It’s finally moving day……

The days leading up to move day just got busier and busier.  Both households were packing and sorting through years of stuff.  We gave stuff away, we threw stuff out and we agonized over “will we need this on the farm??”  We totally had no idea exactly what we would need on the farm – because none of us had ever lived on one.  We have likely thrown away all the stuff we really did need on the farm – and kept old city crap that will never find a home on the farm.  Anything was possible at this point.

Now in hindsight, it seemed like a sort of frenzy started to take over the process.  You start thinking about all the things you are going to need when you get there, and you have no idea if any of it is going to be available.  Your mind starts going off – remembering how small the towns in the area are – man, we don’t have a Home Depot, no Homesense, no Winners!!!!  Where are we going to get all the stuff we need to reno the house??  As if that isn’t bad enough, you start seeing deals everywhere and you think – hey great deal! – we’ll take that with us because we will never find it that cheap out there.   So you get in this frenzy of throwing away and buying, and throwing away, and buying.  Ya gotta know this is not going to end well.

I know you all are thinking….. “what the hell could they possibly have purchased that they couldn’t get in the Interior?”, which is why I said it was a frenzy….. it wasn’t logical necessarily, but it seemed so at the time, and we talked ourselves into it.  Besides, a deal is a deal!  Our great deals included a log splitter, a chicken egg incubator, some fabulous ceramic floor tile, 120 egg cartons ( visions of chickens for Chuck ) and a couple appliances for our renovated house.  See…. all very useful stuff…… !!

Now before they kill me, I must say that Fallon and Darren did not buy into the frenzy quite the way Chuck and I did.  They were both very practical and did a lot of clearing out of stuff and very little buying.   Take a bow, both of you.

I am sure I have mentioned in other posts that Chuck is the more serious thinker of the two of us.  I am that one that  just decides that it will all go well, and we are more than capable of handling anything that could possibly go wrong.  We are strong, capable people – surely we can come up with a solution to any problem. We balance each other off well!  So off and on during our buying – throwing out frenzy, Chuck starts saying things like “43 acres, that’s big”, “never seen the place in the summer, wonder how high the grass will be when we get there”, “that little house needs a lot of work, it’s not very pretty”.  I tend not to listen to what I don’t want to hear, so I just concentrate on all the positives, and hold tight to my belief that I can will it to all going well.  Keep this in mind as the story unfolds.

Now you have to know that coordinating a long distance move for 2 separate households, 4 adults, three vehicles and one cat, isn’t going to be easy, but we felt quite organized and ready to go.  Truck had been reserved – a nice big 26′ truck – ready to go at 8am.  We booked the elevator at our condo for 9-12, so we would  get our place done – I would stay to do last minute cleaning = while everyone moved over to Fallon & Darren’s place to pack them out. I take a quick side trip to my sister’s place to drop off the cat for the night and head to Fallon’s.  The boys pack and the ladies would clean again, and then, finally, we would head the truck over to Tanis & Dave’s place (Chuck’s sister and her husband) where the last of our packing would be done and where we would leave the truck for the night.  We would bunk down for a good nights sleep.  In the morning, I would grab the cat – kiss my mom and my sister goodbye and head out first thing.  That would get us in to our new home in the late afternoon!  Well thought out plan…. with no Plan B!   Hahahahahahaha!!!

It started to go sideways 10 minutes into the plan!!!  We arrive at Uhaul to pick up our reserved truck – it is June 30th so if you didn’t reserve you are outta luck at this point.  But we don’t see our truck in the lot..  Sure enough there has been an oops….  they don’t have our truck, but they scramble and find us one in Langley – so right off the bat we are an hour behind by the time we get to Langley and back with the truck.  It eats into our elevator time a bit – but the building manager gives us a break.   If you have ever tried to move into or out of a large condo building, it is a bit of a nightmare! So after a bit of a shmozle we get started at our place – our little 800 sq ft condo and had that cleared out in a mere 3 hours (and a million trips from the 12th floor to the basement).  Our moving crew included the four of us and Darren’s brother Jared and his lady Tia.   So the ladies stay behind to clean up our rental and the fellas head to Fallon & Darren’s place to start packing out their suite. I do vaguely recall hearing something about how full the Uhaul truck already was – but that was concerning – so I chose to ignore it for now.  Lastly I crate up my completely confused city cat, jump in the truck and head to my sisters place – to drop off the cat – till we are ready to go in the morning.

