Moving horror stories to cheer me up? (Chase: sales, apartment complex)

[akvarmit]

Okay - it is 17 days and counting for me and Mr. Crossfire and our excellent adventure....

As always, the best laid plans don't always land like they should. Minus the details, we are still on our way. But boy, I could really use some other's horror stories to cheer me up I am beginning to totally GET Chevy Chase's character on National Lampoon's vacation....(we're going to flipping Wally World and we're going to darn right enjoy it as we take John Candy hostage....)

I think this is the stuff that will make us stronger
( Hi Honey - like we NEED to be any stronger, huh?)

Keep posting those pics on the pic thread - they're keeping me going!
Dawn

[Grannysroost]

Originally Posted by akvarmit

Okay - it is 17 days and counting for me and Mr. Crossfire and our excellent adventure....

As always, the best laid plans don't always land like they should. Minus the details, we are still on our way. But boy, I could really use some other's horror stories to cheer me up I am beginning to totally GET Chevy Chase's character on National Lampoon's vacation....(we're going to flipping Wally World and we're going to darn right enjoy it as we take John Candy hostage....)

I think this is the stuff that will make us stronger
( Hi Honey - like we NEED to be any stronger, huh?)

Keep posting those pics on the pic thread - they're keeping me going!
Dawn

I remember those feelings well, like yesterday...There is so much to do and not enough time and where does all the stuff come from...We swore we were going to have fun on the trip, right..Were so stressed to finally get things done, a week later than planned of course.. I was never so glad to be somewhere, I don't think ever, when we finally got through Canada and into Alaska. It had been a long time since I would cry for no reason, but boy did I...It all works out eventually

[Crossfire600]

Originally Posted by Grannysroost

I remember those feelings well, like yesterday...There is so much to do and not enough time and where does all the stuff come from...We swore we were going to have fun on the trip, right..Were so stressed to finally get things done, a week later than planned of course.. I was never so glad to be somewhere, I don't think ever, when we finally got through Canada and into Alaska. It had been a long time since I would cry for no reason, but boy did I...It all works out eventually

I find it interesting to read the posts from others thinking about making this move. We haven't even set foot on Alaskan soil yet and WOW WOW WOW WOW!! A move to Alaska is not for the faint of heart.. I don't regret my decision one bit but I'll tell ya.. it's not a let's pick up and move deal..

My sweetie is a planner and it's still somewhat unbelievable...

With that said.. Look out folks here we come.. pink tags and all

[karibear]

Originally Posted by akvarmit

Okay - it is 17 days and counting for me and Mr. Crossfire and our excellent adventure....

As always, the best laid plans don't always land like they should. Minus the details, we are still on our way. But boy, I could really use some other's horror stories to cheer me up I am beginning to totally GET Chevy Chase's character on National Lampoon's vacation....(we're going to flipping Wally World and we're going to darn right enjoy it as we take John Candy hostage....)

I think this is the stuff that will make us stronger
( Hi Honey - like we NEED to be any stronger, huh?)

Keep posting those pics on the pic thread - they're keeping me going!
Dawn

Okay, horror stories. Our last move from AK - most of our stuff was in storage, not furniture, just stuff, and I had more stuff in an RV I drove down the Alcan. As far as northern Saskachewan, anyway. The RV broke down there, so I left it to be repaired, and bought a nice pick up with a canopy on the back, and took the most urgently needed stuff in it, along with the dogs. Got to STL, parked the pick up, took a Greyhound back up into Canada and picked up the RV. It died again - permanently - in northern Montana. Was fortunate enough to find someone who was happy to store it for free. DH flew down to STL with the bird. After a couple months of being in STL, we decided no effing way, and went back to MT to maybe live, or at the least, retrieve our stuff. Ended up going on to WA, having boxed it all up and had it mailed to us. There we were in WA, and discovered that the dealer I'd bought the truck from didn't know diddly squat about laws regarding imorting vehicles into the US. Spent a lot of expensive phone time and getting forms faxed and filled out, so we could license it legally.

Then my last move from WA. I don't want to go into the gory detainls, but after 4 months of unpacking a couple boxes nearly every day, I still haven't found my dishes or all the remaining bits of my computer. I rather think that if/when I do, none of it will be useable, anyway. The dishes are most likely broken, and judging by other mechanical stuff I've found, the assortment of flash drives and programs will be just so much trash.

