Relocation

After working for the same company for over 12 years in the UK an opportunity arose to take a new job at our head office in Redmond WA, USA (Greater Seattle Area).  After discussions with Marie and considering all the positives and negatives (Much better standard of living, but no family nearby) we decided to go for it.  With our kids all grown up and settled and us still being in our early 40's we decided that if we didn't do it now we would probably always wonder what if...in years to come.

So, I accepted the job in May and the whole relocation process kicked into gear.  This included applying for Visa's and organising the whole move of our household effects.  The whole process from start to finish took approx 3 months.  Our Packing date was 25/26th August and we were due to fly out on 27th.

While my company organised everything regarding the move for us, they don't cover moving vehicles around the globe.  So If I wanted to take the truck with me it meant having to organise it myself.  In the end I decided that I would take both my Land Rover and my F100.  It was not really a difficult decision.  Even though I haven't used the Land Rover for some time now it still means a lot to me having had it for so long and having rebuilt it from scratch twice over.  It was not that much more to get a 40' container than a 20' and I could fit both vehicles in a 40'.  So I organised to have the Landy and F100 to be picked up on 23rd August (a couple of days before our house move).  The Landy would be picked up from the house first and then the F100 from the workshop.

A flatbed truck with a separate trailer towed behind turned up first thing and I helped unhook the trailer as the Land Rover would be going on the Truck bed.

Here you can see the Land Rover being loaded onto the flatbed after we removed the trailer.  As the Land Rover hasn't been in use for some time it wasn't running so needed winching up onto the bed. 

I put as much of the truck together as practical in the short space of time I had and had modified the suspension to make sure there was enough ground clearance.  It went on the trailer really easily.  I was worried that it would be more of a hassle as there was no steering wheel.  But it was a very easy task, just moving the wheels a small amount at a time by hand as it was winched.

As the Truck has no windows fitted and it was pouring with rain, I decided to cover it with the car cover I had.  To secure it I cable tied it down in numerous locations to make sure that it was secure and that it wouldn't get ripped off by the wind.