Setting out for France

Hi there Everyone!
We're here!!!! Can you believe it? After 13 years of dreaming about it, we're here....in France that is. Living in France. It's Thursday night and we've been here since Sunday. We've been mangling the French language, muscling our luggage, and mooshing ourselves into a miniscule appartment in Lyon. There is still much to do, but we've made good headway. Sorry we haven't written earlier. We haven't had any internet access. Monica (me) still doesn't...they need 48 more hours to fix a failure at the box (whatever that means), but now Dave is working and has access. So, we thought we'd post an update for those of you who were wondering if we were still alive.
Actually, since we've gotten here Dave has been so excited about what he wants us to put in this blog, so I'm going to leave this one to him. He's much more interesting than me anyways, and you've heard me babbling way to much. So, here's our story...Dave style....

There's nothing like the challenge of moving a year's worth of stuff in one plane flight. First, you have to learn the rules of the game - British Airways allows 2 seventy pound bags per person, one carry-on, and one "personal item" (purse/laptop/etc.). OK, 70 lbs. puts us ahead of most carriers who only allow 50 lbs. But a stop in Heathrow could be trouble if we push the limits at all. Well, first thing is, those laptop bags are going to be the biggest dang laptop bags we can muster with a straight face and nobody seems to have thought to put a weight limit on them either, heh heh. We inherited some truly giant suitcases from the days of steamboat travel, but decided not to use them after finding out there is a limit of 62 inches on L+W+H of bags. Instead, we'll pack a couple of 20x20x20 cardboard boxes! Even when filled with just clothes, these end up almost exactly 70 lbs. - and man, are they hard to move. We'll wear the biggest coats and we could even wear multiple layers and several hats! Monica then gave me one of those looks which says "I am not getting on a plane with you looking like that." OK, well, one hat then. After putting on the coat I realize we neglected another baggage opportunity - pocket space. Heck, I think there could be a market for cargo pants that really are "cargo pants." Something where I can fit another suitcase in each pocket and waddle down the jetway. Oh well, it's too late and I'd probably get one of those looks again.
Once the RAV4 is filled to the roof and we're on the way to the airport I begin to wonder how we're going to deal with these 8 monster bags when there's only two of us and it's raining and we've got a tiny european rental car... Oh well, we'll have to trust to something Monica calls "Sawyer luck" - a form of divine intervention that drives her crazy. She is a fantastic trip planner and covers all the worst-case scenarios, while my trip planning doesn't really deserve the word "planning" but relies on divine intervention that happens so often Monica now includes it in her plans. After years of this conversation she has given up:

Monica: "It was only through a miracle that things worked out!"
Dave: "yeah, well, but things worked out fine. Great actually."
Monica: "But that wasn't planning! That was Sawyer Luck that saved us."
Dave: "Sure, but we're in great shape right?"
Monica:"Arrgh! You and your stupid luck. We should be dead now."

Now I suspect Monica just writes in "S.L." when there is some part of the travel plans that she just cannot plan for. She tried to plan for this, but all the car rental agencies were out of larger vehicles, we can't get all the luggage on the train, and airlifting, boats, or postal service were too expensive or slow. After our bags got checked (each just a hair under the limit) and our carry-ons cleared security we settled into our airline seats and began to wonder what's going to happen when we land.