When you're a teenager and in high school, each happening is a grand adventure. It's one to tell your chums about, because it marks you as audacious, someone to whom things “happen”. When they're hilarious things, it makes the adventure even better. Involve parents, rain, a muddy Tennessee day and a moving truck, and the tale gains in the telling. Of course, you must have the right props, but it's kind of hard to drag around a wide piece of wood to illustrate your story. So, your audience will just need to use their imaginations.
A Bit of Background
Prior to beginning our story, you should be aware that just outside Nashville, Tennessee is a small community called Mount Juliet. It's the home of Charlie Daniels (yes, I can point out where his house is). Mount Juliet sits atop a rise in the ground, making snowy twisting roads lots of fun on which to drive in the winter. It makes things miserable, though, when your house sits off the road where the ground dips a bit. The rain pools, the mud can be impassable, and just going up the driveway to get to the school bus is quite an undertaking.
Now, think about a couple who happen to be my parents and who both drive into Nashville to work. Their car is parked on the street in front of the house during the week to better facilitate a quick getaway every morn. They both work in buildings on opposite sides of the city. One would drop the other off at work and then head to their workplace. Meanwhile at the house, as the rain continues, the water collects deeper and deeper in the driveway until it reaches the side door steps of the house. This is an important item to remember in this scary tale of Do-It-Yourself (DIY) moving.
What Happened
My parents had bought a house closer to Nashville, making it easier and quicker for them to commute to their jobs. Ergo, they rented a moving truck, and we were loading it. It had been raining for weeks, it seemed, and the yard was one heaving mass of mud. My Dad had backed the truck down the driveway, with the backend as close to the side door steps as he could get it. A long, wide piece of plywood was used as a loading ramp. So far, the loading of the truck was going smoothly. The rain made things a bit damp and unpleasant, but we were moving right along.
The Hard Part
Now, the truck was loaded. My brother and I were piled in one of the cars with me driving. I was standing by for the truck to pull out of the drive, so I could get behind it on the way to the new house. We noticed Dad having problems moving out of the drive, and so we walked back up the driveway a safe distance away to observe in order to see what would happen next. He made an effort to rock the truck. That didn't work. He tried having Mom get in the driver's seat and jacking the tail end of the truck out of the mud. That didn't work, either. Finally, Dad put the long, wide piece of wood under the back tires of the moving truck.
The Scary Part
You should be aware that if you're going to use a piece of wood to get your tires out of the mud, you need to be mindful of which direction the wood will go when your truck leaves the scene. In this case, it shot like a projectile right through our living room window. Pieces of glass were all over the place, the truck shot out of the driveway, Mom was startled and almost didn't make the turn onto the street, and Dad stood without saying a word. My brother and I found all this immensely humorous and were laughing our teenage heads off. Consequently, we all got out of there as fast as we could and never went back.
Moving is no fun sometimes, but there are days it can be very comical and other days it can be downright scary. What's your horror story involving DIY moving? We'd love to hear it!