[cobolt]

I've got a moving story for you but it's not an Alaskan story...

I was moving from TX to WA state and it was me and me alone. No husband, dog, nothing. I rented this Penske truck only after going back and forth as to what size I thought I needed. I hired some local movers to unload my storage area and pack up the truck. At the time, I was dividing my time between a regular job and Air NAtional Guard deployments so I had belongings scattered between storage, an apartment, and a friend's house: it was a logistical nightmare.

So I drove cross town to pick up this big old truck that I was all freaked out about driving without taking out a light post or stop sign. I got to my storage area but decided to let the "professionals" back up the truck to my unit, so I waited for them to arrive. They were late....I called, the dispatcher assured me they were on their way. About 20 minutes later, they showed....two of the scraggliest, rickity looking scoundrals you ever saw. I tell you, they looked like winos, and I wondered if they weren't just sobered up because they didn't smell like they were on the bottle. I was on pins and needles because I had a piano that I did not want damaged and to watch these guys pack up the truck....well it was all I could do to shut my mouth and not suggest better ways for them to move things and utilize the space. I'm thinking "come on. Pack it in there. I've got to drive 1800 miles and I don't want it all sloshing around in the back like".....well, a wino, right? Around the same time, the guys from Catholic Family Services arrived to pick up things I was donating (old washer and dryer, end tables, etc). Oh it was a mess.

Now, this packing the truck took place the day before I was to start driving, and I was leaving exactly a week before I was to start work. So..I got to thinking that maybe driving cross country by myself (with car in tow on the dolly) wasn't such a bright idea. In the meantime, these movers were offering to take the truck up for me, if I would just pay them the cash upfront or they would ride with me. You know...like I fell off the Christmas tree truck yesterday, already! Uhmmm..No. I never voiced my concern but I think they saw I was in on this alone and figured they'd try to score some drinking money. So once we were packed up, I cleaned out the storage unit, turned in the keys, drove the truck cross town on pins and needles, and the sweet man at the Penske rental place hooked the car dolly with my car on it and gave me a crash course. Then I drove the whole mess to my friend's house where I was staying those last few days, and parked it in front . When her husband came home, he looked at the montrosity in front of his house and said "Cobolt, do you want me to drive to WA with you?" Oh I could have kissed the man. I called the airlines to book his return flight to Texas and we were off the next day at stupid-0'clock inthe morning.

The drive was fairly uneventful until we starting getting into mountain country. Okay, that's not really true. I should probably mention that I had just gone through a relationship breakup before the move, so as I was driving, I kept getting these phone calls from phone numbers I didn't recognize, and it seemed like the call would either drop before I got to it or we'd get into a cell phone dead zone. When I finally did get connected and heard my ex on the other end, blabbering about how he wanted "just one more chance" I'm thinking "OMG. I don't need this. My life isn't a garage sale, ya know?" My friend's husband was like "Tell that %*#($ to leave you alone." My ex could hear the big old truck engine, I'm sure, and my friend's husband got on the phone and started talking some smack, which was really funny, half in Spanish, and just enough English for the ex to get the idea that "Cobolt is moving to someplace that starts with a W." So THAT was another topic of discussion and entertainment during the drive. Okay, now back to the main event: It was mid April and still cold. We were so tired taking turns and so forth, that we had to pull over. We couldn't really spend the night at a hotel because he had to be back at work in Texas on Monday (We left I think on a Friday), so it was a warp speed trip. Anyway, you can only eat so many cheetos, beef jerky and drink so many cokes, roll down the window and in the end, you're cold, you have to pee and you're STILL tired! So we pulled over to try and sleep, but it was so flipping cold with the engine not running that we couldn't sleep. Diesel was costing me a pretty penny (I say this THEN...I can't imagine doing this NOW). We alternated turning the engine on to warm up the cab, then turning it off, but we were so tired that we couldn't get comfy and then couldn't sleep. I went so far as to go into the rest area bathroom, which was heated, and try to sleep, but no such luck, so we just drove on.

