How to Move from California to Tennessee in 3 Short Months!

February 10, 2022

We had originally planned to make our daring move from California to Tennessee in two years. However, when my husband accepted a job offer in Knoxville and decided to put all hands on deck, we had only about three months to move our entire lives! We had no family, no house, no apartment to head to, but we had the call of God upon our hearts to take the leap of faith. So how did our story end? Well, if you ever find you and your family in a similar situation where you only have a short amount of time to move from California to Tennessee, we want you know you’re not alone! My goal in sharing our experience is so that you can learn to do it better.

4 Reasons to Move Out of California

If you are like me and you’ve lived in California for most of your life but are on the fence whether you should move your family or not, here are 4 reasons that may help your decision.

1. Lower Cost of Living

We were being priced out of California. Just by moving and buying a home in Tennessee, we immensely reduced our monthly mortgage! Almost half the rent of an apartment unit.

2. Political Values

Second, we wanted to move to a state that was more in line with our political values. Even within my own family (among my adult siblings), I felt the sting of political divide. As a follower of Christ, I felt it was getting increasingly harder to find like-minded Christians in California. Here, we are blessed to have met many people who share our patriotism and the same passions as we do.

3. Quality of Life for Our Children

The ever increasing influence of leftwing ideologies such as critical race theory and gender ideologies in the school system was a huge factor in our decision to leave. We were seeking to improve the quality of life of our children similar to how the Pilgrims sought a better country for theirs.

4. Church Community

Lastly, we wanted to be able to connect deeper with a church. There are plenty of wonderful churches in our Sacramento area; for us, however, because the churches we were familiar with were often big, it was harder to make connections. Since moving to TN, we thankfully have found a small church where we’ve become connected and involved with.

5 Recommendations on How to Move from California to TN in a Short Amount of Time

So when it comes to moving, it is up to you how to best relocate your family. To help you along the way, here are 5 recommendations on how to move to TN in 3 months.

1. Pack, Sell, and Decide where to Stay

My husband’s work required him to be in TN by a certain date. If you are on a time crunch like we were, I recommend packing your belongings and start selling the rest as soon as possible. We only had weeks to prepare, and much of our time was spent on packing, bathroom renovations, and backyard landscaping to the get the house ready for the market. Unfortunately, our extended family was left to deal with our furniture and the rest of our belongings (bless their hearts!). I would hate for your relatives and friends to have to clean up after you, so get ahead if you can. That way you have time to plan for a yard sale or sell furniture online.

While you’re at it, be sure to start looking for apartments or rental properties right away if you are not looking to buy a home quite yet. Many apartment complexes don’t have openings for months out. We are still hearing from others who have recently moved to TN who’ve had to stay with relatives for an extended period of time due to limited availability. While we were still in California, we called multiple apartment complexes but were unable to secure a unit. We set out on our trip with only a hotel reservation in Knoxville.

2. Become a Minimalist

Because of our short time frame, available moving companies were limited and the prices skyrocketed due to high demand. People were moving out of California in droves. The price to move was disheartening. Just to move all of our belongings in a moving truck would have cost us from $8k to $10k! We eventually decided to purchase a 5 x10 trailer for $5k that we planned to resell once we moved. My husband sold it for $3,400 after our trip and got more than 50% of our money back. 

Whatever could fit in the trailer and in our two vehicles were all we could bring. We had become minimalists unintentionally, but it was worth it in the end! We had to leave almost all of our belongings behind including furniture and appliances. The only furniture we managed to bring was our infant son’s crib. We are a family of 5, and 10 years of family living had to somehow fit in this tiny trailer.

^{Downsizing significantly}

Prioritize Kitchen Essentials, Home Tools, and Prepare for Winter

As a mom, I would prioritize kitchen and dining essentials for your family. Time and time again, I realized I had left behind a much needed utensil or kitchen equipment that I wished I had packed! My husband likewise with his tools on house projects! I would also pack enough winter clothes for the family to prepare for the harsh temperatures! Having mostly lived in the Sacramento area in near-perfect weather, I was not ready for East Tennessee’s frigid cold winters. It is still an adjustment for me! 

