Loading Up In the Cold

So it is our last day & night in the house, and it is COLD outside. If you missed the news, the polar vortex is here just in time for our move.

It wasn’t too terrible in the morning. We had the final walkthrough scheduled on our new place at 9:30 AM, and planned to get down their early and enjoy breakfast at the Cracker Barrel. The walkthrough went fine, and we were able to make it back home just a few minutes after 11 to meet our friend Dave, who was awesome enough to agree to help us load our ridiculously heavy IKEA couch onto the truck. Fortunately, Martin had wisely picked up the truck and loaded a good number of boxes yesterday afternoon. If we had been smarter, we would have loaded more stuff after I came home from work, even though it was getting dark out. It was at least warmer last night. But alas, we definitely underestimated the true horror of the frigid weather as well as our packing readiness.

The weather at 11 was already cold, but the temperature was dropping off 1-2 degrees an hour until about 2PM when it was scheduled to start dropping off faster. We were able to get the couch loaded easily with Dave’s help, and despite the cold he unexpectedly offered to stay and help us load the rest of the stuff as well. This very likely ended up saving our butts, as we were able to move stuff a lot faster with a 3-person relay effort. It also allowed someone to stay warmer inside while the others switched off outside. There also turned out to be several other heavy items I wouldn’t have been able to help load.

We had nearly all of the packed things loaded by 2:30, which wasn’t quite as fast as I had hoped, but then I hadn’t expected the extra difficulties of working in the cold or that we had so much stuff that really wasn’t packed up well. All in all, I’d say that we did amazingly well given the circumstances. Anyhow, we were cold and hungry and in need of some lunch, so we did a quick run over to the Original Malt Shop (formerly known as Snuffy’s) and got our traditional Snuffy’s fare to refuel. While the food and a break was much needed, it meant that when we returned it was colder, more windy, and much closer to sunset. There was still a lot of odds and ends to go, plus we still hadn’t even looked at the stuff in the shed. Once again Dave saved us, helping us load the last bit of stuff onto the UHaul and then offering to take some of the overflow, particularly a good amount of stuff from the shed. We sent Dave on his way just after sunset, our first moving hero!

That still left us a good amount of stuff that couldn’t fit in the truck and too much for our cars. We were particularly worried about some of the groceries that we didn’t want to freeze and our computers. Martin loaded up his car and took it over to his Dad’s place where they offered to keep it until we were moved in. While he was running the stuff over to Minneapolis, I moved all the remaining stuff upstairs and cleaned the place up. There was still a lot of stuff left, and a lot of it was just awkward, like our dragon kite and his sailboat. When he got back, he said that his sister Miki, our second moving hero, offered to come by in the morning to get any of the additional stuff that couldn’t fit in our cars. I don’t think I have ever been so relieved… There was no way it was going to fit into our two cars, but with Miki coming with the Subaru, I was pretty certain it would all work out.

Yay for moving heroes!!!

Thank you Dave & Miki! You are so awesome!