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Friday, 27 June 2008

We had been packing for months now! And we sold over 300 items on ebay by this time! So far everything was going as planned. We were able to purchase a skid load of boxes pretty cheap… 54 double strength boxes, sized 28”x28”x33” high. (He cut some of them down in half so we could fill them with heavy items and still be able to move it!) According to his calculations, they should fit inside the container 3 wide and 3 high, with about 8 inches left on the side for ladders, etc. Scott built crates for the furniture and items that wouldn’t fit in boxes. We should be able to stack those as well. We ordered the shipping container to be delivered for loading on June 27.

The week before, we had taken our cat (Vinnie) to his new home outside Manheim. Because he’s a terrible traveller, and he’s nearly 12 years old, he won’t be making the trip to Grenada. He’ll stay with our good friends, Paul & Marie. (They have another cat, so taking him over early gave us a little time to react in case things weren’t working out.)

Scott ordered 2 forklifts so we could get the items up into the truck. Then he made arrangements with people to help…
Paul Bucher, Matt Cooper, Denny Hughes, Alan Weaver (old army buddies) Fred Gebhart (brother-in-law) Mike Aument (works with Paul) Shirley & Harvey Sipling (mom & dad) Charlotte & Jim Edwards (sis & brother-in-law) Annie Manning (new owner of 312… and Paul’s boss) Marie Bucher offered to bring BBQ and take care of lunch for everyone.

We went to bed the night before, hoping we had everything covered… the clock is running out! We had everything boxed or crated and stored in either the garage or the studio. The items were labeled with numbers, and an inventory list was written on a tablet… I still needed to get it printed, but wanted to wait in case we missed anything. By Scott’s calculations, everything should fit inside the 40’ container with a little room to spare. We worried about the weight (because of Scott’s heavy shop equipment) and whether our calculations were correct. But just in case, we had an “IF” pile… items we could live without if we ran out of room! Paul came over the night before to take a look at what we had to be loaded… he would be in charge of packing the truck. There is now nothing left to do tonight… but get a good night’s rest! By 8 am Friday morning, things started happening! Paul & Fred were the first ones to arrive, which is a good thing because the truck arrived at 8:10! Fred used to drive a moving truck, so he was a huge help with this! I’m sure when the driver showed up at our address, he was “maybe” a bit worried about how he was going to get the truck backed into our driveway! (We live on a wooded lot.) With Fred & Paul’s help (and about a half hour), he finally got backed in far enough to get the cab off the street. And that’s where he parked it. Anyone else arriving from here on would have to drive around the fence to park on the lawn.

By the time they got the truck parked, more help had arrived. Included in the cost of the container, we would have 2 hours of loading time… we knew we’d need more than that! Extra time would be added to the cost later. Now is when things got really hectic!

While Scott was managing the loading of the truck, I was inside working on the inventory list… and I had to pack up the last box with the fax machine, once I was finished using it! Mom & Dad went to pick up coffee & doughnuts. Annie ran to the library to get my inventory list printed… my printer was already packed! Meanwhile, the driver sat & watched (& talked on his cellphone).

It was a hot day and we were very fortunate that we had so much shade. (Although those working inside the container were suffering from the lack of any breeze!) Everyone worked extremely well together… we couldn’t have asked for a better crew of friends & family! It took a total of 4 hours to get everything loaded... with about 6 feet to spare! By 1:00 they were closing it up & the driver was preparing to leave. There was more paperwork to sign, and we needed to record the seal number on the truck… that way we could track it.

We waved “goodbye” to our stuff as it headed down Lefever Road! It takes a week to get it to West Palm Beach, Florida where it will be scheduled to go on a ship to Grenada on July 10. The trip to Grenada will be another week, which should get it there by July 17… so we’ll be living out of our suitcases for a little while. For more photos of the loading, click on this picture:
by flashappy