Moving the container contents to Arizona - part 2

We had considered different options for getting the sorted-through contents of the container from Virginia to Arizona -- we compared various "pod-type" moving containers, but we finally settled on renting a Penske truck and driving it to Arizona. 

We had reserved the truck for pickup on Friday at a Pack & Ship store in Williamsburg.

Truck in the lot

It turned out that Regina's folks had items at their house that needed to be taken to the thrift store, so we first headed to their house and Jimmy and Ricky loaded the items onto the truck.

We didn't get pictures of the loading and unloading, but the contents pretty much filled the intake space at the thrift store.

We headed back to the farm to start loading the container contents onto the Penske truck. We loaded most of the items that had been on the flat bed trailer, then went to the container to put some additional items on the truck. Ricky's two older sons were there to help us load the truck and they really helped a lot!

Joseph with my brother, Jimmy, in the truck

A staged picture of Christopher carrying an item out of the container...

... delivering it to his brother, Joseph, in the truck.

Jimmy did the packing of the truck and got everything packed well and secured.

Oh, my, all that to take to Arizona!

So, we were loaded!

Hospitality

Regina was so gracious to have us in their home while we were going through the stuff in the container... just a couple of pictures...

She took time to tell me about the sewing machine that I was getting from her mom...

... one of the amazing meals that she prepared.

 We are so thankful to both Regina and Jimmy for taking care of us while we were there.

Pumpkins!

We were in Virginia at pumpkin gleaning time, so took time out from container sorting to gather some pumpkins...

Pumpkins and gourds in the field

A few that we had gathered

Jimmy was collecting pumpkins to provide the chickens with some interesting food.

Lots and lots of pumpkins!

The farm where we gleaned the pumpkins had hosted a wedding a week or so before so had fall displays around the property.

Back at the Jimmy and Regina's farm, chickens checking out these new pumpkins which they had been gifted.

We had a few boxes of pumpkins and gourds to bring with us in the moving truck!

Cows and chickens

Since we were on the farm for almost a week, and since we were often walking from the house to the container and back, Carl got lots of pictures of the cows and chickens...

The cows would come up from the pasture behind the house each day...

 

Get water from the waterer...

Check out what was going on in the chicken pen ("Chicken TV")...

and lay down behind the house near the fence to chew their cud.

Meanwhile, the chickens were about as entertained by the cows as they were entertaining *to* the cows!

"I've got my eye on you!"

"Some privacy, please!"

Always curious!

It is enjoyable to see the animals as they go about their days (as we were going about our days!).

Moving the container contents to Arizona - part 1

When Dwayne and I first were going fulltime in the motorhome, Dwayne was not quite as gung-ho on the idea as I was. He had a wonderful woodshop setup in our garage in Coppell, and it was hard to give that up. I promised him that he could keep those components and, one day, when we got off the road, we'd have a house where he could have his woodshop again. Unfortunately, cancer interrupted that plan and Dwayne did not have the opportunity to have his woodshop here on earth again (I'm convinced God has a better woodshop in heaven!).

At the time we were giving up our house, my brother graciously offered us the use of a container on his farm for us to store the woodshop components, as well as other things that we thought we might want at a future time when we would return to living in a house without wheels. I thought that the "stuff" would only be stored for a few years, but it has been there for 12 years.

When Carl and I married, he had a few items that had been stored at his son's home that we brought to the container. We also had things from each of our motorhomes that got moved out when we were combining our lives, and those were placed in the container. Each year when we'd visit Virginia, we had access to our "stuff" and would sometimes exchange things that were in Gracie for things in the container, or offload more things out of Gracie and store them in the container.

With the purchase of the new-to-us house without wheels, with a garage, we decided that it was time to get the things we wanted from the container and allow my brother to have the use of his container after 12 long years. So, a week or so ago, we flew to Virginia to start the process of sorting through the contents of the container.

Opening the container door...

...wow, that's a lot of stuff!

Sorting through some of the boxes...

We placed the things we wanted to take to Arizona on a flat bed trailer that Jimmy would put under cover each night to protect the contents from the heavy dew.

Cleaning a rug that had been stored for 12 years

Everything that had been stored was very dusty and dirty, but most things appeared to be in decent shape. We decided that some things were no longer needed in our lives, and they could be taken to a thrift store, or later sold at Jimmy and Regina's church's white elephant sale.

We are so grateful to my brother, Jimmy, for allowing us to use the container for so many years, for Jimmy and Regina putting us up in their home while we sorted through the contents of the container, for Jimmy coming up with the plan to use the trailer for the things we wanted to take, volunteering to take care of (dispose of) contents that we did not want to take, and doing the job of packing of the contents into the moving truck for us. We are overwhelmed with gratitude to them both.

Dueling Pianos

At our new community, we got tickets for an event, "Dueling Pianos"...

The two guys did a good show (https://www.cactuskeysentertainment.com/cactus-keys-dueling-piano-show/)...

It was interactive with the audience suggesting songs for them to play.

We were able to sit with two couples whom we had previously met at the Tuesday Coffee time. It is nice to start knowing a few people in our new community!

Living room furniture

While we had gotten bedroom furniture, dining room furniture, and a kitchen table and chairs from our friends' estate sale...

... we were rather lacking in living room furniture. We'd gotten the light brown leather recliner from another estate sale, and the rug from Costco, but we were looking for a sofa and loveseat to replace the very uncomfortable folding chairs.

There is an online community bulletin board in Sunland Springs Village and someone had posted that they had a leather furniture set that they were selling - sofa (with two recliners), loveseat (with two recliners), a separate rocker recliner, and two end tables. We called, went to see it, decided to get it, rented a truck from Home Depot for 75 minutes, picked all the pieces up, and got them back to our garage. After returning the truck to Home Depot, it was time to get the furniture into the living room...

... thankfully the backs came off the recliners and the center of the sofa came out to make it more manageable.

Final reattachment of the center of the sofa (you can see the dining room furniture behind me).

All in place!

We still want to get an entertainment center and possibly a larger TV.

We are doing well on furniture for our new place at this point!