Back To New Jersey With A Real Deadline

So we signed a lease for an apartment in Austin and we chose May 21st as our move in date. Finally we have a concrete goal. The 30 yard dumpster is here and is filling fast, the U-Pack relocubes have been ordered and the Google Calendar is filling in quickly. It is soooooo much easier when there is a final date to work towards.

I have mapped out the road trip and we have decided to not drive more than 6 hours per day. Though it is quicker to head south on 95 and then go west, I think we will go west first then south to see new states. We've been up and down interstate 95 many times and it's really not that nice of a drive.

The route I have devised will take us through Pennsylvania, West Virginia and into Ohio. In Ohio we will drive through Columbus and Cincinnati and cross over into Louisville, Kentucky. From there we will head south into Nashville then west into Memphis. In Memphis we will see the Mississippi River for the first time and drive through Arkansas to Texarkana. Finally, we will continue west to Dallas and take interstate 35 into Austin.

Pics From Austin Trip

Vegetation on Congress Avenue

View of downtown from the town lake trail

Interesting landscaping on the trail

Friday afternoon concert at city hall

A New Home

After looking at various apartments in the 78704 zip code we ended up right next door in the 78746 area. We found a great location right on the Barton Greenbelt about a mile south of Zilker Park and the Barton Springs Pool. Though they had apartments in the price range we were looking for, we opted for the next size up for a little more. The complex has just been taken over by a new company so they are renovating the units one building at a time. Because of this, the first month is rent free!

The red balloon with an 'A' marks the location of the apartment

Here are some photos:

Living Room

Kitchen

Bedroom

View From The Balcony

Trip Number Dos

So we are visiting Austin again and this time it's personal.

We will be there for a week and priority number one is to find an apartment. After some serious online research we have decided on a rental agency named Austin Cool (www.austincool.com). We really liked their laid back, yet detailed web site and contacted them to set up an appointment.

We will have a car this time so once we find the perfect apartment we can then search and locate all the amenities to get a feel for our new neighborhood.

Very exciting.