (there and back) and pay $60 for 2 hours at the fair?

Nah.

As I had already walked up Capitol Hill to the train station that I wouldn't be taking, I figured I'd hang out for a bit... and so I did one last time.

But after a bit I went home, and kept cleaning. And as the day wore on, I realized that if I gave it one last hard push I could probably be done altogether.

So I gave it one last, hard push.

I got as close to done as I was going to get. Ultimately with the broken elevator and the subsequent week of no garbage pickup due to people in the building celebrating the elevator working for the first time in 30 days by piling in a month's trash to the point where they would have to bring in another company to handle the "blockage" since city trash wouldn't. 😂

...anyway, I digress...

I got as close I was going to get, because I woke up Sunday morning and decided, "It's time to go."

Sunday - The Final Seattle Morning

I woke up. I had my last shower I'd ever (ever?) take in Seattle. I packed up my sleeping gear, my pajamas, and my laptop. I filled up the car. I emptied out one last bag of trash. I took "exit pictures", locked the door, and that was that.

Seattle was over.

I got in my now-loaded car, and headed south... to Portland.

Three hours later I arrived in Portland and met and old friend for lunch. It was over a little too quickly. We shook hands, said goodbye, and that was that.

I got in my car, and the road trip began.

The Longest "Quick Update" Ever.

As far as updates go... that's about it for "The Exit". An updated for "The Roadtrip" is yet to come...

And you know what? I'm no longer sitting in that Denny's waiting for that omelet (which was delicious). That was last Monday, on the 5th... when I first began the road trip and this post. It's now Sunday, August 11th.

The Road Trip is over, and that story is hopefully coming.

I arrived in Dearborn several days ago and things are not going well. Not at all. But that story is also going to need it's own post... hopefully with a happy ending, we'll see.

Anyway... oof... I'm out of Seattle... The exit was rough and so far it's continued to be rough.

Fingers fucking crossed.