DAY 16: Day 1 of Packing the U-Pack Trailer

I am a bit behind on posts due to the chaos of the past few days, I haven't had time to update our progress. This blog will recap Saturday Day 16, a.k.a. "Day 1 of Loading". If you prefer to watch a 2-minute video instead, here is the link: Day 1 of Packing Our U-Pack Trailer, Bound for Belize!

Our plan was to jam out the bulk of loading Day 1, then fine-tune the "Tetris" job Day 2. At the end of Day 1, we planned to move over to our AirBnB with the cats, so they could acclimate and we could also take apart our bedroom. SPOILER ALERT: Things did not go as planned..!

Nathan and I popped out of bed pretty early in hopes of getting started before the heat became unbearable. A quick check of the weather at 6:58 AM showed we were already too late:

I had prepared 120 labels that list our name, destination address, phone number, and a box number - we must provide a manifest to Belize Freight of the contents and value of each box for Customs. I used a bingo dauber to stamp each label with one hot-pink mark if it will go outside in our bodega when delivered, or two hot-pink marks if it should come inside the villa. This should streamline unloading drastically! As an adult, I have moved ten times previously, and each time I gain more schemes to make it less tedious.

Clayton, Nathan's dad and our Saviour, showed up around 8 and we started strategizing the order of loading and weight distribution. In hindsight, I should have stickered all the boxes in advance and created the manifest, instead of trying to do it as we went; this slowed us down considerably and frustrated me, someone who is self-aware of their inability to multi-task.

Zachary, our younger son, showed up around 10 AM to lend some 19-year-old muscle and energy, which was much appreciated! 

The heat and humidity were incredibly taxing; we had a cooler full of water and beer (to replenish carbs!) plus cooling towels and kept reminding each other to take breaks.

As luck would have it, I was able to sell our last 3 large items that remained: one couple bought our bedroom set and TV console that was solid wood and iron - exceptionally heavy - and we had to help them load those; a lady came for my counter stools, too! Both required a pause in loading, but it was worth it to have those items sold and out of the way.

Mela, Nathan's mom, saved the day and brought us lunch! Everyone refueled and we were back at it until 5, when everyone had hit their breaking point. I shot a quick video but failed to take a still photo; here is a screen-grab of our progress:

We ended up packing about two bins deep, not nearly as far as we had hoped. We were really going to have to kick it into high gear on Sunday to finish the loading process.

After Zach and Clayton left, I took a suitcase out to the car to head to our AirBnB, and this is where our Master Plan derailed:

You have GOT to be kidding me....!!! Kias do not have spares to improve fuel economy. It is now a little after 5 on a Saturday, no tire shops are open. Remember how we sold our bedroom furniture earlier in the day...? Yep. Looks like we are camping in a secondary bedroom since our bedroom has tile floors. In case you are curious, after dehydrating and having heat exhaustion, pushing your body to its limits all day, sleeping on a hard floor is not ideal.

I didn't have a beer during the day, but after our unfortunate turn of events, I had a nightcap. Here it is, on my paddleboard-come-nightstand, on the floor of Zach's bedroom.

The tires on the car are from Discount Tire, which has exceptional customer service and their optional warranty repairs or replaces tires for free! Guess who isn't open on Sundays, though...? DISCOUNT TIRE.

I scrambled to find a tire store that was both open on Sunday, and that had an appropriate tire in stock. I found one less than a mile from our house, well within Geico's towing radius, and they had an appointment available at 9AM. The tire was right at $100 installed. PERFECT. I could ride in the tow truck to the tire shop, then have Clayton pick me up on his way over in the morning. 

...or so I thought...