The Journey, the Saga, the Epic

Well, I'm in New Orleans.

I've been here a week.  I've been getting stuff in order.  Once it's all done, I'll take pictures and set up a tour.  It'll be fun. :-P

It started on Saturday.  Salvation Army said they couldn't come get the couch until about the time I would be out at brunch, so I told them they'd have to cancel, decided the couch would come to NOLA after all, and went out to run some errands.

Went to drop off the cable modem.  The Comcast location I normally go to was... closed.  So I called Comcast to find another location.  The moron on the line took ten minutes to tell me there were two locations I could go to in Houston.  The Best Buy or the Target.  Hmmm.  The Best Buy didn't know what to do, and one of their managers gave me directions to a Comcast location, but that ended up to be corporate headquarters.  Fortunately someone THERE told me where to go, and two hours later, I was able to shed that cable modem.

Got back in time for brunch with the family, which was lovely.  We were about to start packing when Salvation Army showed up.  For the couch.  Which did not come to New Orleans after all.

We spent the rest of that day packing.  I got up early on Sunday, which was just as well, because at 9am, the movers called and asked if they could move my time from 1pm to... earlier.  Couldn't get the truck until 10:30, so told them 11am.  When I walked outside at 10am to go get the U-Haul, the movers were already there.  Things went into high gear from there.

I woke up at 2:30am on Monday.  My whole life, just about, was in that truck.  I was lying in an empty apartment on an air matress.  I didn't sleep much after that, and at 5am I couldn't take it any more and had to check that no one had robbed my truck.  It was fine, and after another hour of dozing, just getting up and getting to it seemed like the thing to do.  So I did it.  Everyone was rounded up and loaded on time, and we were on the road before 8am.

And stuck in morning traffic on I-10.

Which of course cleared out past downtown.  The drive to New Orelans was smooth and uneventful.  I got in about 30 to 40 minutes ahead of the truck, unloaded my car, mopped the floor, all that.  The truck showed up and the spots I'd hoped to block were taken, but we managed to get it parked after a bit.  Of course, I had to direct Greg on how to get it away from the car he had rested it up against, but there wasn't any damage at all.  Thank God.

The movers showed up and started unloading.  We had to move a big orange safety barrel that was coving the utility access hole missing its cover and filled with water right in front of my gate.  I kept worrying about the dolly or the movers going into it.  Should have known I'd be the one instead. :-P  Was walking toward the gate and put my foot right into it.  As Brooke pointed out, I'm lucky I have these short little feet.  I went straight down with only a slight ankle wrench and some bruises and scrapes.  And a bit of sprained dignity.  But I was fine.

Finally the truck was unloaded and then... we got to work.  Unpacking, cleaning, arranging, boxes everywhere.  Then finally... stillness. Quiet.

And I slept that night in my own bed, in my new home.