Moving out of Chicago

We know it has been over a month since our last posting however we now have internet access in Dubai and have committed to providing updates on a continual basis. We have some catching-up to do so we will begin with our move out of Chicago...

Our adventure began with me leaving Sunday morning, 21 Dec 2008 at 8:30 to go pick up the U-Haul so that we could use the freight elevator during our scheduled time of 10:00 to 2:00. I had scheduled the pick-up the day before so that it would be ready by 9:00 am. When I arrived I found that the U-Haul was actually a carwash that happened to have a U-Haul truck and an auto-transport trailer. It also happened to be buried in snow. After 30 minutes, two men arrive to begin the preparations. To make a long story short, I decided to call a U-Haul on the north side at 11:30 after the men had still not finished preparing the truck and trailer.

At this point we had to postpone our moving help who unfortunately had other plans later in the afternoon. I was finally able to get the truck and trailer to the apartment at 1:15pm and we were only able to have the freight elevator until 2:00pm. I must thank Doo Chan (RJA Chicago), who came over right away and helped us move all of our large furniture that Lauren and I couldn't move alone. I really appreciate his help even though he had a prior commitment that afternoon.

After Lauren and I moved the rest of our apartment into the trailer, we set off for Youngstown, Ohio at 7:15pm with Lauren's two cats Mia and Clara. The following image shows our original itinerary:

Unfortunately we hit a snow storm in La Porte, Indiana and had to stop for the night at the nearest Best Western (the only hotel in La Porte that would allow cats). The following image is the revised itinerary:

As you may have noticed, we had another stop in Dubois, Pennsylvania at another Best Western; however we were excited to get off the road and order a pizza from a local restaurant.

Even though it took us 2 1/2 days to drive from Chicago to Milford we had sunny, dry days for the majority of our drive and we were relieved that we safely made it to Milford in time to celebrate Christmas with John, Aileen, John, Haizea (John's Girlfriend) and Dan. That is another story that will be followed up shortly...