Things really don’t get any better at Fallon & Darren’s.  They have this monster couch that they barely got in the door when they moved in, and so it required them to remove the door, the stair railing, the outside lamp and the feet of the couch to get it back out. Thankfully, we had added their good friend JP to the moving crew – so that was a plus.  About this time it became very apparent that the 26′ Uhaul is not going to be big enough to hold all the very necessary things that had to come here with us.  Uh oh….. off I go to Uhaul with our pick up truck to see if there is anything else left that we can rent.  After waiting patiently behind the hordes of people picking up their rentals, I step up to speak to the same lady who dealt with my somewhat less than pleasant demeanor that morning, when I had to drive all the way to her office for my 26′ truck that was supposed to be 5 minutes from my house.  She was very professional and pleasant ( maybe she didn’t remember me??? hahahahaha) – yes she had an 8 foot trailer that I could rent – did I want that?  Hell ya, sign me up.  She gets all the paperwork done and I drive the truck over to have the nice man put the trailer on the back.  Next problem – we don’t have a hitch….. how the hell was I supposed to know that…. why did they send me to do this job anyway??  So I look like a bit of a moron because I rent a trailer when I have no hitch – yes they can give me one – but I have to go back to the office to see the nice lady…….   Note to self…. always be nice to people… particularly if you are going to look like an idiot in front of them.  Wait behind another group of people she is serving and then admit to her that I need a hitch – end up buying one because as sure as God made little green apples, we were going to need the hitch again in the future!

It’s now about 5pm, believe it or not, and they are still packing the truck at the kid’s house. We have a quick conference – looks like they will get everything from there in the truck – but absolutely nothing else.  An amazing packing job for sure – you couldn’t squeeze a dime in there when they were done!  So Chuck and I decide that we will take the trailer to Tanis and Dave’s and start packing over there. Darren will bring the truck over when they are done.  Some of our wonderful frenzy purchases were going to have to go in the trailer – so Chuck and I spent the next couple hours filling the trailer.  I think we were finally done about 8pm – when Darren called and asked us if we had seen the keys to the Uhaul truck……..  OMG… we lost the keys!!!  False alarm… found them all safe and sound after which I think Darren had a few beers….. We were all exhausted!

Exhausted, but really pumped to be heading out to our new home!!!!!

We all meet at 7am and we get organized and on the road – with me making a small pit stop on the way out of town to grab the cat, and kiss my mom one more time.  So to recap – there is Fallon in her car, Darren driving the 26′ Uhaul truck, me driving our truck with the Uhaul trailer attached to it with our new hitch, and Chuck bringing up the rear in Darren’s car (with no air conditioning – this will become very relevant in a couple minutes!).  It is a beautiful sunny day – surely today will be the start of all good things for us!   I am cruising along the highway behind Darren, with our cat Kohana sitting on the seat beside me.  Much calmer now that I let him out of the carrier.  I crank up the tunes and just enjoy the sun and the start of a new adventure.  The climb through Manning Park went well and I am not having any difficulty with the truck or towing the trailer – its full – but no problem.  We get to Keremeos and stop for some of their amazing cherries! and a bio break.  Darren asked me if I was having any trouble with the truck – I said nope – and Chuck mentioned a little puff of smoke he had seen at one point earlier.  They found some oily substance on the trailer hitch and Darren checked the fluid levels in my truck but everything looked fine.  To tell you the truth, I really can’t see too much out the back of the truck – with the canopy on and the trailer attached, I can really only see out the side mirrors.

So off we go for the second leg of the journey – thru Osoyoos, where we all gas up. Wow, Osoyoos is about 5 million degrees – easily 42-44C – which is fairly typical of the area.  Poor Chuck – he is in the only car without air conditioning!  Also well know in the area is Anarchy hill – a wickedly steep, switchback hill that is just outside town – on our way to the Kootenay’s.  Yes, our idyllic day is about to come to an abrupt end……

Fallon and Darren are in the lead and they get a little ahead of us when we have to wait for a red light.  Chuck is behind me as we start the climb out of Osoyoos.  I have cherries to eat and fresh water, the cat is behaving himself and I am singing away to the radio.  I can see the big truck as it switches back on the side of the mountain – and they can see me.   I am apparently very visible due to the clouds of black smoke that are pouring out of the back of my truck as I get about half way up the hill.  I am completely oblivious to the issue because I really can’t see behind me and I am in the slow lane so what do I have to worry about behind me?   Chuck is trying desperately to get my attention – beeping the little baby horn in Darren’s car ( totally useless horn ) but I am singing and talking to the cat and eating wonderful cherries – it’s a great day.  Just was we are about to the top of the switchback, I see Fallon and Darren have pulled over the the side of the road – oh no, I think, is there something wrong with the Uhaul??  Fallon is frantically gesturing to me – waving her hands in the air and yelling at me!!!  What!????  Fire!!??? Where!!??   I finally turn down the music and hear Fallon yelling that the truck is on fire….. I am still a little confused and looking at the Uhaul….. She is grabbing at my door and Chuck is now at the passenger door yelling at me to grab the cat!!!  OH!!!  Me!  I am on fire!!! OMG!!!   I have to grab my poor cat and shove him back in the crate, I jump out of the truck because, much as I love my cat, I think I am more important.  Chuck hauls the crate out of the back seat of the truck while Darren gets the hood up and gets the fire out.

