by "TheRealBicycleBuck" (therealbicyclebuck)
Published 06/12/2017 at 16:30
by "TheRealBicycleBuck" (therealbicyclebuck)
Published 06/12/2017 at 16:30
No Tags
STARS: 0
Sometimes being the only child sucks. Since my mom passed, I’m the only one left to deal with the aftermath. OK, that’s not exactly true. My wife and kids have stepped up to help me where they can. A couple of weeks ago, that meant helping me to sort through my mom’s things and clear out her house, and shop, and barn, and well-house....
To kick it all off, we ordered a box truck from U-Haul. What we ordered and what we received were two different things. I asked for the smallest truck that could haul a car. I received the biggest truck in their inventory!
This thing was HUUUUGE! It made the bro trucks look puny in comparison. Seriously, the hood height was higher than some of the SUVs out there.
And it was loooong. The cargo area is 20' long plus another 6' for the “mom’s attic”, with extra length added for the cab. Overall, I think it’s somewhere around 30' long.
The car trailer was about 15' long with a 4' tongue, so about 20' overall. With all this bigness, there just wasn’t enough room to maneuver the trailer into a good spot for loading, so I just hooked it up to the Explorer and parked the trailer in a quiet spot until we were ready to load. That freed up the truck to be put in the best spot for loading it as well.
The Explorer did a great job of moving the WRX around the yard. The tires are all muddy because I managed to get it stuck when I went off-roading on the rain-soaked yard. Whoops. It was ok, though. It gave me the opportunity to practice some rusty skills.
We brought in a 30-yard dumpster for trash and managed to fill it before the week was up. When they came to pick it up, they accidentally dug some ruts that I’ll need to smooth out on the next trip. There’s so much work to do to get the place ready to sell, it’s just overwhelming.
So, here we are all packed and ready to go!
You can see the final rut that the roll-off truck left while trying to get out of the driveway. It’s amazing how well packed and solid the driveway is while the dirt right next to it is just a bit squishy.
The drive from mom’s to my house is about 10 hours by myself, 12 hours with the family, and 16 (?) hours in a U-Haul pulling a car carrier. I originally planned to do it in two days, but there was more work than I realized and we ended up leaving a day later than planned. We got a late start (of course) but I figured we would drive until we were tired and stop for the night.
This is where I have to brag on my daughter a bit. She has her permit, but isn’t licensed yet. When my wife got too tired to drive, my daughter took over. This was her longest drive to date and she hung in there even after the sun went down and it started raining. How many kids can say that their parents let them drive on the freeway, at night, in the rain, while pulling a trailer?
When we were all too tired to carry on, I started looking for a hotel room. There was nothing, and I do mean NOTHING available within two hours of our stopping point. We had to settle for a rest stop with security. We did our best to bed down in the cars. The girls had it easy in the Explorer. The seats in the U-Haul wouldn’t recline, so my son and I practiced sleeping upright. We would have crawled into the back of the Explorer, but it was filled with the top half of a wood and glass hutch, so there wasn’t room for sleepy people.
We awoke with the sun to finish the trip. We were dead tired and still had a lot of unloading to do, but the move was really uneventful. That’s the best kind of move to have.
"My X-type is too a real Jaguar" (TomSlick)
06/12/2017 at 16:39, STARS: 1
Sounds like the same Uhaul issue I had I wanted a small truck to clean out my father’s house and ended up with a 20 ft monster, the bad thing is I kept more than I should have because of it. I have room let’s not sell this in the Estate sale.
"TheRealBicycleBuck" (therealbicyclebuck)
06/12/2017 at 17:04, STARS: 0
I hear you. We didn’t have time to conduct an estate sale. That will be some time next month. I have a feeling I’m still going to end up with more stuff than I need.
"My X-type is too a real Jaguar" (TomSlick)
06/12/2017 at 17:12, STARS: 2
Having done this several times, Hire someone to do the estate sale, it is the only way to handle it.
"xyzabc" (stackofoldwood)
06/12/2017 at 18:03, STARS: 0
Yup. Keep those things that have family memories / sentimental value.
Sell the rest.
Don’t let all the other stuff run your life.
"iSureWilll" (isurewilll)
06/12/2017 at 19:21, STARS: 0
Wow. Sorry to hear about your mom. Looks like a lot of work.
Last 2 time she I’ve moved I’ve used that same Uhaul with a trailer towing my Golf. It was quite the thing to drive around. Glad it was uneventful!
"TheRealBicycleBuck" (therealbicyclebuck)
06/12/2017 at 20:58, STARS: 2
Memories kept. I’m also keeping the things that are useful or she wanted to give to the kids. She had most of the equipment for a full wood shop. Now I do. It’s time to build a shop out back....
"TheRealBicycleBuck" (therealbicyclebuck)
06/12/2017 at 21:00, STARS: 0
We’ve already cleared out most of the house. There’s just a few things left, some to sell, some that need to come home with me.
