The Move

We got up early thinking it would be good to eat the breakfast provided by the hotel. We knew we were going to get pretty tired as we had to unload two apartments worth of stuff into walk up apartments. We did have a little breakfast and then we hit to road. At one point we did end up going west on I-78 when we wanted to be going east but that little detour only cost us about 20 min. Traffic was bad but not what I was anticipating.

We got to Hoboken right when the street cleaning was supposed to be done. That was perfect because if we had gotten there too early we would have had to move the truck so the street cleaners could do their thing.

We went to park in the spots we had reserved (4 meter spaces) only to find that there were cones blocking 2 of the meters, a car parked in one of the spaces, and the another space had not be bagged. Two foreign ladies are upset with us for pulling in front of the cones as it turns out that they have reserved the spaces in front of the ones we reserved for every Wednesday. However, due to a construction dumpster in the spaces they reserve they had called city hall and reserved the same spaces that we reserved.

I get on the phone to the parking people at city hall only to be transferred a few times to people that are not there. Finally some parking guy comes with a meter bag to block of the meters that have been booked. The meter bags are placed over the meters and say “no parking” and it prevents people from paying the meter. - Note: this should have been done last night so that the spaces would be free when we arrived in the morning, but whatever. - When I start asking why our meters, that we paid for, are not covered he gets confused and calls in another guy. I am really upset by this point because I am tired of hearing that we cannot park in the spaces all while I am holding a receipt saying I paid 100 buck to be able to park in front of our building. So, I am waving the receipt around, frustrated, and getting really irritated with the parking guys that can’t figure out what they are going to do.

The two foreign ladies own the store right below our apartment and they get deliveries on Wednesdays so they need the spaces. We are moving in and we need the spaces. So without the help of the parking guys, who have no idea what to do, we decide to take off the trailer and roll it onto the sidewalk, park our truck in the couple of spaces that are reserved, and we agree to be out of there by noon as that is when the truck is supposed to come with the ladies' deliveries. This seems to work for all parties involved.

[some blood Miles aquired moving the trailor]

We start unloading. It is going pretty well. It is really hot and sweat is dripping down our faces and backs and leaving nice little sweat stains all over our clothes. It is already really hot at 10am. Our apartment says it is 82 degrees. We get most of the big stuff up the 3 flights of stairs and into the apartment without too much trouble. The back of one chair is broken but it is nothing a little wood glue won't fix.

*I should mention that when I say “we”, referring to heavy lifting, I really mean Miles and Mike. They did a great job lifting and struggling through getting our stuff into the apartment.*

At this time a construction guy shows up and they want to park in the space of one of the blocked off meters. This guy comes over to us while we are unloading and starts telling us that we have to move. He doesn’t ask and is quite insistent. Being already pissed about the meter situation Miles and I start going off on this guy because we have a freaking receipt that says we get spaces so NO, we don’t HAVE to move our truck. There is an open space behind us so we back up the truck anyway but not before making it clear that if he would have asked us to move rather than tell us we would have moved no problem. Hopefully the point was made but probably not as we are on the east coast now.

We are down to about 15 boxes still to move when a semi-driver double parks behind us. It's 11 and delivery guy for the ladies store is here - one hour early. He now needs the spaces we are in and we are so close to being done. We estimate that it will take about a half hour to have us out of there but he can’t wait and he cannot stay double parked. The boys keep moving boxes while I deal with the semi-driver (who, I might add, is so nice and polite). Between the two of us we decide that if we unload all my apartments remaining stuff onto the sidewalk we can roll up the walkway and that will give us a little more space. The semi-driver even helps me unload the rest of the truck onto the sidewalk. As we are doing this a car leaves a metered spot behind our truck and we move some cones to block off the spot giving us a little more space. I ask the construction van if it can please move for about a half hour or so and surprisingly he agrees to. After Miles pulls the truck forward there is just enough space to get the 60’ semi into the open spot.

Once the semi-driver gets parked this fat guy in a white shirt with really bad teeth starts asking me about the trailer that we have put on the sidewalk. It is not blocking the sidewalk as in Hoboken the sidewalks are about 3 times as wide as they are in Seattle. Fat Guy is some parking authority person. Apparently you can’t put a trailer on the sidewalk. So, I get our receipt for the meters and start explaining what is going on only to be shushed and told that there is a new girl working at city hall and she didn’t realize that the meters were already booked when we booked them (thus double booking the meters) and we are going to have to work it our with the other people that have the meters…but we can’t have the trailer on the sidewalk. I GO OFF. I tell him that we are trying to make everything work which is why the trailer is on the side walk in the first place. We have 15 more boxes to move and then we will be done but the semi-driver is here and he needs to do his job as well. I am practically yelling that we are doing everything we can to make this work and it isn’t my fault they fucked up the reservations for the meter.

As I am practically yelling and I am obviously really upset he starts “ma’am-ing” me and telling me not to get upset. (It is way too late at this point). I tell him we will be gone in a little over 20 min and this seems to work because he just leaves.

