How do I get all these cars across the country?

Okay, another moving to Ohio thread. I am trying to figure out the best way to get all my vehicles across the country with the minimum hassle, money, and time. I am not in a time crunch to move them all at once. This can be spread out a bit. Plan is to go out a few months ahead of the fiancee and just rent a room somewhere, find permanent housing, and have her come out in the spring. I was planning to take several weeks to road trip across the country, stopping and visiting friends along the way.

The Vehicles:
Honda S2000 - Nice DD
Chevy Astro AWD - tow vehicle in good shape
944 Spec race car - not street legal; gets towed with a tow bar, so no worries about storing a trailer.
Triumph Street Triple motorcycle - my main bike
Ninja 250 motorcycle - bike being used for fiancee to learn to ride... which she seems to not be terribly interested in
RX-8 - fiancee's nice DD... Not my responsibility to haul across country

Original plan was to drive out in the S2000 and put winter tires on that, then probably two more trips: van and U-Haul, each pulling the race car or bikes on a trailer. I am leaning away from that for the sake of keeping it a nice 3-season car.

New most likely plan: Take benches out of the Astro. Put the Triumph in the back, and tow the race car. It will make my road trip slow, but it's going to be a long path no matter what. Then find a storage unit in Columbus for the winter and store the race car and bike in that. Use the Astro as a winter car. S2000 - Fly and drive it back, or maybe tow it behind a U-Haul or something. Need to do something with the Ninja. It could go in the back of a moving van, or maybe just get sold.

JohnRW offered to sell me his Cutlass Ciera as a winter beater. I could either fly out or drive the S2000 and park that. Have the Cutlass as a winter beater. Next winter, it would give us two beaters so that SWMBO does not have to drive her nice RX-8 in winter. Then I fly back and find a way to haul the van, bikes, and race car out... probably reverting back to the original plan.

SWMBO does not sound like she wants to do the major lifting of our stuff herself. Last time she moved, she hired movers. But that was only 4 hours away, not across the country. Would it make more sense to higher loaders and drive a moving truck ourselves... tow the S2000 behind that and she follows in her RX-8? Maybe get one of those you-pack-it freight container shipping systems, and just do the road trip in the fast cars.

Sell Ninja 250, drag the 944 and triumph to the new home with the Astro. Wife drives S2000 up when the snow clears.

I am not entirely sure why you need a beater car when you have a AWD astro which should work great in the snow.

wearymicrobe wrote: Sell Ninja 250, drag the 944 and triumph to the new home with the Astro. Wife drives S2000 up when the snow clears. I am not entirely sure why you need a beater car when you have a AWD astro which should work great in the snow.

Only kink is that there is more than just my S2000, there is also her RX-8. Point remains, I can easily fly back and caravan out with her.

first: you have too much E36 M3.

with all of that stuff, i'd get the stuff out there that's the hardest to move first, so tow the race car with the van, put the triumph in the van, sell the ninja since it's likely worth more in Cali and it sounds like the sale is inevitable anyways. then, when the time comes, you fly back, rent a truck and trailer, load it with all your worldly possessions, put the RX8(MPG) on the trailer and swap out either following the moving truck in the s2k or send her on her way and you road-warrior it to ohio.

alternative to the last part would be to move all the crap sharing driving in the moving truck, then the two of you fly back and move the two fun cars across the country over a couple weeks hitting epic driving roads and sights along the way. you could do that with one or both cars i guess.

Astro with Triumph inside, 944 towed.
944 and bike into storage locker along with other items that you may need but not have a good space for right away.

Fly back at some point (could be soon, could be spring) and drive east in S2000.

Ninja never comes to Ohio.

Other advise: sell what every you can and buy another in Columbus.
As an example, is your kitchen table a nice one or just and adequate one? If adequate, sell it on CA CL and then buy an equally adequate one from OH CL. Same for dressers, end tables and such. You may even just factor in scrapping your mattress and buying another on the other side. This logic might really reduce your need for a huge box truck.

Astro would be an exceptional winter vehicle as well as darn handy while out sourcing furniture and or moving items to storage locker.
God forbid but if done right, the Astro and a storage locker could combine to give you "shelter" till you find solid residence. All you would need is a shower at work or a gym membership (often the first 30 days are free!)

Wow john; you have this thought through!

If you really need the storage when you get out here I have a barn you could stash the p-car and bike in.

chandlerGTi wrote: Wow john; you have this thought through! If you really need the storage when you get out here I have a barn you could stash the p-car and bike in.

Thanks! I'll see what the storage situation ends up looking like in Columbus. 2 hours away to stash stuff for free for a few months is very tempting.

Side note: I will need to figure out the best way of loading and securing the bike. Obvious answer is a ramp, and I am pretty sure there are front wheel chocks for going in the back of vans.

I've got plenty of room to store the bike if you want, probably not the car.

