PREPARING TO LEAVE BENICIA

 

"I" Street Cove

Walking Along the Benicia Waterfront

Back in Benicia, I continued my routine of walking in the morning and working on the house for the rest of the day. Moving to Mexico required reducing a lifetime's accumulation of possessions to what could fit in my pick-up truck.  I had a lot of stuff.  Twice, my friends, Curt and Midori, came up from Paso Robles to help me stage garage sales. This time, I was also attempting to sell my furniture and the books that Scott had left behind after he came for his things. Midori manned the downstairs where I had arranged the books and furniture and I handled the goods arrayed in the two garages upstairs. Curt kept us company and then helped repair the sprinklers that had been damaged when the fence was installed in my absence.

Curt and His Dog, Cali

I sold quite a bit during the garage sale and then listed items on Craig’s List and Facebook Marketplace, selling nearly as much during the next two weeks. I digitized all of my father’s slides and the few videotapes I had collected over the years. My friend, Karen from La Cruz, came to stay for a few days and helped me pack up the remaining books and paint the exterior doors of my house. The garage doors had been looking especially shabby, as they faced south. Karen also helped me carry most of the furniture I intended to save out into my shop where I was storing it.

Karen Painting the Garage Door

Scott had left me with 58 boxes of books. I kept a couple and took a couple with me, but there were still many, many books to dispose. No one wanted old textbooks or out of date travel books, so I filled a recycling can with those. Then I loaded 40 boxes of books into my truck and took them to Half Price Books, the only bookstore that had exhibited any interest in buying them. Of the forty boxes I took, they purchased only two, mostly my philosophy texts from college days. The remaining 38 boxes I donated to the Benicia Library, which was having its first post-Covid donation event that weekend. They were happy to receive them and I was immensely relieved to have them gone.

A Truckload of Books

A young couple living aboard a power boat in the marina had seen my Snipe during my last garage sale and came back to inquire about buying it. I had intended to clean it up and sell it, but they were willing to take it as it was. With all the other things I had to do, I decided to sell it to them. Perhaps I could have gotten more if I had cleaned it up, but I was still able to sell it for what Scott had paid for it ten years earlier. It was another load off my mind.

My Snipe

I gave away the last of the furniture and housewares via a “Buy Nothing” Facebook group. I kept a display of free items in the alley behind my house for the entire four months I was home and disposed of many small and unwieldy items (half full gas cans and scraps of lumber) that way. When all was said and done, I took a few bags of things to Goodwill and everything else not packed to take or store fit into one trash can. Compared to the mountain of trash that my caretakers had left behind when they departed, I felt quite efficient.

Sample Array of Free Items in the Alley

Wrapping the Nesting Tables

Packing the truck was my next obstacle. Items packed would need to survive driving 1800 miles on possibly sketchy roads during the rainy season. I lined each box with a heavy trash bag and then sealed the bag before taping up the box. Some items were packed in plastic storage tubs. The furniture and art were more difficult, as they required a layer of padding, as well. As much as possible, I wrapped things in bedding and towels that needed packing, anyway. I had sufficient moving pads to wrap some of the more fragile items. I had a leftover roll of floor underlayment and that, also became padding for furniture. One or two items got wrapped in bubble wrap. After taping on the padding, I then wrapped everything in heavy plastic sheeting and sealed every seam with tape. In this manner I packed one dresser (drawers stuffed with linens and small pieces of art), one bookshelf (stacked full of small boxes), one antique hall cabinet (drawers filled), one set of nesting tables (throw pillows stuffed between the legs), a desk (disassembled and loaded on top of the rack) and eight dining room chairs (disassembled and wrapped in sets of two.)

The art was another challenge. I packed 32 paintings and large photographs. Each was wrapped in bubble wrap, loaded into a custom cardboard box, and then sealed inside a layer of plastic sheeting.

I Added Side Panels to My Truck Rack

To increase the carrying capacity of my Ford F-150, I constructed side panels by fastening sheets of plywood to the rack with large hose clamps. This allowed me to stack items all the way to the bottom of the rack without worrying about them sliding out the sides or back and offered protection from theives.

  

The Loaded Toolbox

The locking toolbox on the truck was the most secure spot, so high dollar items like tools, jewelry, and electronics went in there. As I loaded boxes and furniture into the bed of the truck, I stuffed any odd spaces with small items, each wrapped in plastic. Each box and parcel was numbered and a complete list of all the included items was kept in a master file. Once the last items were loaded onto the rack, I wrapped the entire construction in a large tarp and tied it fast. There was just enough space left for one suitcase.

Truck Loaded and Ready to Go

I had promised my property manager that I would leave by September 23^rd, so I rolled out the gate on that morning. I was a little concerned that my half-ton pickup would be overloaded. It seemed to be riding low, but I gained confidence after I managed to negotiate the steep exit from my alley without bottoming out. It handled much better than it had with 2400 pounds of concrete in the bed and I decided that the load probably only weighed about 1600 pounds.