Well I made the long trek to and from Colorado and managed to keep my sanity. But needless to say my will was tested. I could sum up the entire trip with 2 words….UHAUL SUCKS! I reserved a 26′ UHaul truck in Greeley, Colorado to move my sister and her 2 boys back to Louisiana. This was the largest truck UHaul has to offer and they said I could down grade if needed once I arrived. But that wasn’t the case when I arrived a day prior to picking up the truck to confirm everything. I was told I couldn’t down size the truck and that I could not pick-up the truck I reserved till 11:00 am the next day. I asked why so late and the young greasy headed kid behind the desk could only give me “Maintenance”. I also inquired about renting a appliance mover and the reply was “Don’t got None!” He seemed more interested in getting back to his XBox that was on pause than to actually be of any assistance to me.
After finally getting the truck it went surprisingly well in packing it up. We had plenty of help and we were done in a little better than an hour. We then went to Brighton to visit and have supper with some relatives before heading out the next morning. In driving to Brighton I found out that the UHaul did not have Cruise Control. WTF! Now I realized I was going to have to pedal this whale turd on wheels all the way to Louisiana. The fun is only beginning.
The wife, my sister and her two boys were all in our Grand Caravan and always seemed to run away from me when we got to the open interstate as it took quite a bit to get the truck up to speed. I discovered the truck had a governor that shut down at 75 mph. Well that became my new cruise control because I held the thing to the floor the whole way and let the truck regulate itself. Needless to say my right leg was really stove up at the end of the day.
When I started the trip I was in the later stages of a head and chest cold and soon developed sinus headaches that seems to last the entire 5 days. So now here I am with a pounding headache, congestion, and a sore leg. Could it get any worse? I dare say YES!
I was also tasked to transport the pets which consisted of a female medium size dog and a full grown male cat. The cat was in a pet carrier while the dog was in a pet cage that just fit on the seat next to me. The cat was on the floor on the passenger side. The pets actually traveled well and didn’t get sick but there did seem to be a passing of a pet poot every once in a while that was a bit unpleasant. Initially we gave both pets a sedative prescribed by our local vet and I think that contributed to the passing of the gas. Maybe they were too relaxed. Needless to say I didn’t administer the drugs again and they traveled fine there afterwards.
So now I have a pounding headache, sore leg, congestion and what sense of smell I have left is being bombarded with pet poots. So the next logical thing to do is to roll the window down for some fresh air. BIG MISTAKE! I didn’t realize the amount of loose pet hair that had accumulated in the truck until the wind came rushing in through the window. There was a huge cloud of pet hair swirling in the cab now. I had it in my eyes, up my nose, and in my mouth. After a few minutes of blowing, hacking and spitting the hair seems to settle. An image came to mind of a movie where the character had to ride a bus in South America with all of the locals and it seemed everyone was carrying a chicken or a pig or something and the guy gets off with chicken feathers stuck to his face. Well I was that guy.
Needless to say, I made it with my sanity and delivered my sister and her two boys safely along with their pets to their new home in Louisiana.
I’m glad I’m back and that it’s all over.
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