Sorry for the absence Friday. I was off on a moving adventure over the weekend. I just got back yesterday, and my back and forearms are kind of on the painful side, but nothing was broken (on me, at least. A few pieces of furniture can’t quite say the same . . .), so all is well. I learned a few valuable lessons over the course of the move:
- A 26 foot truck is very big. As in, very big. But at the same time, it’s kind of like a reverse TARDIS. Once you start filling the thing, it begins to feel smaller on the inside than it is on the outside. The more things you put into it, the smaller it feels. Ultimately, you wish it were bigger so it would be easier to fit all the stuff.
- But then you drive the 26 foot truck (or act as navigator) and you wish it were smaller again. This is also true when you have to fill up the tank, which costs enough money that you have to put your credit card in twice, because it stops at $100 per gas transaction.
- Back braces are a wonderful thing. I bought one just for this experience, and I’m very glad I did. My lower back doesn’t hurt at all, and my upper back mainly just creaks and groans like the rest of my muscles. For the record, I bought this one, and I really liked it.
- Driver side seats in a truck are much nicer than passenger side seats. Though you have to drive the truck to be able to sit there, so I think it’s kind of a wash.
- Moving things into a truck takes forever. Moving stuff out of the truck is much easier. Finding a place to put all the stuff when you move it out is a whole different story.
- Moving trucks are very tall. Tall enough that you have to watch out for branches that you never would think about twice in a normal situation.
- People in small cars don’t really care about how long it might take you to stop when you’re in a big truck. They zoom around you without a care in the world. I don’t think we ran over any of the small cars, but a few of those roads were pretty bumpy, so we might have clunked over one or two and just thought it was a pot hole. (Seriously. I’m going to be much more careful around big trucks from now on, until I forget this lesson a few months from now at least.)
- Three people to load a 26 foot truck is not enough. Even when you have a fourth person for a couple of hours.
- After moving for three straight days and traveling through 10 states to do it, you’re going to be very tired. But you’re not going to be able to sleep well.
- Moving doesn’t burn as many calories as you’d think, so justifying that chocolate bar? Probably not a great idea.
- You will be very, very glad to be home and done with it.
At least we didn’t have to go over any covered bridges.
“That’s not a bridge. It’s termites holding hands!”