Moving soon

We move in a week. I feel a little sad that we will miss Baltimore Yearly meeting sessions (this week) and probably almost all of Ohio Yearly meeting sessions (taking place in Barnesville the following week). But the "inner voice" I keep hearing tells me to go slowly and take one thing at a time. Right now, the "one thing" is the move, which feels in some ways like being in labor or having a tiny baby to care for: everything in the world collapses to focus on that one point. It's not quite the same--there's much more human control over the process--but it's similar.

As we try to understand how to deal with the transition of putting our house in the hands of a renter--a steward-- and with moving to another state, which neither of us have done as materially-encumbered grownups (when I moved to California after college, I could fit my life in a suitcase)--I realize I haven't asked wiser and more knowledgeable souls for advice.

So: any advice? We hired professional movers to load and pack our 26-foot truck, which Roger will drive the 300 miles to Barnesville. Anything we should know about that? Any packing tips?

Also, I think I will ask our realtor for our renter's phone number so we can talk to her directly. Going through third parties seems almost inevitably to make the situation stiff and adversarial. We want to help make her transition to our/her home as smooth as possible. The whole thing seems very awkward to me as, unlike selling a house, it's not a clean break. Any thoughts? Do people who've done this before think it's a good idea to talk to a renter directly?