I've moved over 18 times. Or 27 times if you count all the moves I helped my daughter. I thought that was a lot, till I boohooed about it to my freind Lanna Richards. "Believe me, after 82 moves, I know how to deal with trucking companies. U-Haul used to cringe when I'd hit the door. "
We are supposed to be loading a U-Haul truck today. U-Haul is so much cheaper than City to City. City to City charges you Eleven Hundred dollars to make 4 bedrooms go to LA. U-Haul is only charging...well, It's such a deal! They are charging no fees for their Phantom truck.
We should be loading a truck up now and avoiding those horrible fees from the City to City people. They were going to just set 4 huge boxes on my driveway and we would load them up and then the next day they would pick them up and we would drive to LA and the boxes would arrive.

Instead, we didn't get a "confirmation call" last night, so I called the U-Haul people this morning. I figured out why they call it U-Haul. It's because U-Haul your stuff into boxes and then U-Haul yourself over to the U-Haul and U-Haul your butt up to the counter and U-Heave....Uh, a U-Haul representative tells you all the U-Haul computers are busted. And basically, U-CANNOT DO A DANG THING! And all the U-RScr-d customers stare at you for butting in the line.

So we left to go to Kinkos so Glenn could send a fax to the new job. You know Kinkos? 24 hours service?
It was closed.
We figure, it's open 24 hours, just not in the same day- one on Tuesday, Three on Friday, etc.

So we tried calling other truck rental companies. No, No, No, NO, No answer. No answer. I figure they just give up and avoid their phones.
So I called these three really nice guys who were supposed to show up at our house at 2 P.M. and help us load up the Phantom truck.
They were willing to still come. I told them I'd call.

Then my daughter, Jane, shows up...Up no, she's gone. She can spot a "I don't want to do this" situation from a mile away. "Love you, bye, bye." is her standard expression.
So then my friend, Karen and her 3-year-old daughter shows up. "I missed Janie!"
"Did you blink your eye?"
Karen started boxing stuff for me again. She and my friend Jackie had come the day before and enjoyed puntuating the air with,
"Oh, you simply don't have enough boxes."
"You'll never get this all on one truck."
"Oh, this is so disorganized."
They really had a lot of fun. And Marianne loves to imitate my dog Lucie who has perfected being in the wrong place at the right time. She makes this lovely bark. It sounds like you have just broken her leg and her dignity and all she was doing was lying across the hallway right in your path. Karen's daughter, Marianne, hobbies include standing and not budging and cleaning. She also enjoys sneaking around a box to block your path much like Lucie does, only she won't move. What an adorable child. And I am so grateful that she came and finally became amused with my mop-n-go mop. The kitchen floor never was that clean before. Aren't three-year-olds grande? Actually, Karen and Jackie's humor punctuated the air, and we did have fun; up until I realized we had no truck.

Getting friends packing really makes me think I am something because no one likes packing. If you can get friends to come and pack well, that ranks with what happened to Walt Whitman. He was given a piece of property simply because the neighborhood thought his presence would improve their lives. That is my ultimate goal, and I'm not that picky about which neighborhood, but I'll settle for a few packers for now.

My son, Paul, shows up with his truck and I wished I could pump it full of vitamins and make it grow into a 24 footer for only $39.95 or maybe he could make 40 trips down and back to LA?
He was supposed to be in his first bike race, but he gave it up to help me move. Awww.
And we have no truck.
He gets us lunch. My girlfriend pays because everyone knows all our money is for the truck. And then Paul says the magic words, "I can take all your trash to the dump." Oh, sainted child. Too bad he had made plans and couldn't help load the Phantom Truck.

I felt like I hit the mother-lode when I got the three guy movers. I was eating lunch at "Late for the Train." Okay, it was breakfast, but I don't go to bed till 4 A.M. most days. It was the last day for the famous Palo Alto Restaurant. They were selling off the tables, so I bought one. I'm an incurable romantic and I have a bipolar pocketbook. When I went back to pick it up,(Gawd, why am I so impulsive?) the former cook, Sean was helping take the place apart for Mike's Cafe - the new owners.
I told Sean I was looking for movers and he said, "I have two friends the same size as me (big burly guy) and they would be willing to help."
I felt the angel wings brush my shoulder and got his number.

Back to the truckers. At this point I'm not sure how to pronounce that word truckers. I keep messing up the front syllable. So U-RScr-d still has not found me a truck. And it's 5PM. I call around about 15 places. Los Gatos. They answer their phone. Cool!
"No, we don't have any. You just have to make a call."
"I just have to make a call?"
"You just have to make a call."

Oh, why didn't I think of that. I hung up and realized I hadn't asked who it was that I would call that would miraculously produce a truck for us. Maybe he was thinking of City to City?

Alright, so I called the U-Haul place in Sunnyvale where I originally made my reservation.
"This is Carol Wood."
"We don't have a truck for you."
"Is this Rick?" Oh, I recognized him.
"Yes, I've called all around and no one has a truck."
"Well, did you have a truck when I made the reservation?"
"No, we don't have that kind. Nobody around here does."
I assumed he meant the bay area because after all my phone calls I made("You just have to make a call" remember?) I found no one had a large 24 foot truck.
"Rick, do you mean to say, You took my reservation knowing full well you couldn't fulfill it?"
"We just make reservations, that's our job. The traffic office has to find the truck."
"So you take reservations for no truck rentals?"
"We're just reservationists."

I figure that's code for Trucking Idiots!

So now I have 5 rooms full of....
"What the heck is this? A rusted hammer head wrapped in tissue?"
"Hey, that was my Granddad's!"
Yeah, we have some completely worthless junk that my husband must keep, some furniture and really precious belongings
"Do you have to keep these Barbie dolls?"
that I have to keep.
It's all sitting in boxes all around the house we are supposed to be out of in one day.
And we have no truck.

Luckily Sean and his buddies have agreed to lug furniture tomorrow; if, we actually get the Phantom truck to appear, which makes me feel like they gave up their whole weekend for me.
Heck that's pretty close to a "Walt Whitman."

Update April 02, 2003:
Well, April Fool! The "truckers" fell through, so I've asked City to City to store our stuff till we get our own place. It's costing a lot less than the average storage would. Then when we move in they will deliver it to our door. Bob from Door to Door (they have two names, Doortodoor and CitytoCity)came and set up the boxes for us. You can live in one of these things they are so roomy and airtight. Well, I guess being airtight you couldn't live in it, but they are nice, so was Bob. One of the three mover guys couldn't come, but Sean Connerly, the cook from "Late for the Train" who will soon be cooking at "Mike's Cafe" managed to get his Friend Phillipe to help him and they really worked hard and filled all four of those boxes. We are all packed.
Umm...
Well, not exactly. We had to order two more boxes. We have a lot more junk than we thought. But it feels so good now that it's all taken care of now.
Thank you, Dear Ones who have helped us make this move.
Back to packing.

Moving is so fun.

No, I lied. It's just exhausting.