Well, we made it, and what an adventure it was.
Monday, February 28
We woke up on the morning of the 28th with very little left in the apartment. We had the bed, Ash’s kennel and our traveling bags.
We left the apartment at 7:00 to go to the U-Haul on 98th and Central to pick up our 26 foot truck (even though we’d reserved it at the Central and San Pedro location.) We signed the paperwork that needed to be signed and we took off, Brandy following in my car.
We showed up at the storage unit at Tramway and Montgomery where the movers were already waiting for us. Brandy showed up a moment later and we opened up the unit, telling the movers that it all had to fit in the truck, as well as the bed that was waiting for us at the apartment. They assured us it wouldn’t be a problem. There was plenty of room.
I snuck into the unit and got all of the TVs we had in there and loaded them into my car with pillows and blankets wrapping them up to prevent damage.
The movers started loading up and for the first hour and a half or so, it looked like they were right, that there was going to be plenty of room. They neatly stacked all of the easily stacked items at the front of the truck, then they were left with all of the oddball shaped items. They kind of just started hucking it into the truck and they quickly ran out of room. They got everything from the storage unit into the truck but they had trouble closing the door, it was so full.
They assured us that when we got to the apartment, they’d rearrange things to make room for the king sized bed that was waiting for them, so we drove to the apartment and sure enough, there wasn’t any room for the bed. We got the headboard in, but the frame, box springs and mattress got left in the dumpster. (Luckily, Brandy had a king sized bed in the storage unit.)
We finished up in the apartment, not bothering to clean or anything (they’re going to charge us a cleaning fee anyway, might as well get our money’s worth) and headed to the Chevron gas station on Wyoming, just outside Kirtland Air Force Base to get the car dolly. There was a woman manning the gas station that had no clue how to hook the trailer up, so it was left to us to figure it out. I managed to get it hooked up, then drove my car onto it, strapped it down and we headed back to the apartment to get Brandy’s car.
We stopped on the way out to drop our keys and off we went.
We headed east on I-40 to Cline’s Corners, topped off with gas and continued on to Dalhart, Texas, where we stopped for the night at Econo Lodge.
The place was pretty run down. For some reason, there was ethernet cable draped throughout the complex, on stair railings and hung from the eaves.
The room was fine, though the odor of air freshener, or cleaner, or whatever it was, was overpowering.
As a “pet-friendly” place, there wasn’t really anywhere for me to take Ash to do his business. I did find an empty lot behind one of the buildings, but that was sketchy so not a lot was done there.
We ordered Chinese delivery and were pleasantly surprised at how delicious it was. Who knew we had to go to Dalhart, Texas, for good Chinese food?
We settled in for the night, got up early the next morning and headed out.
Tuesday, March 1
Tuesday was the longest drive on the trip, going for 11 hours, pulling in at the Family Budget Inn in Bethany, Missouri, at 6:00 pm.
This was a much nicer place. Again, not a lot of area for Ash to go, but we still managed.
There was a HUGE empty lot in front of the building so it was a perfect spot to put the U-Haul. We got our room, brought our stuff in and searched for someplace to eat. We decided on Toot-Toot, based on recommendations from someone on Brandy’s side. Without a delivery option, I called in an order (chicken fried steak with a side salad and mashed potatoes and extra gravy for Brandy, a chicken finger basket with fries and gravy as the dipping sauce for me) and, being told it would be about 15 minutes, shortly headed out to pick it up.
I stopped at a gas station on the way for some water and pulled in to the restaurant about 20 minutes after I’d ordered. I was told it wasn’t ready just yet so I sat at a nearby table and waited. And waited. And waited. After an additional 20 minutes of waiting, the food was finally ready. I headed back to the Inn and unpacked the food. There was no salad for Brandy’s meal, they only provided one side of gravy for Brandy’s steak and my chicken fingers and all of the food was so terribly bland, I wondered if the restaurant was just plain out of salt. Needless to say, we were quite disappointed.
Ah well, we ate and again, promptly went to sleep to finish the last of the drive Wendesday.
Wednesday, March 2
We left the Family Budget Inn at 7:30, headed across the street to a Casey’s to fill up with gas, and to FINALLY get some of the famous breakfast pizza Brandy had raved about. (spoiler: it was actually pretty good.)
We got on the road at about 8:00 and drove, top speed, all the way to our new place in Coralville, IA. We pulled in at around 11:30, with the expectation that the movers would be by shortly to unload.
It was a beautiful, warm, sunny day; about 65 degrees, no wind, it was perfect.
As we pulled up, I realized that there is no parking allowed on the street. Brandy had pulled in to the driveway so there was nowhere for me to offload the trailer towing my car.