I agree- dump the ninja, stuff the other bike in the van, drag the 944. Leave the S2K and the RX8 for now. An s2k is going to be worthless if you need to move furniture/etc- the van is probably the most important vehicle you own right now. Worst case, the wife gets warm feet and wants to ride again- and you buy another ninja in OH. They're cheap and they're everywhere.

Join the Navy as an officer. Strip down all your cars as far as you can to get them light, weigh them. Put them back together, load as much stuff as you can, and re-weigh. Profit.

mndsm wrote: I agree- dump the ninja, stuff the other bike in the van, drag the 944. Leave the S2K and the RX8 for now. An s2k is going to be worthless if you need to move furniture/etc- the van is probably the most important vehicle you own right now. Worst case, the wife gets warm feet and wants to ride again- and you buy another ninja in OH. They're cheap and they're everywhere.

That's what I kind of figure with the Ninja. If we want another beginner bike, it won't cost any more to replace anywhere else. I think she would prefer a Honda Rebel or something else she can easily flat foot anyway.

Astro towing 944 with Triumph inside, store as suggested earlier. Buy cutlass for winter shenanigans and potential DD for gal. Fly back, sell non-critical items, sell RX8, tow S2000 behind moving van, make gal drive Ninja accross country.

EastCoastMojo wrote: sell RX8, tow S2000 behind moving van, make gal drive Ninja accross country.

LOL!

I've only done this with an Aerostar, not an Astro, but you should be able to use the seat anchor points for tie down locations. That was my setup for quite a while. Big minivans really make for great single-bike transportation.

alex wrote: I've only done this with an Aerostar, not an Astro, but you should be able to use the seat anchor points for tie down locations. That was my setup for quite a while. Big minivans really make for great single-bike transportation.

That's sort of what I'm thinking. Do you think a wheel chock would just be totally superfluous? I'm sure that will hold the top of the bike steady, I just don't know how tough it is to keep the bottom from shifting. Of course I'm going to put a bit of compression on the suspension, just not too experienced loading bikes.

Sell the Ninja & 944.

Put the street triple in the back of the Astro and tow the S2000.

Tell the fiancee to drive the RX-8.

If you can't part with the 944 & Ninja... make 2 trips.

Giant Purple Snorklewacker wrote: Sell the Ninja & 944. Put the street triple in the back of the Astro and tow the S2000. Tell the fiancee to drive the RX-8. If you can't part with the 944 & Ninja... make 2 trips.

I could part with the 944. I've just had a bitch of a time selling it in the past. It really is only of value to someone who wants a 944 Spec car. It is fully prepped and logbooked. I know the 944 Spec series is quite active in the area too. I really am looking forward to getting back into w2w.

depends on how much stuff you have to move... bikes fit nicely in a moving truck... moving truck also tows things much easier and for that long of a drive I'd want to have a flat bed trailer if towing a car...

get rid of the ninja 250 (or pack it in the back of the moving van and sell it in spring when it'll actually bring in some $$$)... let GF worry about her own car...

you drive the astro loaded with what you'll need for the next few months... the astro tows one of the cars... when you get a chance go back and get the moving truck and all the stuff, trailer for the 2nd car, bike(s) in the back of the moving truck and on you go.

If you get a harbor freight wheel chock you can bolt it to a 2x6 or similar piece of wood cut to the width of the van. That should slide in and allow you to tie it down securely.

Front anchors for the middle seats are recessed into the floor and can be hooked by a strap or slightly opened eye bolt. Half a sheet of plywood won't take much trimming to fit in front of the wheel wells and against the back of the front seat bases. Use a hole saw to cut through the plywood where the anchors are and screw some 2x4s in as wheel chocks.

In a moving van you cut two 2x4s in half and screw them to a full sheet of plywood so they go across in front of and behind the front and rear tires then two more full 2x4s down each side of the tires. Add eye bolts to the ends of te frontmost and rearmost of the short 2x4s to strap the bike to and then pile your stuff around it. Shipped dozens of bikes that way in the Navy.

If the Porsche is on a U-Haul trailer there may be room to put the bike across in front of and/or behind it. Saves worrying about those states where cars on tow bars need current plates too.

when I moved my motorcycle with a moving truck it was the first thing in, sat right up along the back of the cab, the truck had some rails along the sides that I used for tie down straps and then put a mattress between it and everything else... got to the new home just as nicely as it left

triumph and ninja in astro, tow bar porch, give me ninja for storing porch and triumph for the winter.

not really, i have enough problems finding room for my own stuff.

Hire me to fly out to CA and drive your S2000 to OH.

Line em up and hook them on

Aussie rednecks FTMFW

get a big enough trailer to put both of the bikes and a car on it.. use the Astro as a pull rig...maybe add helper springs to the van to stabilize it a bit..

or just sell everything and start a new collection at the new home..