The roads were so windy in the mountain passes and it was dark so it was freaky. The next morning or early afternoon when we got into WA, specifically W WA, well....the traffic moved much quicker than what I was used to, things were more dense, and I kind of freaked out a bit. Then we couldn't find my new apartment complex. I had put a deposit on this place online after extensive research, review searching, talk, correspondense with the manager, etc etc....and when we finally found the place and we're pulling up in the Penske truck, well, I wanted to cry. I'm telling you, all the research and online whatever does not take the place of real visits. No more sight unseen stuff. Anway, I was like "Oh no. This looks nothing like the pictures. I can't live here" and I started crying. My friend told me we would just look for another place, so we took the car off the dolly and drove around a town we didn't know to look for apartments that all looked like the one I just came from!!! We were both tired, hungry, driving around lost, and still had a truck to unload. My friend told me to put everything in storage and just stay in a hotel until Monday when I can look around at apartments and I said "I don't have time for that." So....we went back to my little ghetto and started to unpack. It wasn't unclean or runned down, although, the furry, blue carpet in my apartment made me cry a bit more, but it seemed that some of the people were....uhmmm. unsavory....or maybe savory depending upon your perspective. The neighbors stood outside in the rain and watched my friend and I unload. No one said hi even when greeted and no on offered to help, except for this young man who clearly had some sort of mental developmental issues, and although we appreciated the help, he got in the way more than anything. Hell....me and my friends' husband unloaded that big piano off the truck. I'm carrying heavy things and piles of boxes and here is my new neighbor carrying....ta da! A lamp shade! It was a very strange, eerie feeling, this whole move and place. The apt complex's handy man clearly had something going on. He looked like he drank Jack Daniels for breakfast, had tatoos everywhere, long hair, and was shaking alot (I found out months later he was a meth fiend).

After unloading, we got something to eat and then came back to the apartment with boxes and stuff everywhere, cleaned up, and hit the hay. The next day we ate at IHOP and I took my friend to the airport to catch his plane. When I got home (a 30 minute drive) he called on my cell to tell me that the airline didn't have a reservation for him. I called the airlines and argued with them for a good hour. Somehow the flight was cancelled although I was never notified and we called earlier to confirm, he was stuck there, and I had to pay for another flight for him and then fight to get the other airfare credited. His flight wasn't leaving until later that night, he would be late for work on little sleep, and I felt bad about the whole thing so I drove back to the airport to keep him company. It was one flippin mess after another.

SO....Does that make you feel better? LOL

[HighlandLady]

I was going to post about the packing people putting a bag of potatoes and a loaf of bread at the bottom of a box...but after reading poor Cobolt's heartbreaking litany...I have nothing to complain about

[karibear]

Originally Posted by HighlandLady

I was going to post about the packing people putting a bag of potatoes and a loaf of bread at the bottom of a box...but after reading poor Cobolt's heartbreaking litany...I have nothing to complain about

I had a bunch of neighbors 'helping' me pack, and they managed somehow to get a box or bag of something edible in almost everything. Talk about mouse magnets - every single thing I unpack has to be unpacked outside in the garage/warehouse. At least I have outside storage - which is great, because every other box I open a bunch of mice jump out at me, or away from me, I should say. Some of the gory details I wasn't going to go into.

[warptman]

This one time I moved from the bed to the computer desk too fast and I got dizzy and almost fell. Now I just take my time.

[elgusano]

Everyone I know, whether they learned the hard way or planned it this way the first time, sells everything they own before they move. (Except photos and other personal items and clothes.) I know a family with 6 kids who moved everything in 6 Rubbermaid totes. Got here, bought new (used; new to them) furniture, cars (also used), dishes, etc.

We get some great yard sales from people who move up with everything, decide they can't stand Alaska, but aren't about to drive back down with all that stuff again!

Basically, if you can get it here and it's not personal, you don't really need it. I own a 14' Toyota U-Haul for my business, and if we ever move, if it won't go in there, it's not going with us. (And my business equipment takes up half the area.)

[lyoness]

Originally Posted by warptman

This one time I moved from the bed to the computer desk too fast and I got dizzy and almost fell. Now I just take my time.

Thanks Warpt, I needed a good laugh today!