Moving in Containers – Part 3

I posted about the containers being loaded up in Tucson more than a month ago (part 1 and part 2). A couple of weeks ago, the 1^st container packed up in Tucson was delivered to the Pittsburgh apartment. Instead of an apartment parking lot, the container had to be parked on an urban street. Fortunately, there was a parking space right in front of the apartment building. It was a harder job to unload because there were steps up to the building and then the apartment was on the second floor once the movers were inside (so 2 floors of steps). There was some grumbling about the stairs. And it took them a little longer to do the unloading than it had when the container was loaded.

Everything inside the container was in good shape – no breakage. Some of the boxes were crushed enough that they will just be recycled rather than reused. There are still two containers that we delivered in a few weeks to their apartment in State College...but so far – moving in containers has been a positive experience in terms of service and cost.

Road Trip from Tucson – Part 1

I decided to take pictures at every stop we made along our four-day trek between Tucson, Arizona and Laurel, Maryland. The first one was at the Texas Canyon rest stop – still in Arizona – that we’ve stopped at every time we’ve made the long drive over the past 6 years. It’s the most scenic rest stop of the drive – rocks, blue sky, and

Desert plants.

We didn’t stop at all as we traversed New Mexico – holding out until we reached El Paso, Texas and a Love’s for gas, coffee for my daughter, and a soft drink for me. El Paso has the best highway art (overpasses and abutments) along the drive. The area is very dry – makes Tucson look lush.

The next stop was a rest stop near Van Horn, Texas. It is one of the old style in Texas: not air conditioned or completely enclosed….but beautiful with historical themed mosaics and colorful sandstone walls.

The area is still very dry.

The first day out was a long one so we had another stop at a Love’s in Odessa, Texas

Before heading on to Abilene where we stopped for the night. The sun was going down by the time we picked up our dinner. We parked in the shade and decided that the temperature was dropping enough that we didn’t unload the plants or tarantula that we had in the car.

The increasing amount of available water makes the eastward journey greener and greener. By Abilene there are even some trees!

As we headed out the next morning there were some clouds.

We stopped at a new rest stop. It opened in Spring 2016. It was museum like…air conditioned…no mosaic.

Shortly after the stop, it started sprinkling and then we got waves of heavier rain through Fort Worth. It was misting and then just cloudy for the rest of the day. We arrived in Carrollton…visited with family. I took another picture of the red yucca in bloom…and the sunset. We were glad that the drive between Abilene and Carrollton was a short driving day allowing us to rest up a bit for the next 2 long drive days….which I will post about tomorrow.

Leaving Tucson

After 6 years of graduate school (and completing PhDs), my daughter and son-in-law are leaving Tucson. I went to help them pack the apartment (see moving in containers part 1 and part 2) and then drive with my daughter cross country in a very full car (upcoming posts). I was too busy to do any touring but I did take a few pictures around their apartment and then as we left Tucson for the last time.

They contributed a plant to the landscaping of the apartments; a solanum plant on the ledge of their patio dropped seeds everywhere and one of them grew quickly enough to be large enough (and blooming) that the apartment grounds crew evidently think it is part of the landscaping!

The scenes around the apartment were familiar: The lantana was blooming,

The tall palms caught the morning sun before the rooftops,

The screen of tall evergreens acted as a screen,

The fountain made watery sounds that could be heard inside the apartment if everything else was quiet,

The pinks and oranges of lantana…the shaggy bark of eucalyptus…all part of the walk down to their parking space, and

Crepe myrtle blooming.

We thought we would leave just after sunrise, but Arizona is not on daylight savings time so that became too early. It was still early and the streets of Tucson were mostly vacant as we started our road trip.

We might go back to Tucson someday on a vacation, but it won’t be the same as these past 6 years.

Moving in Containers – Part 2

I posted about the loading of the first container last week. That one will be delivered to Pittsburgh in mid- June and I’ll continue this series with that delivery. The rest of the shippable items in my daughter and son-on-law’s two bedroom Tucson apartment was loaded into two containers late last week. We had underestimated the amount of time it would take to pack boxes and ready furniture to go into the container. The time crunch was made worse when we found out the containers would be loaded in the morning rather than the afternoon. We got very little sleep! I loaded boxes of the same size in piles – putting them there while I packed them rather than moving then afterward.

The morning of the move, we put the queen-sized mattress in a mattress bag and then boxed it. The box springs just got a plastic bag. Maneuvering the big items into covers and boxes takes a lot of stretching and contortion….exhausting work. We marked the box that we’d purchased for the box springs as ‘do no move’ but there ended up being room in a container for the box so we didn’t have to put it in the re-cycle dumpster.

The kitchen was place we put things that were not going into the containers (i.e. no food or liquids).

The two containers arrive just after 9 AM with three men to load them. It took them 1 hour and 15 minutes to load them.

After they left – the hard part of throwing away pantry items and compacting as much as we could to take in the car. We put furniture items my daughter did not want to move near the dumpsters at the apartment and they were gone within a few hours – to a new home. I’m still working on what a learned from the experience --- preparing to write it down --- since when I move from my current house, it will probably be in containers.

Moving in Containers – Part 1

I am helping my daughter and son-in-law move from Arizona to Pennsylvania in U-Haul containers. The move was happening in two stages. Part of the packing for the first stage was done before I arrived last Tuesday and we packed up the rest before the team arrived with the container that they would load. I was glad that the futon was already in a mattress box (although I’ll have to help box queen size bed for the second stage of the move.

It only took them about an hour because we were packed and ready for them. I took a series of pictures to document the loading progress. It was a very full container!

After they left, we had plenty of room to pack up the rest of the apartment. Two containers arrive later today…and I’ll post about what happened with that loading.

So far – I like this kind of moving better than the full-service moves. It is easier to schedule loading…and delivery on the other end too. If this move continues to go well, I’ll probably choose to move in containers next time I move.