20-VI-2003.
The big move. In the morning I drove downtown to leave the Corolla at U-haul and to pick a truck. Then they didn't have a trailer, and I didn't have a driver for the car, so I drove the truck home and took Lena with me all the way to Boorton, to pick a trailer there. The map wasn't exactly clear, the Gugao didn't have them yet, it was just a spartan search site, so I went for whatever Mapquest had, or was it Yahoo. They weren't precise, so we drove through Boorton, which meant getting into the hills a bit - that's where the Appalachians really begin - then zigzag down the narrow and very winding road down into the place, only to find that the U-haul is outside, near the road by which we came, in the flat part of it. Lena was scared of the ride, it was a really nasty few minutes, but not really worse than driving through some places in Dalmatia. The bad map cost us some twenty minutes.
Got home around noon, then started packing. It was raining on and off, but we managed, mostly taking cigarette or snack breaks during the downpours, and then quidkly moving other stuff when it cleared.
At some point we decided we aren't taking the big half of the couch we got from Rick - too bulky, too heavy, too soft and uncomfortable. Also, the coffee table, the uncomfortable futon and bookcases we got from Burt, which were mostly worn out or we didn't really need them.
So I went down to the rental office and asked what would happen if we left a few pieces of furniture. They sent a guy to take a look, and he said they'd take forty bucks off the deposit, which we happily accepted. This took another twenty minutes.
Already somewhat tired, we got everything into the truck in an hour or so, then drove downtown to get the car onto the trailer (with some help from a guy there who fastened the wheels with tension girdles) and then drove to the sea. Had some lunch at Subway at exit 205 just after Richmond, they had a footlong sandwich with ćufte in tomato sauce, excellent, and drove on. We didn't stop to visit the girls, as we were in a bit of a hurry to get there before business close time, and, besides, parking a truck with a trailer anywhere downtown would be near impossible. Driving around town wasn't too fast either, they were finishing an overpass somewhere and the three lanes in our direction were reduced to one.
Meanwhile, Mrvica was happily munching on whatever it had in her pot. I guess we picked some more grass while we ate the sandwiches.
It being friday afternoon, the bridge-tunnel was clogged and moved at snail's pace*. We got to the location at 17:20, and of course our calling ahead and announcing we'd be a bit late didn't really work. There was nobody there. We found some maintenance guys who had a master key, but didn't dare open the place for us, not quite sure whether our papers were fake. I guess they were just covering their asses, in case we were some kind of scammers. When in doubt, do nothing.
I took the car off the trailer and then, ouch... Turning a truck with a trailer in the relatively narrow parking was a major feat, of which I'm still proud :). Drove the trailer to Cho's garage, which was the nearest U-haul franchise, so at least I wouldn't pay for the trailer an extra day.
We found a motel somewhere on Atlantic avenue, which is the last street parallel to the boardwalk (funny how they go - the next one is Pacific, then Baltic). Relatively cheap at 70$ for one night, considering the location. Found a 7-11 nearby, where we bought some soup-in-a-cup (and of course picked the spicy hot ones, with lime and hot peppers), which we then warmed up using hot water from the tap, as there was no coffee maker. The faucets were the weirdest thing I ever saw - the handles were star shaped, with one tip twice as long as the others, tips quite sharp (!), which turned in different directions, british style. To close, turn outwards. And the full turn is 90°, seems to bee they have the ball-shaped valve inside, not the screw with rubber ring.
The terrace opened to a little lake, just a couple of feet beyond the wall.
For change, I slept on the right side of the bed. Wrong decision - her habits work on weekends too, so she pushed me off the bed in a couple of hours, habitually going for the right edge of the bed. I didn't really fall, woke up just before tipping over so I landed on my feet and just walked to the other side and went on sleeping. She was very confused in the morning :).
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* Took me a few years to understand that the slow pace is almost never caused by any fender bender or such, but by tourists. They simply get shit scared when they understand that they're driving through a tunnel under water, so the speed gets around 25mph. From mid sepember to next june, it's 50-60mph there.
Mentions: 04-XI-2005., ćufte, Gugao, Jelena Sredljević (Lena), Mrvica, Reginald Burton Cape (Burt), Rick Netter, in serbian