Tuesday, April 5, 2016

Mission Impossible

This is your mission, should you choose to accept it:

Fly 1230 miles to the frozen tundra to move your daughter out of her apartment in 1 day in frigid temperatures. Pack all of her belongings into a 19 ft. camper and drive that camper the same 1230 miles back to Moab Utah in 2 days. Driving thru gale force winds and mountain passes of 8600 feet and living in a space of 1300 square feet. This blog will self-destruct in 5 seconds.

It sounds like I was embellishing the details. I would have to say that that description was spot on.

Last Wednesday Lisa and I woke up at 3:30 in the morning to make the hour and a half drive to Grand Junction Colorado for my flight to Minneapolis Minnesota. The first leg of the flight was to Denver Colorado in a turbo prop plane. I do like turbo props for many reasons but I don't like them flying over the mountains. The 50 minute flight was very turbulent to say the least. In fact the guy behind me started to throw up. I am like "No, no." It was bad enough to hear it and I knew that if I smelled it I would loose it also. Thankfully I didn't.

That flight also brings back the guilt that I feel about an indiscretion that may have happened on the flight. The lady next to me slept, and I tried to sleep, so does that mean we slept together? Oh the infidelity of it all.

The second leg of the flight from Denver to Minneapolis was okay except for being a full flight. I walk onto the plane (a jet this time) and get to my seat. In the window seat there is a lady that is overflowing into my seat. So I sit down and prepare to be cozy with this lady. Our thighs rubbed together for an hour and a half. I was in the middle and there was a lady in the aisle seat. Not the sandwich I was fantasizing about.

I made it to Minneapolis where my daughter was going to pick me up for the 250 mile drive to Fargo. She arrived early and had parked her car in the ramp. The parking ramps in Minneapolis are huge and she wasn't quite sure where she left her car. Eventually we found it and had a good laugh. We then drove the hour to my Sisters house where we left her camper in January when we brought it up from Kentucky.

We first had to stop and find a hitch somewhere on the way. The hitch picked up we got to Ramsey MN. and hooked up. We had a good but brief conversation with Jeff, my brother-in-law. sadly we missed my sister because of her work and the limited time we had to get things done. So it was a quick good-bye and off we went. This was the first time Kendra's GMC Envoy had pulled this camper and it did well. Kendra then took the wheel. It was her first time pulling a trailer. So I earned a few more grey hairs. She did a great job. Not hitting one curb.

We made it to Fargo, dropped the trailer at my brothers in West Fargo and went to Kendra's apartment. She lives downtown and there was no place to park a camper down there. It is after 9 now and I am running on empty.

Next morning we start organizing piles. We made two trips to the thrift store. Two trips to her camper. one trip to the consignment store. Cleaned.  Then if you have moved before, everything else that was left was thrown into boxes and was going in the camper or to my mother-in-laws house. Kendra's car completely full we went to my brothers house to get the camper and then drive to Fergus Falls MN to my mother-in-laws house. We got her out of there in one day. Day 2 of exhaustion. That was Thursday.

Friday we just had some loose ends to tie up. Cancel the cable, oil change and then I had dinner with my son and his girlfriend. Saturday Kendra was in Fargo to say her good-byes. Wish I had more time to spend with friends and family but we were on a mission.

Sunday we hit the road. I was glad to leave because it was cold there. Of course the wind would have to pick up, slowing us down. 60-65 was all we could do for the entire trip. We stopped in Gothensburg, Nebraska where I de-winterized her camper so we could stay in it.

Monday we got going early again and again the wind picked up. Only today we were climbing up some elevations. Slow driving day again. Determined as we were, we got to Moab Utah around 10. Got her set up for the night and then poured myself into bed.

So not Mission Imposible, Just Mission really really hard.

That's my story and I'm sticking to it.

8 comments:

  1. Wow! That was some mission you had! Glad you made it back safe and sound. Good luck to Kendra and her new adventures!

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    1. Thanks. What we don't do for our kids, but always will.

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  2. Welcome back! I am sure that Lisa will forgive you, who knows what she has been up to!

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  3. We've had some crazy missions in our day - so I get it! Glad the mission was a success!
    You and Bill should exchange flight stories someday - while Lisa and I drink wine! It will be fun!

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  4. It just re-confirms why I hate flying.

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  5. Ugh, Flying with a puker is no fun. Gotta give you credit, anything for your kid!

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    1. My perfect flight would be a 100 person jet with 10 people on it.

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