packing

We made it. We're here, in SLC. And now comes the flow of posts to bring you up to speed ...

So, I was driving the Subaru around for days, coasting around on fumes, trying to get the remaining gallons of fuel in the tank down as low as possible so as to keep the weight down – we towed my car on a U-Haul trailer behind the Chevy Silverado (Z71 Off-road edition/optional 535.3L V-8, for you purists) and the less weight the better. I hate having less than a quarter tank of gas so this was quite difficult for me. H also had some errands to run: a trip to the transfer station with five large Falmouth garbage bags, a bunch of stuff for the Take-It-Or-Leave-It shed and all the cardboard boxes we didn’t use to recycling.

The movers were “scheduled” to arrive between 8-10 a.m. but actually showed up at 10:59 a.m. I was running errands and keeping Becky out of the house; H was pacing and cleaning the kitchen until they arrived. It took them five hours to empty the house and pack the truck, leaving at 4:08 p.m. The driver, James, swore that he wouldn’t be in SLC until after Monday 10/5 so we thought we could probably beat the truck to Utah.

After the movers left, our dear friends P and C stopped by with beers to say goodbye. I suspect we weren’t very good company what with the nerves from the closing issues and the general exhaustion from the last few days, but we stood around in the empty house and all toasted each other. I’m so glad they came by.

After P and C left, we were totally wired but too nervous to eat; we declined a dinner invitation and went to a local watering hole for a couple of last minute drinks. A couple beers later, we went back to the house and laid out our sleeping bags on the floor – with no pillows as they were on the moving truck. The poor dog had already been nervous for days at the disheveled house; now she was crazed with nerves because the house was totally empty. When we ran one last load of laundry, the dryer echoed crazily in the empty rooms and she fretted, pacing, having nothing to hide under or in since it was all packed. It was a bad night of sleep for all involved.