When you're 16 years old and in high school, each and every happening is a grand adventure. It's one to tell your chums about, because it marks you as interesting, someone to whom things “happen”. When they're funny things, it makes the tale even better. Throw in parents, rain, a muddy Tennessee day and a moving truck, and the tale becomes worth repeating. Subsequently, you have to have the proper props, but it's kind of hard to drag around a wide piece of wood to illustrate your story. So, your audience will just have to use their imaginations.
A Bit of Background
Before we begin our account, you should know that just outside Nashville, Tennessee is a small concern called Mount Juliet. It's the home of Charlie Daniels (yes, I can show you where his house is). Mount Juliet sits atop a rise in the ground, making snowy curvy roads a challenge on which to drive sometimes. It makes things miserable, though, when your house sits off the road where the landscape dips a bit. The rain puddles, the mud is sometimes impenetrable, and just getting up the driveway to make it to the school bus is quite a job.
Next, imagine a couple who happen to be my parents and who both commute into Nashville to work. Their car is parked on the street in front of the house most days to make it easier for a quick getaway every workday. They both work in buildings on opposite sides of Nashville. One would drop the other off at work and then head to their workplace. Meanwhile at the house, as the downpour continues, the water pools deeper and deeper in the driveway until it reaches the side door steps of the house. This is an important thing to remember in this scary tale of Do-It-Yourself (DIY) moving.
What Happened
My parents had bought a home closer to Nashville, making it easier and quicker for them to commute to their employment. Consequently, they rented a moving truck, and we were loading it. It had been raining for weeks, it seemed, and the yard was one heaving mass of mud. My Dad had backed the truck down the driveway, with the backend as close to the side door steps as he could get it. A long, wide piece of wood was used as a loading ramp. So far, the loading of the truck was going without a hitch. The rain made things a bit wet and unpleasant, but we were moving right along.
The Hard Part
Now, the truck was full. My brother and I were piled in one of the cars with me driving. I was standing by for the truck to pull out of the drive, so I could get behind it on the way to the new house. We observed Dad having issues getting out of the drive, and so we walked back up the driveway a safe distance away to watch the show. He attempted to rock the truck. No dice. He tried putting Mom in the driver's seat and jacking the tail end of the truck out of the mud. That didn't work, either. Finally, Dad put the huge piece of wood under the back tires of the moving truck.
The Scary Part
You should be cognizant that if you're going to use a piece of wood to get your tires out of the mud, you need to pay attention to which direction the wood will go when your truck gets unstuck. In this case, it shot like a projectile right through our living room window. Pieces of glass were everywhere, the truck took off out of the driveway, Mom was surprised and almost didn't make the turn onto the street, and Dad stood without saying a word. My brother and I found all this exquisitely funny and were laughing our teenage heads off. Needless to say, we all got out of there as quickly as we could and never went back.
Moving is no fun sometimes, but there are days it can be very comical and other days it can be downright scary. What's your horror story involving DIY moving? We'd love to hear it!
