We planned to leave Denver on May 30th but we didn’t get on the road till June 2nd and that was still very rushed and under the most ridiculous of circumstances. Against my better judgment, Tina only allowed herself 2 days to pack a 2 bedroom apartment and a large storage space. I know that was ridiculous and I begged her to take more days off every day leading up to our move. She refused. Needless to say, the move has been a nightmare. Especially since she has ADHD interfering with her focus and she is not the type of person who can do anything good while being rushed. When rushed, she slows down even more as if time doesn’t exist. That’s why we were 3 days late hitting the road.
Because we were rushed, things were not done properly. We both we forced to give up many of our cherished valuables because it wouldn’t fit in our 8.5′ x 7′ x 20′ cargo trailer and her Honda Fit. So, we gave many things away, sold a few things for an incredible loss, and some things we didn’t have time to find a new home for so it ended up in the trash.
The cargo trailer was packed and already being pulled to Tallahassee, FL by a transport company we hired. My motorcycle loaded inside along with everything else we could fit in there.
Our apartment was still filled with valuables, some of the most important stuff we planned to keep with us but it wasn’t all going to fit in the car… even with the top loader bag we bought to strap on the top. Luckily, on the last day, June 3rd, we had some friends come by and help us box some stuff up with the intention to ship them to us when we were ready to have them shipped.
The car was packed so full we couldn’t fit a feather in with a shoehorn by the time we were done. I warned Tina that I thought it was too overloaded but there wasn’t much we could do about it because pretty much everything in there was considered essential.
So, we pilled in with the car and hit the road. We made it to Grand Rivers, Kentucky before the car broke down after getting stuck in bumper-to-bumper traffic on the freeway that would just inch forward every few minutes. We were there in the hot heat for 45 mins and as soon as the road started to clear up the engine started revving high RPMs uncontrollably like a runaway engine. I knew something was wrong so I managed to get it to the closest gas station. I let it cool down for an hour. Added water to the radiator just in case that was the issue. When I started it back up I couldn’t get it back into gear. Tina hopped in a forced it into reverse which made a big clucking noise and the car seemed to drop into that gear but it seemed to be damaging something. We then got it into first but the engine was still revving at very high RPMs so I parked it again and we ended up staying at a Motel 6 for a couple of days. It won’t even engage in to drive after that. It was a Saturday afternoon so we had to wait till Monday before we could get a wrecking company to load it onto a pull behind that we ending up hitching to a Uhaul and pulling it the rest of the way to Tallahassee. We still don’t know exactly what is wrong with it but we are both worried it might be totaled.
While this was going on, the transporter who was delivering our cargo trailer shared some other bad news with us. Apparently, we had overloaded our cargo trailer by about 7,100 lbs. It wasn’t obvious at first but after being on the road for a few hundred miles, the shocks were beginning to almost bottom out and the driver was concerned that it would be too dangerous to drive it any further.
He said he parked it at his property in Cedar Hill, Tennessee, and suggested that we load it on an RGN lowboy to tow it the rest of the way to Tallahassee, Florida. He also said he found a really good deal on an RGN for $1600 which apparently was half the price he expected. So, we sign a contract with a company called “We Will Transport It.” This is the beginning of our next nightmare.
We Will Transport It sent the wrong truck out, twice. They sent a Step Deck instead of the RGN they quoted us for. The Step Deck driver couldn’t get it loaded so then We Will Transport It called us and tried to charge us twice as much for the RGN as we originally agreed to. We said no, we have an agreement in contract and you need to honor it. Ok, ok… give us some time to figure when we can get the RGN there they say. Many days pass and again they end up sending the wrong truck. Another step deck and another failed attempt. 2 weeks have passed at this point before the owner, William calls us telling us that if we need an RGN they will have to double the price originally quoted to us. I explained it’s already been 2 weeks wasted because they were playing games and not sending the right truck that was agreed to. I explained that if they didn’t stick to their agreement I would have to leave them a review sharing my experience with the public. This is when the owner flipped out screaming at the top of his lungs at me… “IF YOU’RE GOING TO THREATEN ME WITH A BAD REVIEW I WILL BLACKLIST YOU ON THE BOARD AND YOU WON’T FIND A TRUCK TO DO THIS FOR YOU FOR $5K OR EVEN $10K!!” I told him I would quote him on that too in the review. “I’M THROUGH WITH YOU!” he says, then he hangs up in a fit of rage.
So, now I have been searching for another transport broker to help us get this job done, hopefully for under $2500. In the meantime, we have been living out of hotels (not able to work and make money appropriately) because we have been so sidetracked with this drama that no only do we do not have many of our belongings with us but, we also haven’t got a new office to work out of nor have we had time to organize the delivery of our 2016 Grand Design Momentum 388 Toy Hauler RV which we plan to live out of for a couple of years while we fix up the property we own out here.
At the moment, that property has turned into a thick forest and I need to fix it up a bit to improve the value before we sell it. I also need to clear a path to park the travel trailer so we can even begin working on it.
That part I am excited about. It’s a lot of work but there is no better motivator than knowing we are fixing up property that we own the deed to. It’s .08 acres located right next to Lake Jackson. Lake Jackson is practically in our backyard.
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