Packing PODS

November 13, 2023

In addition to all the packing, staging and prep work we spent the day at Craig and Janet’s on Wednesday the 1st. Had dinner with the Stones on Thursday and with the Fales on Saturday. On Tuesday, a mobile notary came to the house for us to sign all the paperwork for the Arizona closing. The first POD was delivered later that day, and we loaded a few items. We slept on our air mattress since we disassembled our Sleep Number bed earlier that day. Jeff, Bailey and Bridget flew to Orlando and were delayed so they didn’t get to our house until about 2 AM. They had a short sleep on the guest bed, Craig’s air mattress and the couch before rising for the big packing day. Craig and Janet joined us to help pack. Jeff and Bailey did all the heavy lifting and Jeff configured the load in the POD. With all hands helping it only took a few hours for the major packing and then we slowed to finish up. Craig and Janet headed home and the rest of us toured a bit then had Chinese food for dinner. Jeff, the kids and I went to the entertainment at the Lake Sumter Landing town center before we all headed to bed on three air mattresses and a couch. Off to First Watch for breakfast the next morning and a little more touring. The PODS were swapped out that morning so Jeff and Bailey loaded the remaining heavy stuff before they headed off to Miami Beach around noon. They toured the Miami area and flew back home on Saturday. Alesa and loaded some more of the POD that afternoon and Alesa did some house cleaning. I called Craig to say that there was so little left that they should not bother coming up to help tomorrow (Friday). We finished packing the second POD the next day. I had hoped to cancel the second POD but that wasn’t possible as we have too much stuff. We had a leisurely day with a bit of visiting then off to bed on two air mattresses. Alesa had enough sharing a queen size air mattress with me. Saturday morning we packed our air mattress in the POD, locked it and headed to Craig and Janet’s. They picked up the POD later that day and we spent the day with Craig and Janet. Janet hosted a very nice dinner that evening and included Zach, Cathy and the boys. We spent the night and the next morning before heading back to The Villages after some tearful goodbyes. We went to Paul and Carol’s to spend the night. We were also visited by Larry and Diane who had just returned from Erie for the Winter. On Monday we attended the closing for the 3009 Florida house and then wired the money to the title company for our 4729 Arizona house closing the next day. Since everything is in place for the AZ closing tomorrow, we will spend the night with Paul and Carol and hit the road early Tuesday morning.