I continued down the road and found a parking lot for a business that looks like is no longer there. I pulled my car off the trailer, unhooked the trailer and headed back, having Brandy move her car out of the way so I could back into the driveway.
The landlady was here when I pulled up. We got a tour of the place and got keys before she left.
Not long after, the movers showed up. They opened the back door of the truck and were immediately upset at the horrible job the loading movers had done. Without going into too much detail, let’s just say, we sustained a LOT of damage to our belongings. We’re still in the process of trying to file a claim with the movers but we’re about to give up on that.
They got the truck unloaded in no time and hauled off the destroyed furniture to dispose of. We got the sofa, TV and bed set up and pretty much just chilled the rest of the day.
Brandy’s friend Christy ordered us Wild Burger via Door Dash and included a couple pieces of chocolate cake for Brandy’s recently passed birthday.
I realized that we didn’t have a shower curtain, ours being buried among the multitude of boxes piled in the garage. Upon hearing the complaint, Christy then ordered us a cheap liner from Dollar General, once more, delivered by Door Dash.
Gotta say, Christy really came through for us.
I showered and put on clean clothes for the first time in three days and we soon headed to bed.
Thursday, March 3
Brandy’s mom Sue came over Thursday morning and helped us start unpacking. We got the kitchen done, several of the seemingly endless boxes of Brandy’s clothes and shoes got emptied and much of the living room done.
We plugged away for the day before, while Brandy was napping, Sue’s friend Matt showed up with a couple dozen delicious chocolate chip cookies. He stayed for a bit, chatting with Sue, then headed out to get back to work.
We continued unpacking and organizing and cleaning and straightening when Matt showed back up. He hung out for a while, he and Sue leaving to go get us dinner from Longhorn Steakhouse. They quickly returned, we ate, chatted and had an overall good time before Matt left.
I quickly realized that our location is perfect. We’re minutes away from Hy-Vee, Target, Best Buy, the Coral Ridge Mall is literally walking distance, Fareway is just up the road in North Liberty, there’s a Costco, Wal-Mart and Aldi just on the other side of the freeway, plenty of food options on the main road we’re just up the street from… super, SUPER convenient.
And So On…
Sue spent the night Thursday and we resumed with unpacking and decorating. Of the many things we lost in the move was our TV stand. We had the giant, 70″ TV sitting on the hearth of the fireplace until our replacement came Tuesday. I put that together and got the TV mounted but stripped the screw holding the foot on. I have to get a screw extractor from Lowes this weekend to get that out, then replacement screws for all four of them.
The weather quickly took a turn for the worse, bringing a massive thunderstorm including tornados in the western part of the state over the weekend. Sunday night, we got around 8 or 10 inches of snow, which I had to shovel from the driveway and sidewalks before I went to work Monday.
After getting in a pretty good workout, I went to the UnityPoint location in Cedar Rapids where I met with my team supervisor, did some administrative work and picked up my equipment to work from home. She took me out to lunch to Lucky Penny in Hiawatha, just outside of Cedar Rapids. I had a Sweet & Spicy chicken pizza that was pretty good.
I spent the rest of this last week doing Net Learning and shadowing my teammates to learn how to do what I’m going to do for a living. I’m kind of terrified of how little I know, but I’m confident I’m going to pick it up in no time.
Being in a two bedroom place, my office is in the dining room, that we never would use even if it were set up as a dining room. There’s plenty of space for my desk and I have it decorated pretty nicely to bring a bit of comfort to it.
Brandy has been off all week and has spent the majority of her time upstairs continuing the task of unpacking her clothes and shoes. As of today, a week and a half since we arrived, she still has several more boxes to go through.
I’ve ordered a dual monitor stand, the kind that clamps on to the back of the desk, a wireless keyboard and mouse, a K&M switch so I can use the keyboard and mouse with both my work laptop and my personal computer, some cable management stuff and a new chair that should support me, instead of this tiny stool that doesn’t. I got most of that over the weekend with the chair following on Wednesday. The new layout leaves the desktop largely free of cables and gives it a nice aesthetic. I did some basic cable management too, not going too far as I do believe this desk will be replaced before too long.
Conclusion
We’re getting settled nicely. The house is coming together and it’s feeling more and more homey with every box we unpack. Knowing this is a short-term residence, there’s a lot we’re not unpacking yet, like all of my books, my baseball cards and my bric-a-brac I’ve collected from our travels. All of that will be unpacked when we get into a three bedroom house and I have a dedicated office.
Being here in Iowa though is a whole new experience though. I think I’m going to like it here.
Stay tuned for more from Coralville.
-Phil