So there we are, on the side of the road, in the 500 degree weather….. and the truck is buggered.  Transmission fluid all over the road. The truck that is fully packed and hauling a trailer that is fully packed.   What to do!!?? And of course, we don’t know the area, we can’t move the truck without risking further damage, and, oh ya, it is July 1 – a statutory holiday.  Great!  We try to find a local tow truck that is operating today. I finally get an answer at one number, where I hear the sad story about how it’s his towing company but he is sick right now with kidney stones and can’t come get us – but if I call this other number, his son will come and get us.  Well, ok then…. we get said son on the phone he tells us he is on his way.  In the meantime, what do we do with the trailer that is attached to the truck??  We can’t leave it there – it has to be back at the Uhaul in Nelson the next day.   No problem I say, we will just find a rental truck and put the trailer on that – that will get us to the property and we will see how long it will take to fix the truck.  Oh… the arrogance of the city people!!  There are NO rental companies in Osoyoos…. closest one is in Vernon – about 1 hour away.  Are you serious?!   And that is closed today because it is a holiday.   There is nothing in this town – nothing open anyway.

While we are mulling this situation over, the nice fellow with the tow truck arrives.  Truly a great guy! He looks at the situation and decides that the first thing we have to do it get the trailer off the truck.  He grabs an enormous metal bar off the back of his tow truck and sets about attempting to lift the fully packed trailer off the truck.  He levers the metal bar under the trailer and gets it just high enough to get it over the new hitch, then it drops like a boulder to the ground.  As he is wiping the sweat from his forehead – remember it is 500 degrees outside – he says something to the effect of  “Holy moley that trailer feels way over packed!” (not an exact quote!)  What he doesn’t know it that, the trailer is loaded with 38 boxes of ceramic tile that weigh about 50 lbs each.  Yes, the trailer was way over packed! A frenzy buy but a great deal…. sort of!  But no matter, the truck gets loaded onto the flat bed of the tow truck and we turn our attention to what to do with the trailer now.  The only solution was to put it on the back of the Uhaul truck.  I know the poor tow truck guy was thinking … no way are we getting that on the truck!  But to his credit, he was willing to give it a go.  We backed up the Uhaul to the trailer and all the men hauled on it to get it on the truck and…. it was a no go.  The thing weighed a ton – the tow truck driver suggested that he go get a hydraulic jack….. that may be the only way we will get the trailer high enough to get it on the truck.  But trust our MacGyverish Darren to come up with another solution.  Darren suggests that we put some weight on the back of the trailer and use it to help cantilever the weight in the trailer making it easier to lift the front part onto the Uhaul hitch.  And he suggests that Fallon and I stand on the back of the trailer – I am seriously trying not to be offended by being the “weight” they need in the back!!! I was almost hoping it wouldn’t work – not enough weight in the back!!  I bite my tongue and jump on the back of the trailer with Fallon.  The fellas give it one last go and damned if it didn’t work.  First try and the trailer was on!!!!  Yay!!  I think even the tow truck guy was surprised!  Wish I had his name…. he was truly terrific!

We spend another half hour or so rearranging the remaining vehicles – rescued the cat from under a shade tree – and we were back on the road, with me now in Darren’s car with Chuck.  Yes…… the one with no air conditioning!   Sigh!   We are hot, thirsty and tired and still had a 3-4 hour drive in front of us.  We lost about two and a half hours on that little adventure!  The rest of the trip in was uneventful.  Chuck and I spent the time talking about the property….. what does it look like in the summer, how high is the grass, what will the stars look like out there, and our renovation plans for the little house.

Finally we were there!!!  Our little piece of heaven!  Our neighbours had come to meet us, and brought us a wonderful baked lasagna and bless them, cold beers!!!!!  We get out of the vehicles and do a great big stretch, and breathe in the clean country air……. which is full of millions of little flying bugs!!!  OMG they were everywhere!!!!

Flying in your face, and in your mouth…..