The Move

Due to nasty neighbors who couldn't afford the family house when it was empty, and who wanted our place after we updated it, we moved from Texas to Ohio.

We left behind many wonderful friends,who we will miss. We also left behind, snakes, Rabid Wolf Spiders ( huge!), scorpions and fire ants, along with 80 degree weather, and people who rode their brakes and freaked out at a half inch of snow.

I searched online and found a 1922 bungalow in Youngstown, Ohio. We bought it just from looking at the pictures. Two days before we moved DH, says maybe we should have looked at double wides in Texas and so our journey begins.

We'd planned on getting a 20 foot Uhaul, but the store only had a 26 footer, which they gave us at the 20 foot price. The day we were supposed to pick it up, it had mechanical issues. So we got it the next morning. I had to argue over the quoted price but the guy took care of it. DH drove it to the house while I stopped and got the two of us and the neighbor who was helping us move some breakfast. Imagine my surprise when I pull up and see the new buyers and about 7 of their clan in the yard and a nosey neighbor throwing my antiques into the moving van. I quickly went into the house and cancelled all services, to calm down.

Two hours later, I'm in our van with 3 dogs in crates, leading the way for DH and the  moving van. I had carefully written( and printed 2 copies) of all the directions, including all of our stops
DH tells  me he can't read directions and drive so it was up to me to lead the way, and we'd communicate via the 2 way radios I bought ( he thought they were an unnecesary purchase).

Our first stop was Nashville for 2 nights of resting. On our way there, I lose DH several times, as he can't keep up with the heavy load he is hauling. We get to Nashville about 10 pm, it's been 2 hours of listening to my phone's map directions. I'm trying to locate the hotel,keep DH in the rear view mirror, calm down 3 hungry dogs and figure out why Nashville does all road work at night and weekends. I pass by a police officer who has someone pulled over, he somehow scrambles my phone signal and fries my phone. About this time DH manages to holler into the radio "I need gas". Needless to say after 4 detours and a wasted hour we find the hotel.

Two days later we go to leave to finish our drive to Ohio. First thing we do is fill up both vehicles. DH decides to tell me that he can't stand seeing the high dollar amount of filling up a 50 gallon tank, so he has only been putting in $50 at a time, which explains the frequent gas stops and just starts my day off wrong. After we hit Ohio, I hollered into the radio that I was pulling off at the next exit to take care of a smelly dog. I got no reply, so I hop back on the highway, and can't find him anywhere, he never answered the radio. I then proceed to get lost around Columbus, stop at an O'Reilly's for directions, end up pulling into an Advanced Auto, where some kind stranger had me follow him to the highway and finished driving to Youngstown. I stopped at the nearest Motel 6 got a room on the second floor, unloaded 3 dogs ( one of which has to be carried she's too short to handle stairs), and the overnight bags, and waited. Twenty minutes later I look out the window and see the moving van tucked in the corner of the parking lot, he'd been there 10 minutes.