Well I think today Marcie and I agreed on something. The more we move, the longer it takes. And the weird thing is that, each move has been shorter and shorter.
We Got the rental truck on Thursday and unfortunatley, didnt do much because we had some friends over (I wanted to get it on Friday but with her friends, we were taking a scenic type drive and were in that neck of the woods to pick up the truck anyways). Friday, I got alot of the bigger stuff into the front of the truck...but Im not really sure what happened, because we worked a good chunk of the day and still had a ways to go on Saturday. Saturday was just spent filling up the truck with more furniture and smaller stuff and then finally today, we filled smaller stuff into the truck and since we ran short on boxes, did the 'get a huge garbage bag and stuff it full" technique.
Around 3:30 we decided 'screw it' and just wanted to get out of town and over here and start unpacking since Im supposed to drop the truck off on Monday in the afternoon. So as we were hauling our ungodly new matress out, we both smelled natural gas. I sniffed around and found out the pilot lights (or whatever they are called in this case) for the stove burners were out. The range is not what exists out there with most other gas stoves. With other ones, you turn the dial and you hear a couple of clicks and whammo...fire. Here with ours, (maybe because its an el cheapo model)...each pilot light sits in the middle of 2 burners and stays lit...then it lights the gas going to the burner...so I turn the dial and the gas is light and goes through on fire to the burner. ......ANYWHO....those buggers went out. So I called the gas company and just wanted to ask a question as we were set to have our service disconnected on Monday, but he immediately put me over to their emergency gal. She then, even though I knew what the problem was and just wanted to double check, had to send someone over because I said I smelled gas. Thats OK i guess...company policy. 20-25 minutes, she said.
An hour later, the guy comes....Turns out he lives over an hour away and we just shot the breeze outside. He said I was most likely correct and went inside and sure enough...I was. He then asked if he could have one of his trainees come over and learn a bit. She did, and they went through the entire process as if they had no idea what went on. Took out lots of equipment and snifferrs and ground stuff....Finally, around 6pm...they wrap up and Im out of there...grabbed the cats and off I went. Marcie left earlier in her car.
In hindight, I should have got some kitty dope to knock the cats out for the trip over. Cleo is getting used to the drives....didnt complain one bit. Hercules went nuts. I had to toss him in his car carrier and in there, he didn't like it at all so I let him out. I then had to go stop for some fuel and when I got back in the truck...the little turd jumped out. I ran after him and caught him and tossed him back in his carrier where he quited down a bunch and just chilled the best he could. Cleo just laid right next to me. After a while, I let Herc out of his carrier and he plopped under the bench seat into a corner. He is still a little on edge after being here a few hours, but is doing much better. Hope he uses his scratching post tonight as he is getting one of his claws stuck on the carpet as he walks.
So tomorrow, Marcie will be going to work and I get to take care of the rest of the truck with unpacking...and I have a couple things working against me. I didn't bring the stupid 2-wheel dolly of mine, and both Marcie and I forgot the keys to my car back in the other town! I was going to zip back later this week and finish packing the smaller stuff and clean the house for an open house next weekend.
On a side note: Flying J really is pathetic. I used to make it a point to stop there as compared to the other truck stops...(not that anyone really stands out from what I can tell), they just seemed better overall. Well earlier this year, they stopped accepting Visa cars for filling up with Diesel at the truck diesel islands. When Im driving our Penske moving truck, I always use those islands instead of going to the regular car islands. Well, I pulled up, saw the sign...grumbled, got back in and circled around to use the regular car islands. I asked one of the cashiers for clarification and yep, I can't use a visa if I fill up at the diesel island, even though I can use a visa for diesel at the car islands.......? I told her I had a fairly large moving truck and that alone is hard to manuever around the parking lot for cars...not to mention if I had a car dolly or car carrier as well...Id be making a traffic jam. She just sort of shrugged her shoulders.
I guess I don't understand what the deal is between Flying J and Visa. But this really sucks having to use the car islands with such a huge truck. I don't think its for moving trucks either...lots of people who arent pro truckers have longer moving type trucks or regular trucks hauling something fifhwheel....or some retired couple with an RV, hauling a car, hauling a boat. The problem is that Visa is a huge company for credit cars..and not everyone pays with cash...less and less every day. Plus....some of these gas stations won't take checks if you are outside of a certain radius. "