"My X-type is too a real Jaguar" (TomSlick)
06/12/2017 at 21:31, STARS: 0
Fun story, when my grandmother died and cleaned out her house after the sale there were a pair of vases that from the price guide were supposedly worth 1000s and 5 unopened packs of Polaroid film from the 80s. I put both on eBay with a $5.00 opening bid no reserve. No one bid on the vases, I got $100 for the film.
"TheRealBicycleBuck" (therealbicyclebuck)
06/13/2017 at 06:03, STARS: 0
Of course. My wife likes to watch Antique Roadshow. They always talk about the value “at auction.” I just wonder where to find these auctions.
I think the item I’ll have the hardest time selling will be her very lightly used, very expensive when new treadmill. I think she might have two or three miles on it. It spent more time as a coat rack than a treadmill. There’s just no market for those things.
"Clown Shoe Pilot" (csp)
06/13/2017 at 09:11, STARS: 0
I don’t understand how Big Treadmill manages to stay in business as an industry. Certainly the world’s supply of treadmills has already been manufactured and the secondary market could satisfy demand for the rest of time, yet companies still exist to manufacture new supply and they make money doing it.
"TheRealBicycleBuck" (therealbicyclebuck)
06/13/2017 at 09:22, STARS: 0
Beats me. Perhaps it’s because these things function so well as a clothes rack?
"OPPOsaurus WRX" (opposaurus)
06/14/2017 at 11:04, STARS: 0
sounds like a rough trip.. All I could think of driving the massive box truck around is ‘how the hell can just anyone with a license get behind the wheel of one of these things?’ You would think there would be some sort of training, even if its just a 15 minute video and some maneuvering demos.
"TheRealBicycleBuck" (therealbicyclebuck)
06/14/2017 at 11:24, STARS: 0
Overall, driving the truck/van back from mom’s house wasn’t too bad. The expansion joints on one of the turnpikes were a bit rough, but my son and I made the best of it by making goofy noises and letting the constant bumps add their own inflection. It took the better part of two hours to get through that, but we spend most of it laughing at ourselves.
You are right about a lack of training before they let you loose. That thing is massive. It makes massive trucks look puny. It’s hard to believe they will let just about anyone drive one. Throw a trailer on the back and it gets even bigger. That being said, as long as you are aware of the size, plan ahead to take into account the size, and keep a close eye on the gigantic mirrors, it’s really easy to drive. Maneuvering around my mom’s property was a challenge, mostly because of the narrow drive, copious trees, and soft ground, but the van was fine on the road. Well, as long as the road wasn’t too narrow. Then there was the problem getting it turned around at the hotel we thought we were going to stay at....
"OPPOsaurus WRX" (opposaurus)
06/14/2017 at 11:32, STARS: 0
yea, i knew to make wide turns but i could see the average person trying to turn just like they do in their camry. The exit to the street from the uhaul parking lot had parallel parking on either side. I cant even imagine how many bumpers have been removed there.
"TheRealBicycleBuck" (therealbicyclebuck)
06/14/2017 at 12:25, STARS: 0
Hah! It would be fun to develop a counter which captured the number of cars, signs, curbs, and ditches the rear wheel plow through every trip. I wonder how many people get the car hauler to go along with it. I know the one I rented had seen some action and it was the best/newest one on the lot. I’d really love to see some of the newbies trying to back the car hauler in or negotiate a tight corner where some backing would be required to get around the corner without hitting anything. Our counter would need to include impacts from jackknifing a trailer.
When I thought about how far I’d be going with a lot of stuff and my car in tow, I bought the extra insurance. You know, just in case.
"OPPOsaurus WRX" (opposaurus)
06/14/2017 at 13:43, STARS: 0
i got the basic insurance. it was 10x the distance from the uhaul store to my house as it was going house-house. I was going to go with nothing but then i saw how big it actually was
"TheRealBicycleBuck" (therealbicyclebuck)
06/14/2017 at 14:09, STARS: 0
My biggest concern was the trees at my mom’s house. I thought I might have to deal with repairing the box. The trees added some new pinstriping, but it wasn’t anything to worry about. My mom rented a couple of containers during the house renovation, so I guess the delivery drivers took care of the worst limbs.
"OPPOsaurus WRX" (opposaurus)
06/14/2017 at 14:54, STARS: 0
o man I hit a limb on a side street when the box was empty and it sounded like a bomb had gone off in there. it scared the shit out of me. I didn;t even look to see if it did anything. I’m guessing no since I havnt gotten a call from Uhaul yet.
"TheRealBicycleBuck" (therealbicyclebuck)
06/14/2017 at 15:04, STARS: 0
!!! UNKNOWN CONTENT TYPE !!!
This was me trying to drive the “van” down mom’s driveway.