Lately we have been thinking what we're going to do when our lease expires here at Legacy Corner. We love the apartment, but wish it had a kitchen bigger than our closet and perhaps a yard. Move to another complex? Stay here? Buy a house? Rent a house? Live on base? But then I realized I have never written about our move out here. This move was a big thing for both me and the Blake as we are both homebodies who like to be close to our mommies. And even though Blake had been away from home for about nine months before our move it was still hard on him too.
When Blake got his orders saying we were going to be moving to Tinker AFB in Oklahoma City we were both a little stunned. It seemed like such a random place and we knew nothing about it. After Googling the heck out of it, we decided it wasn't the worst thing in the world-one of Blake's tech school friend's had be ordered to Nebraska so I guess we had to count our blessings!
We found an apartment over the internet that seemed great and were approved over the phone and through faxing. We also used our credit card points and bought ourselves a good GPS (if we hadn't got that tiny magic machine we would probably still be somewhere in New Mexico!). Next came the rental truck. We decided to move ourselves so we could have control over our possessions and pocket a little cash. I remember going to the gas station in St. George to pick up the truck and seeing the huge moving truck with the trailer attatched to the back of it. It was like a semi truck! Blake had to get it weighed so I watched as he inched the truck and trailer out of the parking lot and took off down the boulevard. Poor guy. He got it home safely and we went to take off the trailer and couldn't! Blake had had to remove the trailer to weigh the truck and had reattatched it wrong! It was amazing the thing hadn't come loose as he was hurdling down the freeway! After about an hour or two Blake and my amazing dad got the trailer detatched and we were able to back the truck into the driveway and start loading all off our stuff.
It was a great time to be a female! I sat inside and sealed and packed boxes while the guys (Blake, Dad, Braydon, and Mike) loaded and wrapped furniture and boxes into the truck. I must admit I did love pointing and instructing as the guys followed my commands! =D
After everything except what we would need to live with was packed in the truck, we enjoyed Christmas Eve and Christmas Day with our families. On the 26th we said goodbye to our families (boohoo) and set off.
We drove (and when I say "We" I mean Blake did the actual driving, while I supervised with my eyeballs) all the way to Albuquerque, NM in the first day. We had no hotel reservations as we weren't sure how fast we'd be traveling (the sign in the truck said we shouldn't exceed 55mph... oops, hehe). Our phones were amazingly helpful and we were able to book our hotel on the fly-The Hyatt Regency. When we got there it was about 8:00pm and we saw several clusters of police cars busting people. That makes ya feel safe. We got to the hotel and saw it was valet parking only!! Our moving truck would not fit! So we drove down the street about half a mile and parked in a Babtist church parking lot. I was soo nervous leaving all of our possessions in the middle of a city filled with homeless people and druggies. Needless to say I did not sleep that night, but Blake snored like an elk in heat next to me. Lucky stinker. At 5:30am I got up and hustled Blake out of bed after I had gotten ready for the day. We ate breakfast (if you can call a pastry and hot chocolate each for 11$ a breakfast, Oy! Starbucks...) and we went to our truck. It was safe! And for some reason, on a Monday morning at about 6am, the parking lot was full of crazy Bapbtist's going to church! Anyways...
We continued down the road and were surprised by a buck trying to jump in front of the truck! It scared us both a lot! Especially since we hadn't insured the 40,000$ truck! Thankfully the beast decided it didn't want to die that day and we were able to avoid it.
We arrived in OKC around 5pm that day. We got to our apartment complex and tried to find a parking spot. I hopped out of the truck to talk to the apartment managers and came outside to find one crazy, nutty Blake had driven the truck AND trailer into the tiny parking lot! He was completely stuck! I won't discuss how we reacted to the situation, but it wasn't pretty. Eventually, with some help, and new neighbors driving past and oogling our predicament, we were able to get the truck and trailer out of the parking lot. Phew!
By the time we got our apartment and had parked it was probably about 8 or 9pm. We were tired but decided to spend our first night in our new apartment rather than go to a hotel. That required us to unload the truck as much as possible so we could get our mattress out. That was our goal- to get to the mattress. That required moving a lot of heavy boxes up to the third floor. By the time we got to the mattress my muscles were pretty much shot.
When we finally got enough room to slide our mattress out I was so relieved and tired. We got two ropes a couple yards long and wrapped them under the matress and held on to the ends. That dang matress was HEAVY! King-size, memory foam, and gel are not a good combination for moving something that awkward up two flights of steps. We could barely get it across the parking lot. Blake would lift and push the matress forward while I would just try to lift the thing and let him propel it forward. My muscles were screaming. And the steps. Oy, the steps! Words cannot describe how difficult it was. Perhaps the most difficult physical task I have ever had to do. At one point I got my legs tangled between the matress and the cement stairs and came down hard on my knee. Did not help the situation. But with Blake pushing the matress forward and me lifting it up, somehow we were able to get the matress inside and let it fall to the floor. We both laid on the matress sweating and exhausted, so happy we were done! With no shower curtain we crouch-showered underneath the bathtub tap (praying the previous tennants had cleaned it well before they left) and went to bed, completely exhausted.
The next day was spent getting the rest of the truck unloaded until there was only a few really heavy pieces of furniture left. We couldn't find anyone to help us. We tried the local ward, but they couldn't find anyone. All of Blake's friends from work weren't scheduled to arrive until the next week. And we didn't know anyone at the apartment complex. The truck was due back the next morning. We figured we'd pay for the extra day and that would be it. Blake left for work early the next morning to check in and I recieved a phone call from the rental agency asking when we'd be bringing in the truck. I told him we'd like it one more day, please. Apparently this wasn't possible because the next movers needed it. I was all alone with Blake at work and had to turn the truck in in just a few hours. I called Blake frantically and his sargeant let him come home. We tried moving the furniture, but there was no way. I was ready to let the next movers have our new 2,000$ furniture. But then we remembered a guy about our age who had seen us struggling with the futon the night before and had offered to help. He HAD told us his apartment number and said to come over if we needed anything... So I knocked on his door and gave him a sheepish, desperate smile and asked for help. Thank goodness he and Blake were both military strong and got our furniture up the steps. I couldn't watch this part because I was sure one of them was gonna slip and be crushed by the vanity. But they made it!!! =D That night I made red velvet cupcakes and we brought them to our WONDERFUL, AMAZING neighbor. I don't know what we would have done if he hadn't chosen that exact time to take his dog out to tinkle and offered to help us.
Blake had the next couple weeks off so we unpacked together. It was so nice to spend that time with my hubby after not seeing him for more than a weekend here and there in nine months. We have also decided that the next time we can use the military moving service we are going to take it!
