Finished moving, at last!

Even though we officially moved into our new home on December 20...

...we had an awkward situation in that at least half our household goods were still in a couple of storage units in our old town. Items included shop equipment, farm tools, summer clothes (since we moved in winter), pictures for the walls, furniture, and of course the vast majority of our books, which have been packed away for almost two years.

As the season progressed and we found ourselves wanting to tackle more and more projects, we kept asking each other: "Do you know where such-and-such is?" – only to realize it was in one or the other storage unit. We couldn't really claim to be fully moved in until those units were empty and the contents transported here.

But moving the items from there to here was something of a logistical nightmare. We have the big 26-foot box truck (purchased so we could give the metaphorical middle finger to U-Haul after our nightmare experience with them), but we had to figure an all-day trip at minimum and an overnight trip at maximum. That would mean leaving the pets (dog and parrot) alone for way too long. We also needed to organize a work crew of strong young people interested in earning some money who could do the heavy lifting.

As it turns out, organizing this took weeks of pre-planning. We first attempted to gather the work crew in late May, and it simply didn't work out. Part of that reason, I believer, is we attempted to form the work party on a Sunday, since I have Saturday commitments. But that whole thing fell apart.

So we set our sights on this past weekend – Saturday, June 5 – with the understanding Don would be driving the box truck and handling the move solo, since I wouldn't be able to go. (On the bright side, at least I was home with the pets.)

We contacted everyone we knew who had teenagers and asked them to meet Don at the storage units. We also asked a neighbor who is a former professional truck driver to meet Don there so he could back the box truck in as close as he could to the units.

Meanwhile, we cleaned the box truck and got it ready.

Don brought every possible accouterments he might need: ladders, step ladders, flatbed carts, hand trucks, ropes, straps.

Then, at 6:30 am on Saturday, I kissed him goodbye, said a prayer for safe travels, and watched him drive away. To be honest, I was worried. That truck is a monster and he hates driving it.

My prayers were answered. Don called about 12:30 – not long after he got there – and said he was already about to head home again! As it turned out, we hit the jackpot with a work crew. Seventeen young people showed up. Seventeen!

Thanks to our neighbor's skill in backing big rigs into tight spaces, he was able to back the box truck right up to the door of the bigger storage unit. The kids all formed a chain gang and got the unit emptied in an hour. The smaller storage unit took about fifteen minutes. He didn't even need any of the ladders or flatbed carts.

After weeks and months of fretting how we were going to get all our household goods moved, it took less than an hour and a half to get the truck loaded!

Don was home by 4:30, tired but elated. And at last, we have everything here! (Ahem. Except one or two more things at our old house, such as our pickup's camper shell and a couple of wheelbarrows. We'll take another trip to get those things later. At least we can just drive the pickup for that trip.)

Now we need to unload and organize the contents of the box truck, including items we'll sell or donate now that we have an idea of what we don't need. But we can take that task slow and steady.

It feels good. We're finally finished moving – six months after moving.