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My husband and I are in a weird situation. Before the COVID crisis we were in a state of nomadism... on purpose. Last fall we sold our house of 20 years in a small Oregon town. We put our things in storage and hit the road, traveling across country, seeing things we've always wanted to see, then we arrived in CT where he had a short term job (which provided housing for the duration of the job). Once that job ended we spent a month in a PA town that is a place we are very interested in settling down. We AirBNB'd there and did in fact really love the town. Then COVID spread and the shut-downs hit. Our time in the AirBNB expired, we had to leave but didn't have a clear idea of what to do since we don't really live anywhere yet. Since our things were in storage in Oregon we knew we'd have to go back to get it and move it all east once we had a place, so we decided to just flip the order of things a bit and head back to Oregon with the intention of letting things settle a little, packing our stuff into a U-Haul and taking it back to PA and putting it in storage there, getting another short term rental and resume our house hunt. My brother and sister-in-law invited us to stay with them while we're in Oregon, and they have been great... but we can't just stay here for months. For one thing their college aged kids will be coming back here in a month or so and there isn't room for all of us.
Since we recently drove across the country (even amid the COVID problems) I feel confident we know how to travel safely with virtually no social contact. (We found bringing our own groceries with us for eating on the road was simple, for example, and in hotels we'd disinfect all the surfaces, switches, handles, knobs, remote control, etc. first thing and then didn't go out until we left the next morning. (No breakfast buffets, pools, common spaces, or anything like that.) So I am not much worried about doing the trip again, this time with a U-Haul truck.
My question is, does anyone know of people who've done this recently? We found hotels open, although largely empty, when we traveled across country 2 weeks ago. I'm not sure if that's changed, but I've heard hotels have been allowed to stay open as long as common areas are closed. I don't know about the restrictions on all but "essential travel". To some extent it's essential because we're essentially homeless... but I guess there's some depressing alternative that we could find a short term rental here in Oregon when we have to leave my brother's house and just kill time and burn through money until... when??? And when will we know when? Six months? A year? Until the contagion peaks? Until there's a vaccine? And what about the laws/orders regarding staying home? If you don't have a home, is home a region rather than a dwelling?
It's all so confusing. Would love to hear anyone else's experience with long distance moving under these circumstances.
I don't really have answers to you, just more questions.
I started another topic in the moving forum about this.
Currently federal and state/county governments define essential, as your travel being essential for other people's basic survival (food, medical, infrastructure), basically forced cheritability. You are allowed to save others, but not yourself. And a lot of people cheer this up on the forums, because they are not in any situation right now but settled comfortably, so they are insensitive to anyone else being in any situation. The problem is authorities are insensitive to individual circumstances, just like in places like North Korea. Another problem is they change their orders daily, and vary county by county and state by state.
I postponed my cross country move (CA to FL) until May, but it might become June or later. I cannot cancel my career move, basically the rest of my career would be ruined permanently if I don't move there in time. That means, 30 years from now, looking back, thinking on the career I could have had if they allowed me to go on that one trip in the spring of 2020.
The moving companies are allowed to operate, but when you move, not only your furniture must go from A to B, but your own body must move too, and that's not really allowed.
Since our things were in storage in Oregon we knew we'd have to go back to get it
and move it all east once we had a place, so we decided to just flip the order of things a bit and head back to Oregon ...
I challenge your basic assumption.
Relying on family/friends of even hiring help for everything...
Have a pod (or two) loaded up with the best/biggest things stored in Oregon and then sent east.
Stuff the smaller & lesser value things in there as well.
My sister-in-law faces a similar problem. She has sold her house in TX, closing April 24, and is moving to a rental in MA available May 1. An RV has been rented to be driven down to TX by family members who will help her load a U-Haul, and then convoy back to MA. I should mention there are three cats making the move, too.
What will this adventure be like?!?
In Jacksonville FL (Duval County) the mayor ordered last week that all hotels, motels, B&Bs, AirBNBs, etc. are prohibited from accepting new guests or new reservations. Existing guests can stay, but cannot extend their stays. Essentially that means Jacksonville is now closed to visitors or those passing through.
There are also checkpoints on I-95 in southern Georgia and northeast Florida, and on I-10 in the panhandle stopping all vehicles (except I think 18-wheelers delivery goods). If a traveler is from New York or Louisiana there is paperwork to fill out indicating the address where they will be self-quarantining. How that will be policed, I have no idea.
Is any of this happening outside of this small part of our country?
I have been watching vlogs on youtube uploaded by full-time RVers, and each is having a different experience.
And it's a day by day bewilderment as to what's happening. I had given notice on my apartment, in February, for an end of April move. I then had to ask for a month to month extension when the stay home edict was extended to the end of April.
Life is up in the air for all of us right now.
In the end, I may end up renting a storage unit and storing everything until I can find a way to sell or give away my furniture.
In Jacksonville FL (Duval County) the mayor ordered last week that all hotels, motels, B&Bs, AirBNBs, etc. are prohibited from accepting new guests or new reservations. Existing guests can stay, but cannot extend their stays. Essentially that means Jacksonville is now closed to visitors or those passing through.
There are also checkpoints on I-95 in southern Georgia and northeast Florida, and on I-10 in the panhandle stopping all vehicles (except I think 18-wheelers delivery goods). If a traveler is from New York or Louisiana there is paperwork to fill out indicating the address where they will be self-quarantining. How that will be policed, I have no idea.
Is any of this happening outside of this small part of our country?
This is interesting. There are stay at home orders in Oregon and California, but no enforcement like this that I have heard of. The only enforcement isn't police or sheriffs stopping people, but they will show up at parks and playgrounds and send groups of people congregating there home. The playgrounds are actually "closed" so that's an easy call. As for people driving around the town, the county or driving on the freeway across the state, there are no stops in those cases.
I think that would be the case in all the states we'd be crossing (Nevada, Utah, Wyoming, Nebraska, Iowa... not sure about Illinois, I think the requirements might be stricter there) on our way back to PA.
It might be better to tackle this sooner rather than later since these western and midwestern states are little less restrictive right now.
It is such a stressful time to be moving. I'm in NE and you would be fine here and IA. Worst case, is there a way to travel through the still open states?
We are under contract and scheduled to close early May. So far, we go through states which are not locked down yet. I worry what things will look like in a month.
I know of someone who just last week drove a Texas RV from Orlando FL to E. Alton IL (on the IL/MO line just a bit north of St. Louis). Did not hear there were any issues with boondocking (self-contained, so no need for take-out nor rest stops).
I wonder hotels near main interstate highways are still open?
How about gas stations for filling gas?
I need to start working in a few weeks at an essential business, at the other side of the country, I just need to travel there first. They have a letter prepared about it. Will this be honored by all local law enforcement and private hotel-operators on the way?
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