Pack Memorabilia

Moreover, much of the things we brought were memorable things that we treasured most – photo albums, precious gifts, etc. Our kids had to downsize only to their favorite toys (somehow our then 4-year-old daughter convinced us to pack her plastic play kitchen. Don’t ask us how!). Most of our belongings can be repurchased, but not our treasured memories.

Pack for Christmas

And don’t forget to plan for Christmas. Expect to feel homesick on your first Christmas away from family and friends. So bring a box of Christmas decor and ornaments that hold the most memories such as hand-made ornaments, holiday mugs, or Christmas family portraits. When the time comes to decorate your tree, it’s like opening a time capsule of your family back home. And you get to treasure it all Christmas season. You can read about our first Christmas in Tennessee here.

3. Plan Your Road Trip

When it comes to planning your 2,400+ mile road trip, your goal is to get from point A and to point B in 4 days as smooth and as safe as possible. Plan for three things: driving and destinations, traveling with pets (if you have any), and traveling with small children.

Driving and Destinations

Pick your route and anticipate the distance and time each day so you can plan accordingly. Will you be sight seeing? With animals and little kids in tow, it was easier for us to stay on route. This was a mission trip! Are you driving two vehicles? We recommend driving together as a husband and wife team for encouragement and support. Recruit the help, advice, and support of parents and family members. We couldn’t have made this cross country migration without the help and support of all our extended loved ones. We are forever indebted to them. To our family, we love and we thank you from the bottom of our hearts!

Here is the route we took. We have my father-in-law to thank for this well thought out trip! This was determined with small children and animals in mind.

Day 1: Camino, CA to Sandy, UT via 1-80 E; distance: 628 mi, time: 10 hours

Day 2: Sandy, UT to Sidney, NB; distance: 546 mi, time: 8 hours

Day 3: Sidney, NB to Kearney, MO; distance: 525 mi, time: 7 hours 10 mins

Day 4: Final Destination Knoxville, TN; distance: 749, time: 12hours

Traveling with Pets

Will you be traveling with pets? Get your pets cleared for travel by your vet, request for anxiety meds if necessary, and stay current with vaccines and flea meds. The more prepared you and your pets are for the journey, the less problems that may occur. We have two cats and an aging maltese yorkie with a medical condition.

Our dog Bear gets pretty anxious on car rides and tends to whimper the entire way! I looked into flying pets and travel sitters. I came across horror stories of pets dying after because the flight was too traumatizing for them. And after researching, we couldn’t even justify the cost of a travel sitter.

After asking around from others who have traveled long distances with their pets, the advise I got was that pets handled the trip best if they stayed with their peeps, and we found this to be true. Before we left, all our pets had their last physical exams to ensure fitness for travel, and we had our vet prescribe enough anxiety-reducing meds for 4 days each.

Throughout our trip, our cats remained calm in their crates, and Bear adjusted and slept comfortably most of the way! Lastly, make sure they are current on their flea medication because I’m pretty sure Bear picked up fleas at one of the pet-friendly hotels!

Traveling with Small Children

Moreover, consider how you will pack for your children for the days you are on the road. For us, we found that it was more efficient to travel when each family member had his or her own personal bag that he or she can easily carry to and from hotels. Pack enough clothes for four days in each bag. That way, you are not having to carry heavy suit cases and frantically looking for socks and shirts for a young child.

You can also include individual snacks, activity books, and small toys to keep them amused during the long hours. Keep in mind that you are likely rising early each morning and heading out that door as efficiently as you can to get a head start on your drive. Prepare your bags to be on-the-go!

Finally, this is your family’s trip. Take as much time as you need, or go as quickly as you want. Remember, we are telling you our story so you can learn to do it better.

4. Prepare to stay at hotels for longer periods.

If you were able to secure an apartment or a rental home, or if you are able to stay with a relative, great! At the rate at which rental units are becoming few and far between, I would encourage waiting until housing becomes available before you make further plans. However, if you find yourself in a situation where you must take the leap due to a time crunch, take courage, you are not the only one! You are in God’s hands. 1 Thessalonians 5:24 says, “The One who calls you is faithful, and He will do it.” Just be prepared to stay at hotels for a longer period of time.

