As of now it has been 6 days of moving.  Yes you read that right 6 days of moving.  As most of you know we have been living in Bloomington, IL since August of last year.  Jen is getting her Masters at Illinois State and is also one of the coaches for the ISU swim team.  We were waiting to see if she made it through her first semester after being away from school for so long.  Being a coach had a few strings attached so she was on probation for the first semester to see if she could keep up with her grades and coaching t the same time.  I am proud to report that she made it and is doing well at both.  She was even there when the girls broke one of her records from when she swam there back in 1994.  Since the coaching and school are working out we decided to move completely out of the house in Chicago after the snow melted.

Friday and Saturday were packing days and Menards had a sale on storage bins so we picked up 20 thinking it would be more than enough.  How much stuff could we have anyway?  We moved quite a bit to the rental house in Bloomington in August.  After about 3 hours of packing Saturday night we ran out of Bins.  So we called it a night a decided to get another 20 Saturday morning.  Well that still wasn’t enough and by the end of the move we bought close to 80 bins.  We could have actually used more since the move on Tuesday was a huge pain. 

Sunday morning we did a little more packing and by noon we had 8 people there to help.  A few big things were a problem but by 5 o’clock the truck was full and we could barley close the door.  When we picked up the truck we originally thought that we might be able to do this in one trip.  After getting halfway through the first truck it was becoming evident quickly that we needed to do 2 trips.  It’s about a 2 hour drive from Bloomington to Chicago.  I can make it faster in the car but no way in this truck.  We were on the road by 6:30 and pretty much passed out after coming in the door. 

Monday was spent unloading stuff into the house and the rest went 30 minutes south to a storage unit (200sq ft). Some players from the Prairie Thunder were going to help us unload but they had some trades on the team on Monday and we lost them.  By the time we got back from storage it was after 10pm.

Tues it was back to Chicago and what we thought was picking up the little stuff left over.  Jen and I both thought it would be about half a truck.  This truck was a huge 37 foot door on the side diesel monster. And pretty much the biggest truck you can get and drive it yourself.   After driving the Rv for years I was pretty used to everything except the airbrakes and leaving Sunday night was a little adventure just getting it started. 

My neighbor in Bloomington is off this week and volunteered to make the trip with me to get the rest of the stuff.  Jen had class and coaching so it was just him and I with a little help from a friend in Chicago after he got off at 5:30.  We expected to be long gone by then after all it was just a few things.  We walked through the house and figured it would be a couple hours 3 at the most.  Well 5 hours later and ¾ of the truck full we still had a ways to go.  Jeff showed up and dug into it with us for 2 more hours.  When we closed the door we had ANOTHER FULL TRUCK and could barely get the door down. We got back at about 11:00pm after the 2 hour drive, gas, and stopping for something to eat.

Wednesday was unloading at the house and filling another storage unit.  Now I now you thinking wow these guys must really stink at packing.  But you would be amazed how much stuff was in there.  We had originally planned on just getting one storage unit and the rest going in the house.  It became clear that there was no way this would fit in the rental. So in a panic we called around and filled another storage unit (150 sq ft) and again it was stuffed from floor to ceiling and wall to wall. After cramming everything into Storage we needed to get the truck back to Chicago get the kids from the grandparents where they had been staying since Friday and get back so Jen could be at class in the morning. 

We got to the place to drop off the truck at 11:30 pm and did a final check to make sure it was clean.  Headed to the house to grab the expedition which was full of breakable stuff we didn’t want to put on the truck, then over to the grandparents house to grab the kids.  Both were in Pj’s and ready to go.

So we all load in the car and head back to Bloomington.  Within 10 minutes everyone in the car is asleep. 30 min into the drive (right around Joliet ) the low tire pressure indicator goes off on my dash.  I say a couple swear words under my breath and grab the next exit.  After a quick look at the tires I can see the tire on the back on is low so I put in some air.   It was then I could hear the hissing.  We picked up a nail and within a minute the back tire was completely flat and sitting on the rim.  Now remember the car is packed full of more of our crap.  Yes by this point everything we own is crap and should have been thrown away or burned years ago.

It’s now well past midnight and no way to get to the spare without unloading the whole dam car. I get everything unloaded open the hatch where the jack a spare is. There is a can of Fix-a Flat the jack and guess what?   NO SPARE TIRE!!!!  I don’t know what happened to it and at this point I really don’t care.  My whole body aches, my back is in spasms, and to top it off its raining.  I load everything back in the Expedition and read the directions on the fix-a flat.  After 30 minutes of trying I give up on pulling the screw out of the tire and just push it all the way in the hole. I hook the Can to the valve stem and push the button.  This stuff has been sitting in there for over 5 years.  I transferred it over form my explorer when we traded it in.  All that happened is a bunch of whit goo came out the hole and spilled out onto the gas station parking lot.  GREAT!!  We were next to the air pump so I tossed in a few quarters to see if I could get pressure in the tire.  The tire came up but kept gurgling.  I wasn’t real comfortable with driving back through the middle of nowhere and this not holding.  So we were going to grab a room and get a new tire in the morn.  After 3 full hotel and calling around we gave up on that thought too.

Now it’s almost 2 am Jen and the kids in the expedition no place to sleep, it’s raining, and a tire that’s shot.  Well god must have said ok he has had enough for the week let’s give him a break.  I went back to the gas station and filled up with air in the tire.  I crossed my fingers and listened.  No hiss!!!!  Jumped in and made the mad dash for home.  We got into the driveway at about 3:30 am.  I just looked and the tire is still up.  J   I really want to thank the fix-a-flat folks for such an awesome product.  After the week I had it was so nice to have something actually work.  Everyone reading this should buy a can and keep it with you.  Saved my ass on a very bad week.  Better yet make sure you have a spare tire and it’s good. 

I am going to take some drugs for my back and get some sleep.  It’s been a VERY long 6 days.