Friday, February 12

Woke up this morning at 4:12am.  I didn’t want to.  Seems though, however, that on days when something big is happening once you wake up there is no shot in hades you are going to fall back asleep. I didn’t have to be anywhere until ten am either, I was awake without reason.  I was supposed to be to work today.  Then I was supposed to drive to The Max’s elementary school and pick him up.  After that I was supposed to drive into the sunset. This is what happened instead.

Yesterday, (Thursday) my Full Service Moving Co. with the salesman with the groovy British accent basically let me know that even though they had told me they would pick up my things on Wednesday, they might not come until Saturday.  Or, they might not come at all.  In a panic I dialed me local uhaul to inquire if they could set me up with a moving van that could haul a seventeen year old sedan with extensive hail damage.  They said I could pick it up the next morning.

There was no more fancy moving company coming, so I was going to need to transfer my belongings from the house to the van myself.  I phoned my job and let them know I was going to miss my last day.

The van was ready for me at ten this morning and I went right to work.  By three in the afternoon I piled in everything I could carry solo and would just have to wait until my buddy got off work to come and help me load the heavy stuff.  I wasn’t sure when he was showing up, but I knew it was going to be later that the 4pm departure time originally hoped for.

It was 830 when we drove into the sunset dense fog and snow flurries.  The uhaul dragging car trailer was easy enough to drive, albeit very very slow.  I was never going to break the mammoth rule of getting myself into a position where I needed to reverse.

By 930pm I was fading fast and I gave up getting some miles in, so I stopped in Saint Cloud.  I spotted a Motel 6 from the interstate and took the exit ramp, excited to meet my new bed or the night.  We were barely in the parking lot when I stopped and went to the front desk with my all important question: Can I turn this big rig around if commit to driving all the way in the lot?

“Sure, there’s a large area at the end of the lot where you can get around no problem!”

That last sentence there cost me more time that I am comfortable admitting to.  I figured I’d better turn it around at night just in case cars parked later than I and blocked me.  I spent an hour or so on that pipe dream.  Let me be honest, if there were NO cars at all in the lot, I probably could have manages to make a loop with a bit of skill.  The lot was full.  I had to pull all the way to the edge of the property and hope the people I was blocking in will sleep later that I.

Day 1 is done.  I’m really just down the interstate an hour from where I started.  Feels good though.  Tomorrow I’ll see Montana!