This thread reminded me of my own cross-country move back in 2008. Diesel was almost $5/gallon, and I could not afford a U-Haul or Ryder truck plus the cost of fuel.
So I bought a used 4x8 utility trailer, got a hitch installed by a local guy (I didn't have the right tools), and bought tarps and rope. I sold a lot of my heaviest stuff, like really big Klipsch speakers; I went through all my books and sold or gave away about 1/3 that I no longer needed or wanted; gave some extra wheels and seats to a fellow TDI Club member; and got total weight down to about 1500 pounds plus the trailer.
The first time I loaded the trailer, the leaf springs were completely flattened and the tires rubbed against the wheel fenders. So I unloaded it and went through my stuff to lose another 200-300 pounds. When I reloaded the trailer, it seemed okay, but after starting my trip I realized the balance was all wrong and the trailer was causing the rear of my Golf to sway back and forth. So I shifted weight around and improved the handling somewhat, but it was still not good if I drove over about 55-56 mph. I downshifted into 4th gear for hills, both uphill and downhill.
I made a few more weight-and-balance adjustments, but continued my trip and mostly just kept the speed down. I was passed by hundreds of cars, maybe thousands, over the next three days. Yes, a trip that normally took 36-42 hours ended up taking about 72 hours, because I had to stop more times for sleep. I never want to travel that slowly, that far, ever again. But on the plus side, I actually got really great fuel economy, about 45-46 mph.
Lessons learned:
1) With a utility trailer, you can haul more stuff than with an enclosed trailer which weighs a lot more when empty.
2) But with a utility trailer, even with tarps, you run a risk of running into rain storms. Fortunately the weather for my move was hot and dry.
3) If I'd loaded the trailer more carefully, if I'd had more time to load it properly, maybe I could have driven faster.
