It's been seven months since Jared posted that we were likely moving to Georgia in the near future. And guess what? We did it!
We had been packing and preparing since January 2025, slowly but steadily packing our life away in heavy duty totes and transitioning them to storage. This meant that for nearly eight months pre-move, we were living with just the "essentials" - a limited set of kitchen gear, a suitcase full of clothes each, etc. Not the most convenient, but we knew it would be helpful once we found our next place - and it didn't hurt in keeping the current house show-worthy as we worked on selling!
Then, in June, we visited Atlanta (Georgia) and did a little house hunting. On the last day, I had a handful of back-to-back meetings and was unable to attend the only available time to see a home that had caught our eye but was a couple of hours away. Jared went without me and when he came back to the hotel that afternoon he looked me in the eyes and said "We're going to want to put an offer in on this house." So we did. Sight unseen by me, we went under offer as soon as we returned to Washington and flew back a a little over a week later for the inspection.
It was my first time seeing the house and the property and Jared was 100% right. This was the place for us! Was the house in great shape? Um, no. With minimal updates since it was built in 1968 though (hellooooo avocado and harvest gold bath tubs/toilets!), it was understandable. The bones of the house though? Chef's kiss! And the 48 acres with a creek through it didn't hurt first impressions either. 😉
The last week of July, we moved everything from storage to Pod units, loaded up our car/small U-Haul, and hit the road.
It was so hard to say goodbye to our home in Marysville and the projects we had completed over the last (nearly) decade. Especially rehoming the koi, as we were unsure when the house would be purchased and could not ensure their proper care after our move. I can shamelessly say that I cried - hard - the day a couple of guys came to relocate them from our pond to theirs. They were beautiful fish and, while "just fish", we genuinely cared about their well being and I hope they're currently living their best fish life!
Despite having an electric vehicle that requires waiting for charge stops, the first leg of the trip to Craig was pretty uneventful. We drove straight through, taking turns sleeping as needed, and arrived in Craig ~24 hours after we left Marysville. And those stops for charging? Well, we started thinking of them as more of a feature than a bug. I mean, you need to stop to use the bathroom every few hours anyway - why not stay a few extra minutes, streeeeeeetch, and grab a breath of fresh air?
(Side Note: Billie hated being in the car; he was restless and crying often. Taylor was pretty much no-fuss. He had some mild distress, but would happily bury himself in a blanket and sleep off as much of the trip as he could. Six months later though and Billie now happily jumps in his carrier for car rides - go figure!)
It was great to see my mom and George in Craig. They put us up for the night and set us up the next day with a BIG breakfast - mom knows I'm still a growing girl (just more out instead of up these days)! Then it was off to Buford to see Larry and Marina, where we appreciated all of the hard work they've been putting into their property over the last year or so. After a relaxing evening there, we hit the road again and made it to Denver, where we had a dinner out with Heather (sister) and Kelsey (niece); it was so good to see everyone!
The next day, we hit the road again...and 70 miles outside of Denver something started to feel wrong with the car. It was stuttering and couldn't get up to speed. We called Rivian support who confirmed that we should not continue driving the car and would need a tow back to Denver. 😭
This became quite the situation and I won't go into the details here (too long, too boring) but it resulted in three extra days in Denver. At least this meant we had a chance to meetup with Cory (brother) for dinner before we headed out of state! Unfortunately, it also meant finishing the move not in our car, but rather in a large U-Haul with no cruise control, limited temperature controls, and very cramped space for us + the cats. Boooo!
In the end though, we made it. (And Rivian ultimately made it right with their warranty repair, reimbursements for hotel/food, and shipping the car to us in Georgia once repaired.)
This is a whole new chapter for us, filled with unique and exciting - and exhausting - projects. We're excited to share them with you here, if you'd like to join us for the adventure!