Wow, I can't believe we have already been in NC for a week! We left UT on Saturday the 12th. We started off on a rocky start when we were delayed 20 minutes while we waited to check our tire pressure as 3 men filled up a huge boating tube!
After driving through part of UT and 1/2 way through WY we had another "delay." I was driving and we felt a big bump. I hadn't seen anything in the road ahead, and as I looked in the side mirror I saw a black chunk of something spin from behind the truck. We figured it must have been a piece of asphalt. A little while later we heard a hissing sound and slowed down, but then it went away. A bit later the truck started driving a little rough so we pulled over. In the end we pulled over about 5 miles after we felt the bump. Mark got out and checked the tire. We had blown a
tire completely apart! We called Uhaul and they called a towing company. We were so scared that we would have to unpack our VERY tightly packed 17 ft truck. It would have been impossible to unpack and pack all of that stuff again. There was literally like 10 square inches of free 
space in the whole truck! However when the tow guy came about an hour later he said it would be an easy change. While I wouldn't describe the process as easy, he did get it changed. We lost 2 hours of driving time, but thanks to the tow truck driver we found out that Uhaul would pay for our hotel because the tire was "their fault." We were already 5+ hours behind where we originally wanted to be, but we decided that if the room was going to be free we may as well take advantage and stop driving for some sleep. As we pulled into Cheyenne the hotels all looked really full, so we just went to the hotel with the least full parking lot . When we walked in the only room they had was a king suite. Mark asked if she knew how full the other hotels in the city were. We had hit the town the same weekend as a baseball tournament. The only other available room in town was a smoking room. Mark and I smiled at each other realizing we would be getting to stay in a suite for free! It was great, king sized bed, jacuzzi tub, and big TV. We decided again to delay our trip a couple more hours and enjoy the bed by sleeping in. Oh, PS the wheezing sound we heard just after the bump happened because as the tire shreds spun around it knocked our exhaust pipe up and burned a hole into the truck's plastic "side-skirt" (thankfully we had paid for the insurance when we rented the truck).
After driving through part of UT and 1/2 way through WY we had another "delay." I was driving and we felt a big bump. I hadn't seen anything in the road ahead, and as I looked in the side mirror I saw a black chunk of something spin from behind the truck. We figured it must have been a piece of asphalt. A little while later we heard a hissing sound and slowed down, but then it went away. A bit later the truck started driving a little rough so we pulled over. In the end we pulled over about 5 miles after we felt the bump. Mark got out and checked the tire. We had blown a
tire completely apart! We called Uhaul and they called a towing company. We were so scared that we would have to unpack our VERY tightly packed 17 ft truck. It would have been impossible to unpack and pack all of that stuff again. There was literally like 10 square inches of free 
space in the whole truck! However when the tow guy came about an hour later he said it would be an easy change. While I wouldn't describe the process as easy, he did get it changed. We lost 2 hours of driving time, but thanks to the tow truck driver we found out that Uhaul would pay for our hotel because the tire was "their fault." We were already 5+ hours behind where we originally wanted to be, but we decided that if the room was going to be free we may as well take advantage and stop driving for some sleep. As we pulled into Cheyenne the hotels all looked really full, so we just went to the hotel with the least full parking lot . When we walked in the only room they had was a king suite. Mark asked if she knew how full the other hotels in the city were. We had hit the town the same weekend as a baseball tournament. The only other available room in town was a smoking room. Mark and I smiled at each other realizing we would be getting to stay in a suite for free! It was great, king sized bed, jacuzzi tub, and big TV. We decided again to delay our trip a couple more hours and enjoy the bed by sleeping in. Oh, PS the wheezing sound we heard just after the bump happened because as the tire shreds spun around it knocked our exhaust pipe up and burned a hole into the truck's plastic "side-skirt" (thankfully we had paid for the insurance when we rented the truck).Our goal was to reach St. Louis and spend the night with Mark's 
friend Jeff. However once we hit Kansas City around 8 pm we realized it would be super later before we got to our destination. We debated about stopping and going to the arch in the morning as we had originally planned, but instead we drove through the night. Well actually Mark drove through the night while I slept. He woke me up right about sunrise as we drove through Kentucky. We stopped in Louisville for breakfast and then I drove while Mark slept. We reached Danville around 5:30 pm on the 14th. It was so great to see Mark's family, especially Susan! Mark and I went to sleep and were able to sleep in the next day without worrying about being late for a destination.
friend Jeff. However once we hit Kansas City around 8 pm we realized it would be super later before we got to our destination. We debated about stopping and going to the arch in the morning as we had originally planned, but instead we drove through the night. Well actually Mark drove through the night while I slept. He woke me up right about sunrise as we drove through Kentucky. We stopped in Louisville for breakfast and then I drove while Mark slept. We reached Danville around 5:30 pm on the 14th. It was so great to see Mark's family, especially Susan! Mark and I went to sleep and were able to sleep in the next day without worrying about being late for a destination. On the 15th Mark and I drove to the apartments. It was actually an easy move. Mark had been emailing a fellow LDS MBA student at Duke that had arranged for some men to come help us move. At first 4 people came to help. Then half way through the move 3 random men from the apartments who were just walking by offered to help us with all of the boxes left in the truck. We were all moved in after about 2 hours, it was fantastic!
After a few days of unpacking we went back to Danville for David's birthday and to pick up Gizmo. He has been a great dog, with a few minor exceptions, but I will talk about that in a later blog. Anyway, I am sure nobody has been worrying. But, on the off hand that you were, now you know we are here safe and sound!
1 comment:
What an adventure! It's amazing what a little elder's quorum networking can do! (pretty much the church movers, wouldn't you say?) I'm excited to hear how Gizmo is doing! I miss having a dog around the house!
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