When you're a teenager and in high school, each and every encounter is usually a grand adventure. It's something to tell your chums about, because it marks you as fun, someone to whom things “happen”. When they're funny things, it makes the tale even better. Throw in parents, rain, a muddy Tennessee day and a moving truck, and the tale gains in the telling. Subsequently, you have to have the correct props, but it's kind of hard to carry around a wide piece of wood to illustrate your story. So, your audience will just need to use their imaginations.
A Little Background
Prior to beginning our account, you should know that just outside Nashville, Tennessee is a small concern named Mount Juliet. It's the home of Charlie Daniels (yes, I can point out where his house is). Mount Juliet sits atop a rise in the ground, making snowy winding roads lots of fun on which to drive at times. It makes things miserable, though, when your house sits off the road where the ground slopes downward some. The rain pools, the mud is sometimes impassable, and just going up the driveway to make it to the school bus is quite difficult.
Now, think about a couple who happen to be my parents and who both drive into Nashville to work. Their car is parked on the street in front of the house on weekdays to make it easier for a quick getaway every morning. They both work in offices on opposite sides of the city. One would drop the other off at work and then proceed to their workplace. Meanwhile at the house, as the downpour continues, the water pools deeper and deeper in the driveway all the way up to the side door steps of the house. This is an important thing to remember in this scary tale of Do-It-Yourself (DIY) moving.
What Happened
My parents had found a home closer to Nashville, making it easier and quicker for them to drive to work. Consequently, they rented a moving truck, and we were loading it. It had been raining for weeks, it seemed, and the yard was one heaving mass of mud. My Dad had backed the truck down the driveway, with the tail end as close to the side door steps as he could squeeze it. A large piece of wood was used as a loading ramp. So far, the loading of the truck was going without a hitch. The rain made things a bit wet and unpleasant, but we were handling it.
The Hard Part
At this moment, the truck was fully loaded. My brother and I got in one of the cars with me driving. I was waiting for the truck to pull out of the drive, so I could get behind it on the way to the new house. We perceived Dad having issues moving out of the drive, and so we walked back up the driveway a safe distance away to watch as the events unfolded. He attempted to rock the truck. No luck. He tried having Mom get in the driver's seat and jacking the back of the truck out of the mud. That didn't work, either. Lastly, Dad put the long, wide piece of wood under the back tires of the moving truck.
The Scary Part
You must be cognizant that if you're going to use a piece of wood to get your tires out of the mud, you need to examine which direction the wood will go when your truck gets unstuck. In this case, it shot like a projectile right through our living room window. Pieces of glass were covering the area, the truck took off out of the driveway, Mom was spooked and almost didn't make the turn onto the street, and Dad stood silently in shock. My brother and I found all this immensely funny and were laughing our teenage heads off. Consequently, we all got out of there as fast as we could and never went back.
Moving is no fun sometimes, but there are days it can be very comical and other days it can be downright scary. What's your horror story involving DIY moving? We'd love to hear it!
