bindermoore episode 1 : the moving menace

so here's our prequel post! (i know, i know, by now, who really cares? but when we say we're gonna post a prequel post, we're gonna post a prequel post! just to keep you interestedish, if you read on to the end of the post, there's a picture of frankie and james in their new home.) (actually, even if you don't read to the end, the picture is there! funny how that works...)

frankie and james' last day of work was tuesday before our departure (on sunday). our offices were very nice to both of us. frankie and james both cried at some point during their final day. yeah, they're softies. what can they say? but they both had some pretty nice work environments. thanks, folks.

so on wednesday, frankie and james began the final packing push, aided by our 6 x 7 x 8 U-Pack Relocube and by james' brother Richard who showed up of his own (welcome) accord at 10 am with delicious sesame almonds, bread, and, naturally, two six packs of beer. oh, and the aforementioned fuzzy dice and highly functional compass. he was just the push we needed to get running.

here he is with the table he has been working for...a long time. Richard? anyhoo, he finished it just before frankie and i left and gave it to us! it will be gracing the room in which i'm typing right now and will be used as a writing table. in the patterns of one of the swaths are the handprints of both Richard and his son, Graydon. a nice little touch of home to have in our new home.

so we began packing while Tessa looked on from one of the makeshift pieces of furniture frankie put together each time we moved a new piece of furniture into our Relocube. the cats really took to these little nooks, and i think frankie could have a sidebusiness making box furniture for animals whose people are preparing for a big move.

the next picture is frankie and i going through our cd's, separating those that we want to have in the car (and therefore in the house in the three days between when we arrived and when the Relocube arrives!) and those we are going to pack in the cube. it was quite the intensive process. luckily frankie and james pretty much share the same brain, so there were very few shouting matches over what to take. though sadly Tiffany's debut album did not make the "in the car" cut. boo...

below, you'll see the stages of the packing of our Relocube. picture one is the first step of day one, then day two, and then day five, after a last minute repacking of the second half of the cube (we had one of those "oh WAIT! here's what we could do!" moments, probably brought on by our cold-based delirium), and right before locking the doors for good. while we didn't pack non-stop for five days, that third picture is basically the result of five days of packing.









and on the other end, when we unpacked the U-Pack Relocube in Vermont, how long did it take to undo the five day packing extravaganza? 90 minutes. one and a half hours. ridiculous.

here are frankie and james after the contents of the Relocube have been moved into the house....
and then the madness really begins...
in another post...
at another time...

oh, and of course, no episode one is complete without this:

you're welcome.

we made it...

hey all:

we made it to the VT after two pretty long drives, the last day being long due to the bridge to Burlington from NY was closed, a fact which was publicized on the national news, and that was attempted to get to us via cell phone, which we had neglected to turn on. go us! but we are here, the cats and fishes and plants are all settled and happy, and we don't have any kind of internet at home currently, but will soon. for now, the Fletcher Free Library in downtown Burlington is helping us out! more to come soon (with pics!), but we wanted to let you know that we're here, we're alive, we're looking for jobs and rocking it ole school.

take care, all.

jam.es and frankie.

where the hell are we?

Erie, PA.

yep, on the Great Lake. or near it. if we were in it, we'd be a whole lot wetter. as the picture above shows, james has had a lot of fillings. oh, also, you might notice that it's snowing. yeah, in October. sheesh! anyhoo, the point is, here are some points:
1. driving for over 8 hours a day is long.
2. driving eastward means that every now and then you get the added surprise of suddenly losing an hour because (whoops!) you crossed a time zone.
3. well, you know, we're tired.
anyhoo, this is just to say that we are thinking about all of you and wishing that we had more time to adequately blog our trip, but we haven't! so we're sorry, but the cool thing is that we are going to be at our new home as of TOMORROW NIGHT! and we'll probably have some time kicking around at some point in the near future, and we have some pictures of some beautiful states, and some stories of our wonderful cats, and our wonderful fishies, and we would love to share them...and they'll come (along with the stories i hinted at in the most recent post!)... just not as soon as we might have liked. thanks for reading and following along...
there will be more to come; we just might already be home first!
thanks, friends.
jame.s and frankie.

day three : a short one (post, not drive)

so we made it to Lexington, NE. and this morning, we'll head to Moline, IL. the picture above is some of the quite beautiful Nebraska scenery. we'll post some more perhaps later tonight about fog, stupid billboards, cat sibling rivalries and altered routifications.

we didn't post last night because we were exhausted after driving through this for a good part of yesterday:

our first view of nebraska.

day two : three states, one day

you've probably lost sleep wondering, haven't you? you've waited for this very post, haven't you? you haven't a clue of what we type, haven't you? 31 mpg. go Lucille III! okay, she's not a Prius, but that's damn fine mileage for a car as packed to the gills as she is!

