Finne's Follies: Moving Day

Well, the first phase of our nomad life has been brought to a close. We moved out of what I have affectionately dubbed our "Follymobile" on Sunday, February 10. It was mostly fun while it lasted.

The Hoffmans (Mark's daughter and family) were kind enough to loan us their spare SUV and a six by twelve box trailer in which to store our personal effects until we find a new home.

Mark hopped on a plane to Valdosta to fetch them back to Miami.

On moving day, he hired the two sons of the wrecking yard owner to help him load the trailer. They were happy to get the cash, and their help was invaluable to me--since it meant I didn't have to do any heavy lifting. It took us about five hours to load everything up. We had spent a full day earlier in the week packing as much as we could into boxes, but there was still a lot left to pack up.

It's amazing how much stuff you can cram into a 38-foot motorhome!

The culprit

Jammed by a hairdryer

We had a little trouble getting to the drawers in the bedroom, wherein rested all the "Harley T-shirts" that Mark has collected over the years. Normally, in order to access those drawers we would need to extend the bedroom slide. But alas, it wasn't going to budge. During the tumult on the road, the slide had evidently tipped out a little bit, while at the same time, the door of the cupboard that was housing the hairdryer came open. The hairdryer flew out, slid across the floor and landed under the closet slide where it remained, keeping the slide from settling back to a level position. You would think that the heavy closet slide would have crushed the hairdryer into bits. But it seems the hairdryers of twenty years ago were made of sterner stuff.

The problem with drawers on a slide

We were about ready to call everything in those drawers "irretrievable." But as it turned out, once we removed the mattress from the bed, we were able to pull out and empty the top two drawers. After that, there was enough space for me to stick my skinny arm into the bottom drawers and pull out their contents, one item at a time. Nothing was lost.

In fact, we lost very little in the way of personal belongings, thankfully. Many of the glass items that broke could probably have been saved just by stowing them a little more carefully. I'll know better next time. Live and learn.

Cooking in a teeny-tiny kitchen. Ugh.

So now we wait... in hotels. Extended-stay hotels with kitchenettes aren't very much different than living in a motorhome. In some respects they are roomier. Like the bathroom, for instance. This one, however, is designed for one person, not two. It has no table--only a desk area and one chair. So one of us gets the desk (Mark) and the other gets the easy chair with a plate on her lap. But it's okay for a short stay.

We received the good news that our car will be repaired-- one less thing to worry about. It will take three or four weeks to complete, but we have a loaner vehicle, so it isn't a real hardship. The settlement quote on the motorhome is taking longer.

In the meantime, we decided to do something fun. Our extended-stay hotel was located about five minutes from the Miami Zoo, and we both enjoy zoos, so we spent a day bumming around the zoo. It was a hot, sticky day, but we just walked slower and took our time. There were hardly any people there. We got a parking place right up front and felt almost like we had the zoo all to ourselves. It was great!

Sitting around hotels can be hazardous to your sanity. In my next post, I'll explain what happened. In the meantime... zoo pictures! :-)

American White Pelican

Not sure if he's smiling or hissing

Humans

Double hump camels

Giraffes

African elephants

Squirrel monkey

Yellow snake

Too hot to move

These guys are everywhere

Ibis, a native bird you see everywhere in Florida.
They are little scavengers.
They will steel the food right off your plate if you're not
on your guard. We watched them snag french fries
from at least two diners as we ate lunch.