(Actually, Sunnyvale, but you get the idea.)
As described in a few previous threads, after spending my 32 years of existence so far in Wisconsin I got a job offer in California that was too good to pass up and decided to go for it.
Within a week of formally accepting the offer I had my house on the market. I bought it in 2016 and honestly one of the biggest motivators to take the job offer and move was the ability to cash out into this crazy housing market without having to buy back in. This turned out to be wise as my house spent a whole three days on the market and went for well over asking, when even asking was a lot more than I paid for it. Inspection and appraisal went okay so now just waiting for the close. Will be a bit of nail-biting involved until then as I am 2200 miles away but my realtor is in the family and handling everything for me so it should go OK.
Literally the day after leaving my prior job I was on a plane to the Bay Area with 5 full days to figure out a living situation. This was not a fun process. The two places I really wanted got rented before I could see them, and I spent a day looking at apartments that didn't really impress me. When I thought I'd have to settle for something I wasn't in love with, I got an evening text from the manager of one of the places I liked, saying they just got a move-out notice that would work with my timeline. The next day I wrote a check and signed a lease which was probably the most significant and stressful piece of the puzzle to have in place.
I spent two weeks aggressively packing, selling stuff on FB marketplace, and throwing stuff away. If I couldn't sell it but didn't want to throw it away it got given to friends who would appreciate it or donated to Goodwill. It pained me to part with all of my tools and garage stuff, but they found a good home with some acquaintances. Amazingly, I managed to get someone to *pay me* to haul away a king bed and frame which was a major win. Eventually I had all my crap down to an apartment's worth of stuff, and took the heirlooms and things I didn't want to give up but couldn't bring with to my folks' house for storage.
When it came time to rent a truck I decided to go with Penske. As a former U-Haul employee and customer I would never rent from them with the way they play games with reservations (they will send you 20 miles away from your requested pickup/drop off sites if it's convenient for them) and the poor maintenance of their trucks. Penske was more expensive but I figured the peace of mind was worth the extra cost. Well, the first Penske truck I picked up had severe alignment issues and shook like crazy on the freeway. I took it back and complained, stressing that I was driving 2,200 miles, and got a different truck that seemed fine, but had a lot more miles.
From here it's all kind of a blur. On Friday I had everything loaded in the truck. Saturday was my last day in Wisconsin and the home I worked so hard for, spent enjoying it while it lasted. Sunday at sunrise I was on the road west. My first day was from Milwaukee, WI to Cheyenne, WY. Second day was from Cheyenne to Reno, NV. Third day was from Reno to Sunnyvale, with enough time in the day to unload the truck solo (not fun but not too bad all things considered). The truck drove well enough, the CEL came on once and went away on its own, as did the TCS light, but I made it without any real incidents so I guess I can't complain.
After about 34 hours spent in a box truck I wanted to be driving just about anything else so I test drove a NC Miata found on Craigslist the night of my arrival (yeah it was a long day and the guy laughed when I showed up in a box truck). The next day I used the box truck to make one last run to IKEA and Best Buy and then dropped it off, and picked up the Miata. With that, I was fully moved into my California apartment with my own vehicle to get around in. The NC does IKEA runs pretty well, if you were wondering.
Considering that I interviewed for this job in early July and less than two months later I live 2,200 miles away, this has been a crazy couple of months and it doesn't even feel real yet, but I think it will all be worth it from both a career growth and life perspective sense. I started work on Monday and the team and job seem really cool, huge upgrade from where I was working back in Wisconsin. The Bay Area is like a whole new world and I have no shortage of things to eat, see, or do; my birthday is in a couple weeks and I might take the Miata out to Monterey for a day of driving if things work out. Obviously I get a little wistful at times thinking about the things I left behind back in Wisconsin but I'm sure that will pass, and it's not like I won't be going home to visit a couple times a year anyway.
Now I just have to figure out how I'm gonna get a roll bar and some suspension installed on the Miata without my own place to work...