The ladies from the shop below our new apartment are so thankful that we were nice and trying to accommodate everyone that they send one of their workers to help us carry a few boxes up the stairs to our apartment. They even provided us with free drinks. Miles and I are going to have to shop there a lot.

We get everything into the apartment and the semi-driver helps us get the trailer on the truck. Mike has gotten us sandwiches and we hit the road.

*it is 11:30 in the morning and we are only half way though unloading the truck*

None of us can really eat because we are so hot and tired. The food actually rolls in our stomachs but we eat what we can and call it good.

Mike has the directions to his place in Brooklyn, so he is directing and Miles is driving. We have to go through the Lincoln Tunnel and into Manhattan to get to Mike’s place in Brooklyn. While driving through the Lincoln Tunnel a bus driver tells us that we are dragging something on the cement. When we get a chance to pull over we do and it was just a piece of the trailer so we don’t worry about it.

In Manhattan we make a wrong turn and end up driving through the middle of Times Square, at lunch time, on a Wednesday. We manage to get going in the right direction again and we are back on track. We are going to go over the Brooklyn Bridge but as we are about to take the exit Miles sees that the clearance is only 11’9”. Our truck is 12’1” high so we would end up taking off the top four inches of the truck by driving this way. Thanks to google maps we find another route, this time through the Brooklyn Tunnel.

We arrive at the Brooklyn Tunnel to see that once again the clearance is 11’9”. There are some police and traffic workers that are checking trucks at a check point so we pull in to see if we can possibly make it through the tunnel. They make Miles get out of the truck and open up the back so they can see what we are transporting…blah, blah, blah… They confer and decide that we can make it through the tunnel, we just have to go fast and they will escort us. Miles and I look at each other, have a quick discussion about how maybe going fast will put more pressure on the tires and lower our clearance...but I guess we are just going to go for it. The truck is insured so at least there is that. The police car turns the lights on and we go. All three of us sat holding out breath and hunched over, as if hunching will make the truck lower, and we make it through. Not even a scrape. Thank goodness.

We get to Mike’s place and there is no parking!!! We pop the truck over the curb so it is diagonal to the street and over the corner of the side walk. Again the trailer comes off, and as the boys are moving it onto the sidewalk Miles tries to slow it down, stumbles, and breaks his flip-flops. I was supposed to remind him to change into tennis shoes but I had forgotten. The toe of the shoe had ripped out of the bottom leaving just a sad pathetic strap to hold Miles’ foot in place. Oh, and he is bleeding for the second time today.

We can’t pull the ramp out of the truck or it will be completely blocking the road so we know we are going to have to have someone in the truck to move boxes to the edge where the other people can reach them. Due to Miles’ lack of shoe he gets to be the person staying in the truck. Mike and I start taking loads up to his apartment on the second floor (another walk-up). After a while I am beat. Not that strong to begin with, I just can’t make it much longer carrying the heavy boxes up the stairs. Miles and I switch places. Mike manages to find him some shoes and they are only a little bit to big. It takes us about 3 hours but we get everything un-loaded and into Mike's apartment. About 45 min before we finishes we had all hit the wall and we were exhausted. It was purely by force of will that the rest of the truck got unloaded. By the end of it I was cursing Mike and Elisa for bringing so much furniture. Although, if I were being honest and we had moved them in first I am sure I would be making the same curse at myself…

[I forgot to mention this earlier but this is Mike. While Miles was parking the truck he ran over a water bottle that was in the street and it exploded all over Mike. This is a picture of Mike's water soaked pants.]

At about 3:30pm Miles and Mike got the trailer on the truck again and Mike took off to take the truck back to Penske. Miles and I set off to catch the subway home. We walked to the car (parked about 4 blocks away) and as we are walking Miles realizes that he parked on a street that was closed on Wednesdays for street cleaning. We are both sure that with our luck our car got towed, and when we show up at the space we have both never been so happy for a ticket in our entire lives. So, on our first day of parking in Hoboken we have already gotten a ticket. We are off to a great start with parking authority.

An hour and a half after leaving Mike’s place we open the box with the towels in it and take a nice cold shower. We are so tired and hot by this point. I don’t think I have ever been so tired. We both lay on the couch for a while and I try to comb my hair only to find out that I am so tired I have to take a break because lifting the comb and pulling it though the knots in my hair is just to much of an effort.

We decide we need drinks and something to eat because while we are not hungry we both know we should be. I run (read walk slowly) down to the shop below our apartment and buy two 1.5 liter waters and a couple of cliff bars.

After eating, drinking, and opening a few boxes we go to the Newport Mall and get some of the things we still need for the apartment (like a pillow - because I left one in Idaho). We dropped the stuff off at the apartment and had a nice meal at an Italian restaurant a block from our apartment. The food was really good and after eating we got Miles some booze from the liquor store. We got home at about 9:45. We were up until 11:30 unpacking at which point we both fell into bed, our bodies sore and our minds tired.