oh my goodness. I’ve done a lot of things in my life, moving across the country with 3 cats, 2 of which hate each other, now tops the charts as my least favorite activity.
regarding tipping, well, i blew anything i discussed here. I tipped the guys $30 each ($60 total). Why? they arrived on time, but i was late having the truck in place. they said to take my time, they weren't starting the clock.
i had a 26-foot truck, filled to the doors (I thought i had way too big a truck.... nope).
The first thing that struck me was I had concern they'd try to milk the clock. that concern left immediately. these guys were brothers. and it was like they were racing. Not when bringing boxes in, but they RAN back to the truck each load. I've never seen anything like it.
The one thing i know without question is that they are pros. the way they could make corners with things like my bow front desk just blew me away. they didn't bump a single wall a single time, and one of them offered to help me put my desk back together. (i have a large u-shaped desk that worried me because it was like a jigsaw puzzle disassembling it, i didn't think i'd be able to get it back together). I said that was 'ok' and went back to watch more...
i came back in about 10 minutes later and he had most of it in place. he asked me to help him, that's when he told me he owns a small business that does furniture assembly just like that. he immediately knew where everything went. within a few minutes it was done. blew me away. he didn't charge for that.
they emptied the truck, put everything in the rooms i specified. now i will admit they missed some targets but i had two lables very close to each other. 'jean's office' and 'john's office'. as fast as they were going it's no shock, but it's also no big deal.
they had the truck emptied, everything in it's place, loaded up the blankets and closed the truck door in under 1.5 hours including the desk.
they were exceptionally nice as well. i got VERY lucky. I'd like to mention the company since it went so well. ALthough i don't remember the kid's names.
I don't know if it's against the rules to do this, so if a mod edits my post i understand. I just want to take every opportunity i can to praise them:
Movelogix LLC
RONNY GONZALEZ
Phone: (480) 659-5411
Cell: (480) 329-6683
Email:
rong922@aol.com
as for the appointment. Randy (he's the owner, and i think his name is wrong on the site info above but that's what it said) called me two days before the meeting, he called again 1 day before, then called about 6 hours before the meeting time. He made nice small talk asking where i was driving from, where I was at since he's traveled the route and warned me about a section with a steep grade (though I've driven the route before so i knew that).
I can't say enough good things about them. The one thing I will say and only negative, is Randy doesn’t seem to read his emails. but he answers when you call.
It's a shame to use the place I did (hire a helper) because i'm sure they take a big cut but i didn't know anyone. The last thing I'll say about the movers is the price. it was $190 for 2 helpers or 2 hours. In Arkansas they wanted $325 for 2 helpers for 2 hours. I ended up hiring some guys on my street for $180 to do the whole thing. Granted it took them about 4 hours, but they said they'd stay all day if needed.
Amazingly not a single item got scratched or damaged, and I'm lucky, they truck box had a leak in the front right cap on top, and even in the morning condensation it dripped. I didn't have time to replace the truck, so i wrapped the items put there disgustingly heavy with stretch wrap, and put extra blankets around them. But since it didn't rain it wasn't a problem.
Now, that's the good news, now the yuck news.... the drive and the timing.
i also got lucky since i was planning on going alone; but my business partner called and said he'd come down (2 hours away) and make the drive with me if I’d just buy his plane ticket home. which of course i did.... whew
To avoid traffic going from Arkansas to Fort Smith (this is to get to the 45, it's a two lane highway getting there) i had to drive 3 hours. I left at 4:00am so to avoid traffic and boy am i glad i did. the roads are very windy, and even though my truck had only 20,000 miles it had ENORMOUS play in the wheel. I’ve driving these trucks before, this one was bad.
The timing also allowed me to hit Flagstaff in the wee hours. this is important because if you've ever driven from flag to phx there are 2 sets of steep grades. one is 18 miles long, and the other is about 12. Now, 6% doesn't sound like a lot, but you load up a 26-foot truck, pulling a full sized trailer with a car on it, and it aint easy to stop. Thankfully since I’ve driven these and this route I knew to gear down and stay under 50 to keep the brakes cool. no prob.
the cats on the other hand did not care for this trip. all 3 are indoor cats that do not go outside. they're all 8 years old, two are brother/sister, one was an abandoned stray i took in. The brother/sister have never been outside at any time. just seeing outside scared them.
I opted not to drug them, i just couldn't do it. i have a really big male cat. he's 21 pounds of sheer hate when he’s mad. he cut my hand up very badly putting him in the crate. i don't know why, he’s gone in them many times when i take him to the vet (well ok he's been outside technically, but never on the ground). but it became immediately apparent, i was not going to be able to stop along the way and let them out because I don’t know that i could have gotten them back in.
this brings up a second issue. this drive is 19 hours if you go straight through. but i can't. i have a cat that has diabetes (the big one). he requires a pill every 12 hours and a shot of insulin at the same time. this means he must eat first. I brought a can of tuna in water to entice him. i fed all 3 every 5 hours and gave them water. the other two declined food and water completely. Wilbur ate and drank everything. i was so lucky.
but with all the stops, it took us 26 hours to get here. We drove straight through, no hotel, no breaks except to stretch when getting fuel.
Here's the kicker. We managed to arrive at 6:00am. guess what time the movers were coming? 6:30. lol. also, even though I let the movers unload, i was running around frantically verifying things, checking for damage etc. so we drove straight through, then i spent 4 hours moving things and arranging before getting to finally put my bed together and sleep. it was not fun.
also, since i had to cram the square cats into the round carriers, the 6 each puppy pads I put in to keep them from peeing on the carriers got smashed up to the end on every single one. so they were useless. anyone else trying this, i recommend taping the ends down before smashing your cat into the carrier.
THAT WAS A VERY VERY LONG TRIP
side note. i got lucky on fuel too. sadly, the truck only had a 50-gallon tank. fuel was 2.44 almost everywhere we looked, but i managed to pay 2.09 first stop, 2.19 second then 2.29 third and to refill before return it was 2.29. whew!
Penske stinks on their logistics. check this out.....
the truck return was set for Oct 2, 8am. under the location it said "no afterhours drop-off". so I was stuck, i figured i'd go the next morning because we arrived on Sunday and they were closed.
I decided to call an hour later at 9 and the lady was worried they'd charge me for being late. They gave me an alternate drop-off location and she said 'I’m Vikki and I’m noting your account to they don't charge you).
i get there..... there's no note. they want to charge me $125 extra for missing my drop-off.... 2 hours... and it was THEIR fault. jerks. thankfully the guy at Home Depot was really nice and called them and talked them into removing the fee.
so in the grand scheme of things, I got every break i could have ever hoped for, and had no surprises along the way other than the cats not being, happy, but i will also say, 3 carriers and two people do NOT fit in the cab of a truck. we had a cheek hanging off the right side on the passenger seat because the driver had to fit right. it was TIGHT.
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It will all be over soon. Good luck with your move.
