Moving to new area.. When to send resume/interview?

Greetings, all. Many thanks for the helpful info I've gleaned over the years. That said, here's my situation:

I'm moving to a new state. I've been traveling back and forth for months (fiancee is already there), and will likely be there permanently in mid January, and will be able to begin working the first of February. Having never moved before (same hospital for 13 years), I'm wondering how soon I should send out resumes and schedule interviews.

I was planning on sending out resumes late November/early December, and hopefully setting up interviews mid December. Having never done this before, I didn't know if it's kosher to interview and say, "I can't start for six more weeks. Hold the job for me, thanks." The lady seems to think that will be fine, but I'm not sure.

Is that an appropriate time frame, or should I push the mailings/interviews back a little later? I'm just trying to figure out when to schedule time off from the current job, as the new home is almost 400 miles away, and that's quite a commute.

Any input would be greatly appreciated. I did try searching the forums before posting, but didn't find any threads specific to this type of inquiry.

Many thanks in advance for your input.

BS