Day 13 - Moving In

Left the farm around 5am with 2 sausage biscuits and a thermos of coffee.  Daisy did NOT want to get back into the truck, and as soon as she did she laid down and went to sleep.  She used to never sleep in the car, even on really long rides, but after this trip it has become her modus operandi.  Good for her, I guess, but I can't wait to get there so she can stay on solid ground for a while.

Got to the ABF terminal in Chattanooga around 830 AM.  Our trailer was parked where we couldn't access it, but they got it moved right around the time the Holmans showed up, so the timing couldn't have been better.  Some of the stuff had been stacked too high so we had a few pieces of broken furniture and quite a few semi-crushed boxes.  At least one sounded like broken glass when shaken.  We got the stuff transferred to the gooseneck trailer and tarped and tied down with come-alongs in less than 1.5 hours -- way faster than I expected --  then off to Georgia.  Lost one come-along right away, but the load held, so we kept going.

The new house is HUGE.  As far as we can tell, it was built in two phases:  Phase 1:  Build a chalet-type house (similar to the ones at Skiposium), with a loft/bedroom that looks over the living room.  Phase 2:  Double the size of the house by adding a new living room, 2 bedrooms, a kitchen, and another bathroom.  What was originally the living room is now a super-huge master bedroom.  Counting the loft, it could be three normal-sized bedrooms itself.  Oh, and because there is also a basement, the original basement is now a huge garage, and the new basement consists of a spare room (also big enough to be about 2 bedrooms), a hot tub room, a sauna, and a tanning bed room.  Sadly, they took the tanning bed with them, otherwise I'd be nice and bronze (and melanoma) by now.  Bottom line:  this house is WAY bigger than we need, and slightly more expensive, but it's what we could find and arrange from 2600 miles away, and I guess it's better than being too small.

So now we're here, finally.  Taking stock of the trip... Major problems: none.  Minor problems:  1) loose shifter on the truck -- annoying but not debilitating; 2) probably lost the GPS (biggest bummer), 3) some broken furniture (fortunately we don't have expensive furniture), and 4) some broken glass, which by the way, turned out to be just some cheap candle holders.

I think Rachel and I both feel a sense of accomplishment that we were able to pull off this move/trip on schedule and without any major problems.  Now we just have to settle in and, you know, start living.