Going West - My Move to Colorado

So it’s been a while since a post, but I had a busy couple months with moving to Denver and then losing my wallet the second day I got there. Do you know how hard it is to pay for something with a check these days? Without an ID? Anyway, now that I’ve settled in a bit I thought I’d make a post about the move.

Packing

When planning my move I knew I wanted my car out west, and I also didn’t have too many large items that I wanted to bring so I figured I would just load the car with the essentials and go. It turns out “the essentials” is a whole lot of stuff. I was actually pretty surprised how much stuff I was able to fit in my car, and also how much stuff I had to leave behind. I didn’t bring a bed, but managed to pack in my bike, desk, computer, vacuum, 4 large plastic bins full of kitchen appliances, clothes, and random things. It was a tight fit.

Yeah I wasn’t able to see out of the rear view mirror.

It was pretty full. I’m really happy with my Honda Fit, it really is a great car for me. I wouldn’t have been able to fit as much in a regular 4 door.

The Drive

The drive out is a little over 1600miles, or about 25 hours according to google maps so I decided to split the drive into three days and aim for two 10-11hour days and then a 4ish hour day at the end since I still had to move my stuff in too. I was really dreading the legendary flatness of Kansas and the sheer mind numbing task of driving all day. It really wasn’t all that bad though, I listened to ‘A Game of Thrones’ audio book and even though I’ve read it many times before, it was different hearing it, and it is something like 33hrs for the first book so I knew it would cover the trip.

That’s it. Bedroom, kitchen, dining room all in one. There’s also a bathroom but luckily that isn’t in the kitchen too. I’m also happy the kitchen island moves so I can slide it around if I need more room somewhere. The oven and dishwasher are both thin models, which I’m a little disappointed with, some of my pans don’t fit – I’d trade the thin dishwasher for a full size oven in an instant.

The view isn’t bad, you can kinda see the mountains between the buildings, and there’s a view of the state capitol building (the gold dome on the right). The neighborhood is kinda in transition, there’s some abandoned plots, some upscale shopping, a fancy gym, a pawn shop, a hipster coffee place and an upscale grocery store all within two blocks. Oh and two pot dispensaries in that same two block radius, which is a little strange but you get used to it.

Here I am “moved” in. All my stuff is in the apartment, and I went shopping for the essentials but I haven’t really unpacked anything and still no bed. A sleeping bag on the hard floor here is not as comfortable as a carpet.

Now I’m more settled in, and it looks like this:

The lighting is off because my apartment faces west and this is in the afternoon with the sun, but here it is, my bed steps from my kitchen.

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The first thing I set up was my desk and computer. I was tethering my phone for internet for a while, but have it all sorted out now.

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The plastic bins I used for moving come in handy as a night stand and extra surfaces.

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Enough room for my bike.

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I’m pretty happy with the kitchen setup. I also now have a pressure cooker so expect some new food related posts using that in the near future.