One week goes by with our move to Panama getting closer. It is one of those weeks where I want everything to be packed, moved and unloaded now, but another week that I want to go a little bit slower. I am getting a bit excited now, but these details keep getting in the way! My car, for instance. Yes, she has a name "Annikah". When traveling three years ago to Sweden to pick her up before putting her on a ship to be delivered to me six weeks later, many of us that shared this Overseas Delivery experience named our cars. Having never met these people, we did become fast facebook friends. They are aware of our impending move, and they are aware that Annikah will soon be settled in Tennessee. Yesterday, I drove her for the first time in two months any real distance (besides starting her up and driving her around the block) to Raleigh, NC. For much of the drive, I followed Ray. It was a three and a half hour drive to where my friend from another job long ago (same friend we vacationed to Napa and Sonoma, CA with recently) was staying with her injured son (soccer injury and just had leg surgery). We were also bringing to her two pieces of furniture that she had asked for me to save, if no one in my family wanted. She is family, and I am glad to know she is now the owner of my grandfather's tool cabinet. If my daughter ever does want it and has room for it, she knows that my friend will hand it back. All of this was to be done sometime this summer with my friend traveling here to visit us and other friends of hers in VA, or it was to be done when they came here for our surprise party. But then her son's leg injury got in the way. And yes, we gave him a hard time about it yesterday.
Once we unloaded some furniture that she in fact had brought up in a pick up truck from her small town in Tennessee for her son's new apartment, we unloaded our two cars of the furniture we had brought to her, and then she was finally able to meet Annikah officially, sit in the car and learn some of the bells and whistles she does not have in her older model Volvo. Annikah is a convertible, so we showed her the ropes of putting the top down (pushing a button), or raising the top back up (pulling up on the button), and she drove me around the parking lot. We changed the license plates, had lunch, and then Ray drove us the three and a half hours back to the lake house. Car sold--check.
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| Pointing out the TN Plates on Annikah. |
This morning Ray took care of all the stuff you do when you sell a car. I went for a walk. I offered to go with him, and we could walk after the errands. I do not blame him for wanting to get to the Department of Motor Vehicles as soon as they open at eight am. He gave back my license plates, ran to the Spotsylvania Government Center to let them know we know longer owned the car, so we do not want to pay the taxes on it anymore, and had a final errand to the bank. A call is into the insurance company to let them know we have the Mini Cooper and to uninsure my car, so that is that. But speaking of cars, we had a little glitch with a car we might want to buy once in Panama. The short version is that we are going to be looking at a used Nissan SUV the day we get to Panama. Last Friday we discovered (I emailed someone I have "met" on an expat forum who also referred us to our attorney) that certified checks are considered cash, and if we bring certified checks on the plane to pay for the car, we would have to declare it (over $10,000). We were also told that the banks in Panama will hold this check for twenty two days or more. This would mean that the seller would not get his portion for most likely another month, and we would not get the car for that long. One option would be that we could wire money to our attorney, and then he (since he has a bank account in Panama, of course) would write the check out for us to pay the seller. Another option would be have our financial institution "people" be on the ready to wire money to the seller's account and also to the bank that holds the remaining balance. This looks like the best option. A little blip, but fortunately, Ray questioned the certified check being considered cash on one of our walks, and I sent out the email for help and getting answers. I am the researcher, and he is the executor.
Two more bags are packed to the rims. Clothing, rafts, electronic "stuff", and anything else we will NEED when in Panama. We moved our daughters six Rubbermaid totes that were in the shed into the house and consolidated them with her other Rubbermaid totes and the Christmas tree. We then put our totes in our bedroom. We have a really long tote and a few short ones. We feel great about what we will have left behind, and we feel really good about what we can bring back the next time we are here in Virginia. We spent time over the weekend with our daughter and her boyfriend seeing her new apartment furnished and her all moved into it! Whew! Looks great, and she is super happy in her new place! We chatted with her roommate and then walked to a restaurant around the corner for a late lunch (after I had a final hair cut!), and we will see her again tonight for Trivia Night at a restaurant in Falls Church, VA. This actually might be our final road trip, because going anywhere north or south these days is liking taking a long road trip.
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| Carly's totes behind curtain number one |
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| Ray and Carly at PF Changs for dinner. |
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| Moved into apartment |
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View from bedroom into courtyard
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Tomorrow I will visit with my sister in the morning to say goodbye until November, since I barely saw her at the party. We will float a little more this week, tidy up the loose ends of packing our carry ons, visit with one of our lake house roommates, and on Saturday our daughter will drive us to a hotel near the airport. This could be the start of something super exciting! This is it!
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| Our worldly possessions remain in the corner of the lake house. |
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