Adventures in Moving: All the other "stuff"

Mason's drive to Seattle

I hope this post isn't too much of a repeat of my post on our Household Goods, but I wanted to make sure to document dates and such for fellow military families, but also as a reminder for when we move again about how long things took.

HHGs:  The majority of our belongings got packed up March 3rd, and were loaded onto the truck to head to Guam on March 4th.  We were fortunate that they were able to pack and load in two days instead of the estimated 3 days, because that meant we didn't have to sit with stacks of boxes in our house over the weekend, which was much better for all of us, and less trouble temptations for the kids.  Our HHG shipment arrived on the island on May 3rd, but they are still being inspected by customs, so we don't have them yet.  HOPEFULLY this week we will get that lovely shipment, and begin to put everything in it's place.  We sort of have an idea of where we want things, but I suspect another purge is going to happen.  (It really is hot here, and I don't think I need all the long pants I snuck in for myself and the boys).
*Our stuff arrived May 17th

"Talking to Aunt Jill"

Storage:  We put some of our stuff in storage which is paid for by the Air Force.  It stays locally in Minot and when we come back to the states they will ship those things to us.  Most of our winter gear, our patio set, one of our couches, some awards, etc...stayed in that shipment of stuff.  That was picked up on March 21st and went straight to the facility.  We had done really well organizing our things, so all of these items (expect for the large couch and another table) were in the garage, so they were out of the way for our HHG shipment, and then easily set apart when they came to pack up. 

Cars:  The next adventure was shipping our cars.  The military will pay for one car to be shipped overseas.  We spent time evaluating whether we should ship one car and buy a "Guam Bomb", or nicer used car once we got here, but the idea of either of those stressed me out a bit.  I didn't want to have an unreliable car here, and we learned most Guam Bombs are not that cheap...and I didn't want to be hassled with trying to sell a car right before moving and have to work out, what if it didn't sell?  What if it sold early?  Anyways, we decided since both of our cars have been paid off for awhile that we'd pay the cost to ship our second car.  We're very glad we decided to do that.  So, we priced out having one of the shipping companies come and pick our car up from Minot, but in the end, it was cheaper for Mason to drive the Highlander from Minot to Seattle (airfare, hotels, food, and shipping).  So, Mason left on March 12th to Seattle.  He got there the evening of the 14th and spent time getting an oil change and cleaning the car.  He dropped it off at the Matson shipping center on the morning of the 15th and flew home that day. 

Cleaning the walls

The Highlander arrived on Guam on April 6th.  It's pretty nice that they have a tracking system so we can see where the car is located.  Mason's Minot squadron is deployed to Guam right now, so before those guys left Minot, Mason had a notary approve a letter saying that two of our friends could pick up our car for us, and it's a good thing we had done that.  We assumed we had the same amount of time to pick up our car as we would from the military shipping place which is about 21 days.  Of course the offices here are only open M-F 8-5pm and that's tough for working Air Force guys to get to.  But, we got a call one night saying that we'd be charged $150/day after 1 week if we didn't get the car.  Our friends were AWESOME and were able to pick up our car, but that required them to get a temporary registration, inspection, and lots of other hoops, so we REALLY appreciated them.  It was a HUGE relief to arrive at the airport in Guam and have our car waiting for us.  (Our friends used it for the few weeks were weren't here and then dropped it off for us).

Slumber party while Dad paints the kid bedrooms

Our Camry was dropped off after we left Minot.  We brought it to the Vehicle Processing Center in St. Louis on April 4th.  They then transported the car to California and put it on the boat.  The tracker has been inaccurate and we've had a harder time with the shipment of this car, because stateside it was dropped in Guam on April 21st, and the Guam center says it isn't due to arrive on the island until May 14th and then it takes about a week to process...so, we're fairly sure it's still on the ocean, but we'll be really grateful when we have two cars again! 

Unaccompanied Baggage:  The UAB shipment is a shipment of up to 1000 lbs that is shipped by air to Guam.  There are rules about the size of items that can go in this shipment, and was basically what we kept in our house the last month we lived in Minot and what we needed once we first arrived in Guam, but weren't carrying on the plane.  This shipment was picked up in Minot on March 28th and was delivered to Guam on April 26th (the day after we got our house).  I am glad I packed what we did in this shipment.   Although I should have brought a few more beach towels.  This shipment had two camping chairs, tv, roomba, computer, toys and books, microwave, a few pots and pans, some knives and silverware, some of Mason's uniforms, and bedding.  I'm glad I brought a decent amount of toys for the boys, because otherwise they'd be going bonkers. 

Laundrymat

Overall the timeline for everything has been pretty accurate to what they told us, but it will be nice when we have it all and our house can feel really like home.  A couch and our bed will be heavenly!