as faithful readers (that's right, we'll let you be faithful readers after one day!) may have deduced, we started day two where day one ended: Caldwell, Idaho. though we set it for 8 a.m., our hotel's witty alarm clock took it upon itself to wake us up at 5.30 a.m. so after some new alarm wrangling, we woke at a godly hour, fed the cats and the people, and hit the road.

we drove down to Ogden, Utah, before angling to our destination for the night: Rock Springs, Wyoming. so, if we may (since The World from PRI can do it, so can we), it's time for a Geo-Quiz. when one heads from Caldwell, Idaho to Ogden, Utah, in which direction is one going? for the answer, we consulted the compass that my brother Richard bought for us (along with the title page's classy fuzzy dice (thanks, Richard!))...


that's right folks! NE! in fact, that's the direction from Oregon to Idaho! it's even the direction any way you turn in the gas station parking lot. now, to be fair, we sort of think it's an overall sort of compass. overall, we are in fact headed NE. it's just that really only the last leg of our travel thus far has been in that direction.

also, never, and i mean never, has Pizza Hut pizza tasted so good as it did tonight in Rock Springs, WY. damn. maybe it's something about Rock Springs? come on out and try it!

in other news, though, is it just called The Hut now? what does that even mean? who wants to eat at The Hut? not it. and don't even get me started on the preview for the 3-d A Christmas Carol i saw this morning while waiting for some English muffins to toast. 3-d WHAT???

anyhoo: pictures:

it's the "I don't know. Maybe it was Utah." series. so beautiful. (nice pics, frankie!)

the first is what's known as some pretty rocks. the second is called the Devil's Slide. it's truly badass. there is a scenic pullout for picture taking if you're a wuss. frankie is so awesome she just snapped as we drove on. the third pic frankie took for the symmetry between the trains and the rocks. this picture being all the more remarkable for it being taken amidst some of the craziest road construction we've ever witnessed.

day one : picture pages, picture pages

some more pictures from day one (taken by frankie, as i was at the wheel):


Norman, in the living room, awaiting final packing instructions.

he was unflappable throughout the entire final day of crazy packing madness.

Tilly and Tessa in their carrier.

perhaps the sweetest moment of day one came when we had to pull over to investigate a random noise from the car (apparently a terra cotta pot in a tin bowl makes a disconcerting squeaky noise). as we pulled over, Tessa started meowing. Tilly turned on her tough, but loving mom-magic, swatted Tessa on the head, and then licked her on the neck. Tessa was calm from then on.




would you trust this guy to drive you anywhere?

that look is probably exactly why the cops pulled him over.

(you can almost make out the Vermont T-shirt he's wearing! thanks, Laura!)






late afternoon in eastern oregon.

and scene.

but something...

...has followed them...

day one : further thoughts

so, our first post was done in haste, mostly to get something up so that we could tell people what's going on... now that we have that settled, here are some tidbits about day one of traveling. (stay tuned for a prequel post in which we'll examine some events that lead up to today...)

awesome things:

1. all three cats traveled very calmly. even Norman, who usually is a mad howler in the car, settled right down. we think they knew what was up. as we type here at La Quinta Inn, Caldwell, Idaho, Norman is in james' lap, Tilly is drinking water and Tessa is following frankie around.

2. Mee and Placostomos Prime are swimming around in their reduced-water depth tank, just like nothing was different. just another day in the home of frankie and james!

3. Lucille III got us here on one tank of gas! 422 miles! i'll do some dorky math tomorrow to tell you the miles per gallon that works out to! i know, you're excited. stay tuned.
(NOTE: this is how to make people return to your site...by updating it with new material!)

4. james and frankie learned something new about the law!

and finally, one un-awesome thing...we sort of forgot that Idaho was an hour ahead...so instead of it being midnight, now it's past one! agh!

tomorrow: the results of the mpg question, some more pictures from day one, and perhaps the prequel edition of the bindermoores head East.

day one : caldwell, id

that's where we are, after day one. we've only been pulled over by the police once so far. can you guess why?

a. we were doin' fifty-five in a fifty-fo'.
b. load not properly tied down.
c. some other actual reason not cribbed from pop culture.

if you guessed c, you're correct! james didn't move to the left hand lane while an officer had another driver pulled over on the shoulder. boo! the nice officer did not give frankie and james a ticket for james' dumbness however! whew...

you may, some of you, notice that this post of our first leg of our journey is taking place on sunday instead of saturday. james got sick, so we delayed our departure a day. just long enough for james' cold to get frankie too! ah, the romance of the open (sniff) road. note: that's a sniff of the snot-clearing variety, not a tear shed sort of sniff.

so there are more pictures and randomness to tell, but it's late folks. so just know that here we are, frankie, james, tilly, tessa, norman, mee and placostomos prime. here's a single picture to tide you over. this is one of the lovely sites we saw on our drive....