I'm Bringin' B Back

Last weekend, I brought B home from Washington DC to Chicago. Because loading, unloading and driving a U-Haul 700 miles wasn't enough of a challenge, we did it just as the snow and ice storms began pounding the Midwest. Sixteen months ago, we drove to DC in a rented Jeep with a few boxes, a couple of suitcases, and room to spare. That the return trip filled up a ten-foot truck is yet more evidence of the correlation between time elapsed and volume of possessions. It's a pity there's no such correlation with living space. We were fortunate that my brother-in-law still lived like my old college roommate, sleeping on a mattress on the floor -- to him went the bed, dresser, and nightstand. But right now, the condo is decorated with pillars of boxes, a 32" LCD television lying on a beanbag, and clothes. Oh, the clothes.

The drive itself wasn't bad. Yes, there was a learning curve with the truck -- even the smallest U-Haul is exactly as wide as some of DC's narrower streets, and the side-view mirrors stick out a good deal wider. This means that it's entirely possible for a tree branch to thwack the passenger-side mirror, which, even at speeds lower than 30 mph, will shatter half the mirror. (Yes, I know this empirically.) Side mirrors are important on a truck; there is no other rear-view option. And yes, I learned that if you accidentally get turned around on the Pennsylvania Turnpike, you'll have to drive 30+ miles to get turned back the right direction. And yes, U-Hauls don't have CD or tape players. But the drive from Washington DC to Toledo Ohio had clear weather throughout, and when the storms hit between Toledo to Chicago, the truck could plow through the worst of it.

The unloading was the bad part. In -30 degree windchill, unloading 15 boxes, some suitcases, paper bags of odd, loose items, and a television was decidedly unpleasant. Unloading the bedroom set on the ice-buried street in front of my brother-in-law's place was pure hell. People parked on the streets were trying to free their cars using shovels and pickaxes. Arjun and I carried furniture over a jagged obstacle course of snow-covered ice, with the wind tearing through our scarves. But I will give credit to the U-Haul folks. Maybe it was the Christmas spirit, or maybe it was just too damn cold and too close to closing time, but the people at the U-Haul dropoff told me not to worry about the broken mirror, and said they wouldn't charge me the $361 for returning the truck to the wrong office.

It's done. I had nightmares about driving the truck the following night, but I slept hard. The condo is a disaster, and the clean-up and organizing effort will take up our holiday, but that's okay. B's back, and we're one household again. That makes it all worth it.