Hello from South Bend

Today was the big moving day. Picking up the truck, loading it up and driving out east. It's late and I'm tired, so here's a brief summary.

Time I hoped that we would leave: 10 am

Time I planned for leaving: noon

Time I figured we'd leave: 2 pm

Time we actually left: 8:15 pm

At least that was the time we left the loading dock (thank goodness we were able to use the freight elevator all day). We had some errands to run in the city and then we set out by streets to the highway. Having missed the entrance ramp to the highway we wanted, we went backwards toward the previous entrance and saw that it was a parking lot of traffic. Decided to go an alternate way by streets (yes, nothing like driving around the south side of Chicago late at night), but tractor trailers were coming down the entrance ramp, exiting the highway, and everything was blocked off by the cops. Followed signs to another entrance (each time, getting closer and closer to the Indiana border) but that one was also blocked off.

Listened to the news to find out that a tanker overturned in the toll plaza for the bridge to Indiana, creating an accident of over a dozen vehicles. And apparently, because of the level of severity of the accident, there were at least 15 ambulances on scene, and the whole highway was shut down. What a mess. One police officer gave us some alternate directions, and we ended up following a FedEx ground truck over the border. That was nice. (Edit, 2:00 am: Here's a link to information about the crash. Check out their images - it was a terrible looking accident...)

But after 38 hours awake (with only a tiny power nap), we were exhausted. Had dinner in Portage, IN (could Hardees be slower? And why do BBQ sandwiches come with mayo?)... and now I'm writing to you from South Bend. We were hoping to make it to Toledo, but I was having the sleep deprivation pseudo-hallucinations and fell asleep 5 times between Portage and South Bend. (No, I wasn't driving! If I had been the one to drive, we would have ended up staying overnight in a casino just over the border, I was so sleepy.) No crossing the Ohio border for tonight.

It occurred to me over dinner that part of our exhaustion probably came from not having eaten much of anything at all. We kept trying to get packing done, so in the 24 hours prior to eating at Hardees, the two of us collectively consumed 2 sandwiches, 2 bottles of Gatorade, and one granola bar. That's it. How sad.

[I did say quick summary, didn't I? Hmm.]

I kind of liked the moving part of the whole experience. Carrying things, placing them in the truck, trying to make them fit as best as possible. It felt good to exercise. In contrast, packing is just so tedious. It never seems to end. We weren't fully "packed" until we decided to leave the apartment, and even then we left some stuff behind (e.g. cleaning supplies that we're sure the cleaning people will gladly take to use, seeing as how they did that with one of our new cleaners when we were moving last year!). The apartment seems to explode with crap, and it never seems to end. Unpacking is also pretty tedious, but at least there's a fresh start, and you're not coping with how much of a packrat disaster you are.

But after this whole experience, I have one thing to say: I own a LOT of stuff, and I fully intend to go through it and get rid of all the stuff I don't need or want or use while unpacking. For real, this time. After all, I "discovered" a box under my bed when I was moving out that I don't think I saw all year. That type of thing is unacceptable! And in addition to getting rid of stuff, I want to be more organized. (Okay, so that's two things.) I fully embrace my packrat status... but from now on, I want to be an organized packrat!

And now, back to the present...

I've never been to South Bend before. I had hoped to take a weekend or day trip while living in Chicago to visit Notre Dame, but I never made it there. Now I'm in South Bend by circumstance, but probably won't have time to see ND. Oh well. :)

Shower, sleep (finally! It's been ages!), and then heading east again in the morning!