Packing the House, Renting and Flying Dogs...

The Call
When Diane first got the call to work in Mexico, it was June. She was at camp and I was home with my son Noah. Her response: "Eric--It's easy; just pack everything."

House in a Box

It was like packing up the entire house. Because that's what I did!

Like Moving Our Entire House

The next couple months were some of the most stressful I've ever had, arranging and labeling every box into the back room (thanks to Sandy, Yael, et al), arranging every bill to be paid online, researching how to rent a house, drawing up a lease and getting the correct insurance for our house.

Car-Less
At the same time, we realized that you cannot just leave your car on the street for a year--it either has to be in your driveway, at a car parking garage (the same rate as a storage facility=expensive) or sell it. We decided to sell the cars. All of them. 
First, the CR-V.

Noah and I say goodbye to the CR-V

The idea of selling our cars was like departing with your prize running back in a Fantasy league. Ouch. But it had to be done. 
A friend of ours told us to try Carmax and they might give us the best price. Yup. Noah and I went on August 14, they gave us an offer and we actually came out a couple thousand dollars ahead, and thought we had the best deal, until Erica saw our CR-V for sale for $6,000 more on the Carmax website. 

Then, selling my Accord:

I remember that Accord...

In foresight, I should have started selling it months ahead, but I loved that car. After playing with the Kelly Blue Book prices and other B.S. sites, a mechanic offered me a fair price 3 days before we were to leave for Mexico. The day before we left for Mexico, we sold the Camry to our housekeeper. 

3 cars sold within 2 weeks! 

Diane and I figured we saved thousands on insurance, registration fees, smog checks and gas. We were now in the Uber-mode of getting around. For most of you reading this, the thought of not having a car in Los Angeles is like, well,  not having a car in Los Angeles. It's just not done. But we did it!

Renting:
We had the good fortune to rent our house to our close friends, the Kanes, who were moving back from Israel and we could keep the house furnished. We all agreed everything would be done online--including the rent, bills, etc. Now, although Mexico is erroneously considered a "third-world 
country,"  http://www.nationsonline.org/oneworld/third_world_countries.htm
it does have the ability to call toll free numbers, so we could call our creditors. With that settled, Gavin, Noah and I prepared to move out, as we took photos of everything in our house (a tip from several renters and realtors). We secured the correct insurance policy (thanks to our niece Sandy--who was a lifesaver) and were ready to go to Mexico. Our friend John Friedman agreed to drive us to the airport at 5 30 a.m. (gulp) on August 19. 

The Dog...and Traveling
Funny thing about Mexico--they love dogs...and cats. So, taking our little Rudy would be no problem, right? Well.......

Rudy in his new doggy airplane home

First, we had to visit the vet in Agoura to get a health permit.  Because Rudy is so small, he could go under the seat but had to stay in his carrier. Now, Rudy would be fine on the plane; it was getting him into a small pet carrier that was the biggest problem. I was a bit angry that Rudy wouldn't get choice of steak or fish for dinner! But how would you like to be in a carrier for a 4 hour plane ride? And this is Rudy--a dog we feed from the table, who sleeps in our bed and Diane considers her fourth son. Can you say spoiled?

As we were advised, we gave Rudy a pill 1 week before the flight to see how he would react to the pill. Rudy is usually very calm, but after half an hour, he seemed drunk. He could hardly stand up. He started bumping into things. Then he started to sleep. And sleep. I was worried, so I made sure he was alive by checking his pulse. He was calm, but this was way too calm. And this was half a pill His drunken stupor lasted for a good 4-6 hours, and he finally came back to normal. 

We were ready for the flight...and Mexico..or so we thought....

Yes, the next blog will actually have photos of Mexico....