Self Moving
Since Janet and I got married 6 and ½ years ago we have
lived in Hawaii, Utah, Milwaukee, Maine, New Mexico, Arizona and Virginia.
Admittedly a couple of these locations were more rest stops, but they all
involved moving our stuff. Each time we moved, the moving team consisted of
either just me or me and one other person. I’ve always had an aversion to
asking the Elder’s quorum to help.
For those of you not Mormon, an Elder’s quorum is a group of
men in our church who are over 18 and haven’t served as a bishop or other in
another senior role. A big part of what the Elder’s quorum does is to serve
other people and moves are the most popular way of serving.
Moving to Hawaii for an internship and later back to BYU
only included a couple of suitcases. When we went from Utah to Milwaukee I was
solely responsible for clearing out our little apartment and packing it into
the back of our Chevy Blazer. I purged some stuff that later I wished I had
been able to keep.
While in Milwaukee for three months waiting for Madeline to
be born and for my job to begin we gathered enough stuff to properly fill and
apartment. So I had a trailer hitch installed, got a U Haul Trailer and with my
Dad loaded the trailer and drove through icy roads in 4-wheel drive and with a
stop in PA enroute to Maine further filled the trailer with stuff from my
parents home.
Moving from Maine to New Mexico I got serious and rented a
14 foot U Haul truck. With some help from friends for a couple hours and a lot
of help from my brother-in-law Brian we got the truck loaded. Brian and I
embarked on an epic road trip that filled my long standing dream or putting one
of my sister’s fiancés or spouses through some sort of slogathon. Brian passed
with flying colors. Brian and I worked like dogs to get the house set for Janet
and kids before they arrived.
When my job was cut short in New Mexico I packed up the
house with the help of Janet’s Mom and Janet. That trip was in a 24-foot
underpowered Budget truck that might hit 50 on a long down hill but struggled
to go 30 mph through the mountains of New Mexico and Texas.
Because our stuff was packed neatly in my parents garage in
Arizona while I searched for a new job it was easy to pack the ABF U-Pack
trailer when it was time to move to Virginia. When the trailer got to Virginia,
the unpack was really tough. My pride prevented me from asking the Elder’s
quorum for help. So I killed myself and my Dad moving things into the second
floor apartment.
Professional Moving
I can’t express how nice it was to have professional movers
pack and move us. As hurricane Sandy was
rolling through a crew of 4 movers showed up on time and set to work packing
the house. They packed everything and I mean everything. Our couch, bed, shovels,
tools…. everything was in a box or in a heavy packing material that that is
super stout. I just sat in the apartment and wondered around acting like I was
supervising, but mostly getting in the way.
While this was happening two more guys showed up to pick up
800 pounds of stuff that was going to be air freighted so that we wouldn’t be
limited to what we could carry in a few duffle bags for a month or two. I kept
adding stuff until I reached 753 pounds and called it good.
After Sandy passed the crew came back to finish the job on
Wednesday. Watching these guys pack these boxes that go on the boat to Norway
was amazing. They had bingo sheet to make sure they accounted for everything. I
wish I had a picture of these guys moving boxes downstairs. They carried three
or four box I would guess nearly equal their own weight using a strap they tied
around their chest.
Moving a Vehicle
Overseas
While it wasn’t hard it wasn’t exactly easy. Paperwork and
bureaucracy were the name of the game. I needed a copy of the vehicle title, a
letter from the lein holder saying they were ok with letting me take the
vehicle overseas, insurance, and scheduling a pickup when no one was working
because of Sandy.
When the guy drove away with the vehicle on the back of
truck was an amazing. The sense of relief of having finished my business so I
could get on the plane was incredible.
One Last Thing to Do
We have been in a hotel for 10 days and need to repack our
luggage and somehow fit in all the extra stuff we purchased since packing out.
I had to keep getting on scale to check the weight of each bag.
Yesterday afternoon we got on the plane at Regan and were
promptly parked for an hour when Newark told the pilots they needed to wait
because of traffic and they were later put into a 20 minute holding pattern
going around in nauseating circles. Although annoying I think it helped because
the kids didn’t have enough time to break down in the airport. They still
managed to have plenty of fun.
Our 7.5 hour flight to Oslo has been amazing. I am writing
this posting on the plane. We are more the 5.5 hours into the flight and the
kids have all been asleep since about 15 minutes into the flight. Even Janet
has slept most of the flight, which is amazing considering she says she doesn’t
sleep on planes. I think I am going to be only one who gets hit hard by the
hammer of jet lag.
Our New Home (Written
Later) Saturday
We made it and love it.
We are getting settled in with what little we have so far. Today our sponsor took us to the city and we had a fun day. Unfortunately we forgot the memory card so no pictures today. All I can say about the day was our pizza was $50 and we are grateful for Gore-tex and the raincoats we got for the kids.
We are getting settled in with what little we have so far. Today our sponsor took us to the city and we had a fun day. Unfortunately we forgot the memory card so no pictures today. All I can say about the day was our pizza was $50 and we are grateful for Gore-tex and the raincoats we got for the kids.
