Random moving question

[alison]

We're planning on stopping for a night in Reno. Do you have any hotel recommendations there?

[oceanchild]

Hmm. Your choices are basically casinos or chains.

On the casino front, I'm partial to John Ascuaga's Nugget (actually in Sparks, but practically on top of I-80), where my grandfather worked for 30-some years. I hear they got rid of their scholarship wall, so you can no longer find high school photos of DH and I there, but it's a nice place.

The Siena downtown would be smaller and possibly nicer. If you want cheap, Circus Circus is reliable and not gross. Most of our wedding guests stayed there.

I don't know much about the chains, except that chains are chains. There's a fairly nice Residence Inn near where my parents live, but that would probably be further out of the way than you need to be. If you pick a place and want location feedback, feel free to PM me.

[alison]

Thanks, Julia! That'll get us started. We'd only be having dinner and at most, a quick walk. We want to make it over the mountains as fast as possible and it looks like we'll be able to go at a slower pace once we do so. I just want cheap and clean. Who KNOWS what dh's criteria are! A place to hook up his espresso machine???

[oceanchild]

In the summer, it shouldn't take you more than 5 hours to get from Reno to Stanford. Probably less.

[alison]

In the summer, it shouldn't take you more than 5 hours to get from Reno to Stanford. Probably less.

We need to get there before 5pm to pick up the keys to our place. I think we'll leave as early as possible, and maybe even drive to Lake Tahoe. Is that reasonable?

[oceanchild]

Yeah, definitely.

If you want to go to Tahoe, it would probably make more sense to take 395 S to the Mt Rose Highway (NV-431). You'd get to the lake in 30-45 min. Then you could head west around the north shore, and cut back up to I-80 at either Kings Beach or Tahoe City. Or you could do the same thing around the south shore, which would let you see more of the lake but take a lot longer. There's a road that loops the whole way around.

Whatever you do, don't take 50 from Tahoe to Sacramento, unless you want to travel very slowly on a windy mountain road. (Which you'll do on the Mt Rose Highway, but for a much shorter distance.)

[alison]

Thanks -- the AAA gal said to cross the Nevada - California border on "fresh legs," because of the passes that you describe.

Thanks, everyone. It looks like, when in doubt, to pack valuables ourselves. Dh's argument is "if they're sloppy, I'll tell them to re-pack it, or we'll just take it with us in the car..." My feeling is that it's all going to happen so fast, that we're not going to have the time to oversee every single detail.

Hi Alison!

It sounds like you are off to a good start! As far as whether to pack valuables/breakables yourself, it really depends. When we moved all 6 tons of our stuff from CA to OH last year, the moving company's insurance (standard or supplemental) would only cover items damaged in the move that we had packed if the box was also damaged - indicating mishandling by the movers. If however, the items were packed by the movers, then any breakage/damage would be covered regardless of the condition of the box. Whether or not the movers will do a better or worse job packing your things, I have no idea. I would call the movers and get the specifics about the insurance they offer and go from there. And yes, it will go very fast. They had all of our stuff in the truck and were gone in less than 2 hrs.

Good luck with your move!

[oceanchild]

Thanks -- the AAA gal said to cross the Nevada - California border on "fresh legs," because of the passes that you describe.

If you just go over on I-80, it isn't bad at all. But everything else is!

[HouseofWool]

Hi Alison!

It sounds like you are off to a good start! As far as whether to pack valuables/breakables yourself, it really depends. When we moved all 6 tons of our stuff from CA to OH last year, the moving company's insurance (standard or supplemental) would only cover items damaged in the move that we had packed if the box was also damaged - indicating mishandling by the movers. If however, the items were packed by the movers, then any breakage/damage would be covered regardless of the condition of the box. Whether or not the movers will do a better or worse job packing your things, I have no idea. I would call the movers and get the specifics about the insurance they offer and go from there. And yes, it will go very fast. They had all of our stuff in the truck and were gone in less than 2 hrs.

Good luck with your move!

The movers will be incredibly fast. They had our 2 bedroom apartment with a full basement (full of CRAP) loaded into a 26' truck in two and a half hours. It was amazing to see.