We returned home late last night after a whirlwind trip to Minnesota, where Jeff will be in a training program with his new job for the next several months. He picked up the U-Haul on Saturday and thanks to my nagging him all week about getting his stuff together, we managed to have everything loaded by Saturday afternoon. We opted to put his car on a trailer and pull it behind the U-Haul. Jeff positioned Stewie Griffin behind the wheel, where he leered menacingly at any who dared pass.
Neal and Jeff drove the U-Haul truck, while I followed in my Pilot. It gave them some quality bonding time and gave me some solitude. We made a stop in KC to pick up Jeff's TV, entertainment center, bed, table and chairs. His renters had graciously put everything in the living room, ready to load, so it was done in short order. I was pleasantly surprised at how clean and nice everything looked at his KC house. Granted, they knew we were coming, but still, what 20-something men consider clean and neat and what I consider clean and neat, are usually quite different.
The drive was gorgeous and the weather perfect on Sunday. We stayed the night at Ames, Iowa. This is where I learned a valuable lesson. You don't have to use Priceline.com to bargain for room rates. Jeff had a maximum amount for which he could be reimbursed from his company. We went to the Mariott and found that the prices were too high. I asked about the AAA price....a little lower, but still too high. I said, "is that the cheapest you have?" to which he asked "how much do you want to pay?" So I told him, and there you go, we named our price and got our rooms. Guess it doesn't pay much to have empty rooms.
Monday--moving-in day--was not as nice weatherwise. It began raining before we crossed the Minnesota border and the temperature was in the 40's. Brrrrrr! Owatonna is a beautiful little town. The leaves were breath-taking. The pictures don't do them justice.
We had no trouble finding his apartment, which we originally thought was above a restaurant, then later found out was a bar/pool hall. (Turns out most of the restaurants in Owatonna are bars.) Anyway....God saw fit to give us a break from the rain during the unloading of the U-Haul. His landlord was very friendly, helpful, and apologetic that the roof had sprung a leak that morning, causing a constant dripping into a barrel on top of the toilet! Of course, as usual, I desperately needed the bathroom and had to hold an umbrella while peeing. Sorry, no pictures!
After making a gazillion trips up and down the 23 steps to his apartment (my calves are still screaming) we were completely unloaded by lunchtime. Had a quick bite at Subway, then Jeff was ready for us to leave. "Dad, please get Mom out of here before she starts organizing and decorating!"
Neal and I drove 4 hours to Wausau, WI because we couldn't possibly be that far north without seeing our good friends Todd and Lisa. They took us out to dinner, then put us up for the night. We left yesterday morning and 15 hours later were in our own bed.
