I decided to move to Austin, TX for a variety of reasons, though the primary reason was because I had lived in Portland my entire life and wanted to experience living in another city. I've had the itch to leave since my early twenties but there was always one thing or another that kept me anchored there like school, a job, a relationship, or just plain doubt. What's different now is that my girlfriend is location independent and my job is remote and flexible enough to where I could work in a different time zone. I ended up selling much of my belongings (which were sparse to begin with), packed up what was left between myself and my partners in a two-seater Honda CR-Z, and hit the road to Austin.
We hit Boise ID, Twin Falls ID, Salt Lake City UT, Boulder CO, Wichita KS, Dallas TX, and finally Austin TX. We made this trip in about six days so I could fly back to Portland, grab the cats, then fly back to Austin. It was a fun a trip overall, but in retrospect, this was dumb planning on my part since we were rushed during the road trip so that I could be certain I'd make the flight. Ideally we would have taken our time exploring each city. Each place has it's own unique characteristics such as Salt Lake City having the worst coffee I've tasted, while Wichita surprisingly had some of the best tasting.
Thanks for reading. Feel free to send comments, questions, or recommendations to hey@chuck.is