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Soul Driven Relocation, Salt Lake to Knoxville: Part 4

4.23.21

Last day today. They got me a cake and gave me $100. I joked and said “Oh good, gas money.” Everyone wanted hugs when I left, except my boss. She and I tended to butt heads, so I’m sure she wasn’t particularly upset that I am leaving. It was bittersweet. There are a couple people I will miss. I won’t miss the job, but it was a cushy position. Good money, good benefits, and very little work to do day-to-day. But I wasn’t fulfilled by it. The unknown is scary, but I shudder to think how my life would have turned out if I would have stayed.


4.24.21

The POD was dropped off today. I’ve sold off some furniture. Not a lot, but some. We’re mostly packed, but I predict the days go quick.


4.26.21

We rented a U-Haul van, which was a bit of a pain in the ass. I never knew it would be so difficult to get rid of a mattress and box spring. We settled on paying the landfill to take it. We stopped by our parents’ storage unit to pick up anything they wanted to us to take to the dump for them since we were going. It was raining, of course. Every time we move it rains at least one day. We didn’t think it would be a big deal, just a minor inconvenience. Turns out, it caused a bit more of an issue than we thought.


When we headed out to the landfill, it had been raining constantly for several hours, and the temperature was dropping. It started getting slushy and by the time we got the mattress out of the van it had turned to snow. Following the directions from the office, we drove to the top of the hill to drop off the rest of the trash. There weren’t signs or anything, so it was confusing where we were supposed to go. We went to one area, got so far into it and retreated. It got really rough and we didn’t want to damage the van. So, we tried another place. But there was still no obvious place to throw stuff. We got so far and then my sister said, “I’m not stopping. If I do, we’ll get stuck.” So, we made a wide circle in the big open, muddy space which was lined with piles of sand and woodchips. Sure as shit, we were almost back to the entrance of the clearing and we got stuck. Like, really stuck. My sister and I grew up in the country, on a farm. We know how to get a vehicle out of the mud. But that van was stuck fast in six inches of the clayey, goopy stuff.


After thirty minutes of rocking and using a couple boards we had to try and get out, all we had accomplished was me getting soaked by the slushy rain and covered in mud. We weren’t going anywhere. I started calling the office, but nobody was answering. I tried three different numbers, left messages. We had Mom and Dad heading toward the office at one point. Finally, I got through. They sent a huge piece of equipment with a scoop over (forgive me, I am not up on the names of heavy equipment). He told us he had to get a tow rope. Then a county worker with a dump truck showed up. One of those big dumpsters like you would see on a construction site. They looked and couldn’t find anywhere to hook on, unless someone crawled under the van and risked drowning in the mud. So, the three of us are pushing and shoving. My sister was in the van driving driving. And we still weren’t going anywhere.


Eventually, there were five guys there who had driven up in their own dump trucks while we were struggling. One of the guys came over and opened the driver’s side door. “Mind if I drive?” My sister slid to the floor between the bucket seats and he crawled into the driver’s seat. “I’m about to get all country up in here,” he said with a smirk. At one point he had the van spinning in place at 60 mph. The wood chips they’d thrown under the tires were smoking. All the lights on the dash lit up. And he’s just chatting away like it was any other day. “So, Tennessee. What takes you there?”


We spun out. We slid. We were driving sideways for a few minutes and suddenly we were loose. It took two hours, a big scoop full of woodchips, and a couple planks one of them pulled out of their dumpsters, along with the four other guys pushing to get us out. The inside of the van was covered in mud. I was covered in mud. I was soaked and freezing. But they got us out. Thank you, Tooele County Sanitization.


I was ready for the day to be over, but we still had work to do. The rain/sleet/snow washed off most of the mud on the outside of the van on the drive back to the storage unit to pick up the washer and drier. Once we turned the engine off and back on, all the lights on the dash went out, thankfully. It rained the entire day, but even after the delay, we still managed to get the van back in time. And as my sister said, “If our worst packing day amounts to two hours and a $25 cleaning fee, I’ll take it.” It was quite the adventure. I ended the day exhausted, both physically and emotionally, but at least that part is done.


Stay tuned for the next installment.

Cover photo by Lucas Pezeta from Pexels

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