Colorado Mountain Passes's On this day in history... Archives

June 14, 2006

Moving Day

Can it have been a year already?

I'm listening to the Newsboys Devotion album. 'Listen' to the lyrics with me while I tell you the Moving Story:

all my world
all I've lost
the wrecks I've made here
the lives it cost
Your hand restores
Your words make whole
with all my soul
I thank You
I owe You
all my:

devotion
all that I have to give
here's my devotion
You're all that it means to live

all my past
my tainted name
You stole its legacy
of pride and shame
You're all I love
You're all I fear
I'm drawing near
to face You
to know You
to show You:

devotion
all that I have to give
here's my devotion
You're all that it means to live

You found me
in a shallow grave
You dragged me out from beneath it all
You healed me
saved me
in the nick of time
Your perfect time
You found me (found me)
in a shallow grave (in a shallow grave)
You called me out from beneath it all
You touched me (touched me)
saved me (saved me)
in the nick of time
in Your perfect time

I devote all I have to You
I devote all that You've made new
all You restored that day You bled
all that You brought back from the dead
all:

devotion (You're all...)
You're all that I have to give
You're all that it means to live
here's my devotion, my devotion
all that it means to live (You're all that means to live)

my Lord
my devotion

Anyway, The Dude sold his car, rented one, and drove to Central Pennsylvania to me. We celebrated 'the beginning of forever' by having lunch together, closing my bank account, and going to a movie. We spent that weekend together (he helped get the last 10 or so boxes packed), and on Tuesday, June 14, we went to Penske, got the moving truck (22 feet!), and went back to my apartment. I went to the eye doctor to get antibiotics for my pinkeye, and when I got back from the pharmacy, it was about 11am already. The Dude and a friend of mine were moving much slower than we thought it would go, so we readjusted our plans.

The original plan was to be packed by noon that Tuesday, hit the road by 1, get to Western Pennsylvania by that evening, put the rest of The Dude's stuff in boxes, spend that night in Western Pennsylvania, and load up the truck and head south to Bob's parents' house by noon Wednesday. No such luck.

It was really hot that day. The Dude did most of the packing and tying and furniture-blanket blanketing. I cleaned and vacuumed and waited. He meanwhile got hot and hungry and stressed. Eventually, he finished. It was 8. We went to the best Italian restaurant around (and Central Pennsylvanians say Eye-talian!) for dinner, went back to my place, learned to hitch the car up to the tow dolly, say 'goodbye' to my little place, and get going.

We realized we still needed to buy a padlock. So we had to stop at the Waltopia.

Finally, we got on the turnpike by 10:30. We were going to drive all night long and pack the next day after catching a couple hours at The Dude's place. However, I fell asleep in the truck right away, and The Dude wasn't feeling too energetic. So we stopped at the first Pennsylvania Turnpike Service Station we came to--30 miles down the road.

We were just going to get a few hours! But we ended up sleeping all night, with the engine running to keep the a/c going, and after 'cuddling' on the truck's seat, we soon realized that neither of us was sleeping. So I curled up on the floor of the truck so he could have the seat, because he was doing all the driving. Hah. We slept till light, about 5:45. I was really crammed into the space between the bench seat and the front of the truck, so the Dude had to literally pull me out. I had no leverage!

It was not funny at the time. But it sure is funny now. It'll be a good story to tell our kids...whenever we have any.

So we pull into the Western Pennsylvania City at about 10, go to a nearby parking lot to unhitch the car, drive to the Dude's apartment and back the (22 foot!) truck into his driveway, and catch a 45 minute nap. Then his packing crew turned up, we packed, the guys loaded the truck, and then those people had to leave. We still had quite a bit of packing to do, and this time we didn't have all night...so I called one of his church friends and asked if the Friend could come over right away to help pack the truck. What a friend! He did. We got on the road at about 7 pm (missing the evening rush hour, thankfully).

Here comes another funny part. We had to head south on Interstate R. So we followed Interstate R/S for a while, looking at the map, chatting, and marveling at the bumpertobumper traffic headed the other way. We didn't realize we had to watch for one little tiny sign saying "Interstate R" right at its exit, so we both gasped when we passed the exit. (Hello! There were no other signs! Just the one, right at the exit! Sheesh.)

So I checked the map and we pulled off at the next exit, got to a gas station, and I went into the gas station to ask a trucker if we could redirect instead of getting stuck in that bumpertobumper mess. He assured me--he was a really nice old trucker. You know the type!

Well, we hauled to West Virginia to Bob's parents' house and made to to their city by 1am. It was late. I called them. They came to meet us, and meanwhile we unhitched the car, got our stuff out of the cab, and got ready to spend the night.

We got up the next day (Thursday) at 4:45, showered, breakfasted, and hit the road by 7, stopping for gas about 30 minutes down the road, and really got goin' by 8am.

We pulled into Chatt about 4pm, got to the storage place, and while we inspected the storage units, zipping around the complex on the golf cart, I made more wedding plans with my mom on the cellphone. Multitasking. Sheesh. So our friend Eddy came to the storage place to help unload the truck into the unit, I repacked the car, and Beth kept holding dinner over for us.

We had dinner at 10pm. Showered. Fell into bed(s, because we were still unmarried). Got up the next day (Friday, June 17) at 6, hit the road by 7, and pulled another loooooong day to Tiny Kansas Town, which we now know is 19 hours away. I did a large chunk of the driving, because The Dude had done all of the driving with the truck.

Slept in and did very little that Saturday. Went to bed early. Got up, went to church. Had Father's Day lunch there, and drove (in two cars, with Mother in Law* and The Dude in the minivan ahead of me in my car) to Colorado Springs for Father's Day dinner in Colorado Springs.

Whew. That's the story! It's a good 'un, I think.

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* Mother in Law was uncomfortable driving that far (4.5 hours through practically deserted ranchland prairie) alone, not having ever driven it before. So we caravanned. And since I'd just gotten to spend all that time with The Dude, I opted to share him with his mom and let them have all those hours chatting and getting caught up. She's his mom, after all. And I enjoyed the time alone--it's easy to do so, when you know you've got company again when your Alone Time is done.

Posted by The Newest Worker at 07:49 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack