wednesday was wet. santa rosa got record rainfall and i was supposed to be moving in. i got the keys to my apartment very early, and then did some chores before the abf truck was due to arrive.

when it did, the driver tried for a while to back the trailer into my apartment complex, a harrowing task on a narrow city street. eventually he decided it wasn’t going to happen, tree limbs too low, and it looked like we were going to block a car in. he drove back to their terminal, luckily nearby, and told me i’d have to rent a truck in order to get my things.

so picture me, drenched from having stood out in the rain trying to help him negotiate the driveway, no internet, no phone book, completely unfamiliar with the area, and my things are driving away. this was a contingency i had not planned for. so i called my dad and asked him to help me find the nearest uhaul, which he did because he rocks. and because he’s my dad.

eventually i rented a ten foot long truck, found the terminal, and backed the truck up to the trailer so i could walk between the two and somewhat avoid the rain. of course by walk i mean leap down two feet from one to the other. and so for an hour or two i disassembled my 480 cubic feet of stuff and transfered it into truck #2. once it was full of boxes, i drove it to the apartment and started unloading.

and this is where things got tough. i carried one box at a time up a flight of stairs outdoors in the rain to my second floor apartment for two hours straight. it occured to me that my hiking the grand canyon and zion national park were merely training exercises for this day.

during the second trip i “slid” my furniture on cardboard from one truck to the other, again negotiating the height differential. the queen sized mattress was the most ridiculous to move. eventually i just got under it like atlas to move it into place. i was able to get everything remaining in the trailer into the truck and return to my apartment to unload what i could before receiving some much appreciated assistance from two o’reilly coworkers who helped with the last big things.

after which we sat at my recently reassembled dining table, drank some beer, and marveled at the 480 cubic feet of stuff spread out all over my apartment that i now have to unpack. actually i was probably the only one marvelling, except i wouldn’t use the word marvel.