^{Facebook post during our prolonged stay at a hotel}

We placed our house on the market the day we left California. We knew we wouldn’t be able to begin the process of buying a new home in Tennessee until ours sold, so we were banking on finding an apartment. The soonest available apartment we found was three weeks out, that meant our family of 5 plus 3 animals had to dwell in hotels for almost a month!

If you have pets with you, try to ask the manager of the hotel for a pet discount since you are staying longer than usual. Most pet-friendly hotels charge a fee per pet per day. So for us, the hotel charged us $25 per pet. So that’s $25 times 3 pets times 7 days and it ended up costing us $525 the first week! At our second hotel, I informed the manager of our current situation, and she kindly charged me a one-time fee of only $100 for all pets for our entire stay. Now that’s southern hospitality!

5. Get Connected with a Church, Learn Football, and Trust God in the Hard Times

Be Persistent in Church Attendance

We recommend getting plugged into a church immediately, and being persistent in attending! We had no family in the area, so we knew connecting with a church for spiritual and emotional support was vital. It was definitely a challenge being the new ones in town, and it took time to get to know others. But we were persistent in coming and kept knocking, asking how we can get involved.

Learn to Love Football

Just as a heads up, people here LOVE football, so if you’re a big football fan, you will fit right in! Unfortunately, it’s a shame my husband and I aren’t too knowledgeable about this sport. I think we might’ve turned a few people off…

Trusting God for His Provision and Timing

Finally, trust in God’s provision when hard times come. When we finally moved into our long-awaited-for apartment, we signed up for a 3-month lease only. The sale of our home back in California was delayed due to wildfires in our area in Camino. A mandatory evacuation was put in order and everything was put on hold. This was unsettling. The end of our lease will soon be approaching (did I mention that our entire family got sick with COVID during this time?).

16 days later, the evacuation order was finally lifted and life in California continued as before. In time, hope was restored and our house was sold. By the end of our lease, we were homeowners again. We moved into our new home in Tennessee just 6 days before the end of our lease. Moving in was a dream come true. After months of living out of boxes and sleeping on floors, God was rebuilding our lives. Psalm 126: 1-2 is true, “When the Lord restored the fortunes of Zion, we were like those who dreamed. Our mouths were filled with laughter, our tongues with songs of joy.”

God Provides

God also provided in other amazing ways. Our new home coincidently came furnished with a refrigerator, washer, and dryer. No more scraping for quarters and going to the laundromat!

Moreover, we had no furniture. We used a small foldable plastic table to eat our meals and for homework. I started praying for a second-hand dining table for free. One day, I got a text from a friend from church asking if we needed a dining table. Her friend was moving, and she had furniture that needed to be taken off her hands. We offered to pay what she desired for it, but her friend insisted for nothing in return.

Next thing we knew, our friends had driven over with the dining table plus a coffee table, dressers, and night stands that she no longer had a need for. Our faithful Father in heaven provided for what we had asked plus more. He is able to do exceedingly and abundantly above all than what we can ask or imagine (Ephesians 3:20).

^{We were homeowners again! We were able to install a backyard fence from the sale of our house in California.}

You Will Have God’s Grace

It will take time for our home is fully furnished and updated. We are still trusting in Him to provide for our needs in our home. When I see other people’s houses, I marvel at their polished wood floors and their updated farmhouse kitchens. They look like they’ve been made straight out of the Magnolia Journal! It would be nice to have my home to appear as elegant, but I am grateful for all that God has done for us.

So if you ever get to where I am because you have allowed God to push the reset button on your life, and you have found yourself to have nothing, just say this to yourself: they may have their own tables and beautiful homes, but I know God’s grace. Because you trusted God with your life and surrendered all that you have to Him, you will experience His provision and His faithfulness like you’ve never have before.

So how does our story end? God is continuing to write it. But I will say this: He made our journey successful, and if you trust Him, He is able to make yours successful too, exceedingly, abundantly above what you can think or imagine. Praying for a safe journey for you and your family!