Moving to Oregon

Little Gene

6/23/04 - Photographing Kids & The U-Haul Fiasco Part 1
Today my wife and I took some time off from the moving chores to photograph our neighbor's three children. It is always challenging to get good photos of children (and animals) because they tend to do their own thing, rather than doing what you ask them to do. So I have learned to rely on others (including my wife) to keep them interested in the process and I just take as many pictures as I can, hoping to catch them in an interesting or pleasant pose.

These neighbors have been a great help in our moving process. They have helped us load trucks, make trips to the dump, watered and mowed our lawns, etc. It is great to have helpful and friendly neighbors at a time like this.

At about 4PM U-Haul called to inform us that we would not be getting the 26 foot truck that we reserved because they did not have one available. Apparently they have no way of tracking where all there trucks are from day to day and can't guarantee that a truck will actually be available for rental, even if you have a reservation. What a way to run a business, especially in this modern, computer controlled time in history.

Anyway they offered us two 14 foot trucks instead, along with a 12 foot trailer and an auto transport, which means that my wife will have to drive one of the trucks with a trailer instead of just following in our car.

6/24/04 - Moving Day Preparations
This afternoon we picked up our two trucks with two trailers. I had carefully planned how to load the 26 foot truck, so I had to do some serious rethinking about how I would fit things into two 14 foot trucks instead. I had also talked to some people about the best way to move the hot tub and they suggested that it would be best to load it flat, rather than on one side, so we decided to leave the hot tub until the house was sold.

6/25/04 - Loading the Trucks
For the last week or so, I have worried about having enough help in loading the truck. People were not returning my calls and finally I just had to have faith that God would deliver enough people to help at the right time. I had similar concerns about who would help us unload on the other end. Our loan officer in McMinnville is involved with a church youth group, so he thought he could get some of them to help out, but none of them have committed yet.

As it turned out, God did provide us with plenty of help. It was still a big job, but we got both trucks loaded fairly efficiently. Unfortunately we had more stuff to load than would fit, so we had to leave a large number of boxes and my big toolbox in the garage for another trip. glad we didn't try to take the hot tub too.

6/26/04 - Moving Day - Driving to Eugene
We got up this morning, loaded our bed into the back of one of the trucks, cleaned up the house a bit (leaving a bit of a mess for our neighbor to clean up - bless her heart), and got on the road just before noon. We stopped in Nice (near Clear Lake) for lunch and had a relatively uneventful 12 hour drive to Eugene, OR (Map) where we had reservations for the night. We used walkie talkies to chat with each other along the way and stopped at a place called the Olive Pit for a nice break in the afternoon. They have a great selection of Olives, nuts, jams, gifts, and even ice cream. Check it out when you are passing on I5 in Northern California.

The RV Corral in Coburg, OR

6/27/04 - Moving Day - Driving to Carlton
After a fair nights sleep we got up, had breakfast and hit the road at about 10 AM. We decided to stop briefly at the RV Corral in Coburg Oregon. The guys at The RV Corral have treated us very well and we know that this is the dealer for us. We especially like the fact that they work together as a team and share their commissions, because each of the three partners brings their own strengths to the sales process.

We have decided on the Newmar Dutch Star because it is in our price range, they have an excellent reputation, and they are allowing us to make some changes to the coach such as some custom cabinetry. We will order the coach without a dinette and couch and have a new set of custom cabinets made for our computer and art workstations in the main slideout.

During the drive to Carlton (Map), we heard from our loan officer that he had four kids to help us unload and they actually beat us to the house by about 15 minutes. In about two and a half hours we had both trucks unloaded. Praise God for providing the help we desperately needed.

On the way into McMinnville, I also called our real estate agent who wasn't sure if she had the key or if the painter (who we had hired to paint one of the rooms while the house was vacant) still had it. There was also some question about if he even had completed the work.

Again, the timing was great, I arrived at the Oregon Real Estate office in McMinnville, where our agent Beth Frischmuth (who we highly recommend) had just arrived. After a brief search for the keys we were on our way to Carlton, about 12 miles away. When we arrived we found that the painting had been completed and all was well.