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Floridaboiler
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Joined: 18 May 2002
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Location: Jacksonville, Florida
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 Posted: 08/13/05 - 10:31 Post subject: The Jacksonville/Baton Rouge HillBillies Road Trip
Well I know this is a week late but the furniture made it back in one piece last Sunday.
Friday Morning: I was on the road by 8 AM after seeing Boiler JR off to his first day of school. By about 4 PM I was in Baton Rouge. The packers were already at my folks house so it was wierd to see 4200 sq ft of house in boxes. I did stop at WalMart on my way in to pick up 5 6-packs of different flavors of Abita since it would be my last chance to get them. My truck averaged about 17 miles to the gallon on the way out.
Saturday: I got to sit around and watch the moving company start loading the truck. They started at about 9 and finished around 3 or 4 with about 90 percent loaded. They would come back on Monday to get the rest. After the movers left my dad and I started loading the truck. After putting down some old sheets to try and keep the furniture sort of clean we started bringing out the couches. They were 77 inches long so I had to keep my tailgate down. After getting the 2 couches in, we realized that we would have to take apart the coffee table and end tables to make them fit.
Side note: These tables are about 30 years old, was it the style back then to have one end table one shape like a square or rectangle and the other more like a circle or octagon?? /side note
Back to the story. Next we loaded up a chair that is sort of like a recliner in that the back reclines (hence the name) but there is no footrest. That gets piled on the top. It is sitting above the cab of my truck. Now we start tying everything in. I have 2 of the rachet type straps and we use on on the end of the truck to hold the couches in. We go to use the other strap across the top of the couches and the chair and it to short!  I had rope to help hold on the tarps and we do the best we can to tie the chair to the truck. We then start putting on the tarps. The 2 we had were no where near big enough. My dad runs out to get a 16' by 30'  tarp. Wow. We get that tied at the end of the bed by the cab. When we pull it over the furniture and get to my tail gate, I must have about 18 to 20 feet left over. We try and tuck it and then run ropes all over it to hold the tarp in place. That is finally done. My dad takes a few pictures and then it is dinner time etc.
Sunday Morning: I am up at 4 am and on the road by 4:30. Since it is dark, I am driving along in the right line right at the speed limit since I know my truck is loaded. I head out pretty much calm. I had plans to stop about every hour to check everything.
I get to the Miss. border and decide to stop. When I get parked and get out of my truck I see that the tarp has come loose and for god knows how long I have been trailing 20 feet of tarp like a cape behind my truck. I also see that the chair on top has slid back about 2 feet. I take about 20 minutes and try and get everything reset. After much cursing etc, I get everything tied in. I pull out and not even 5 minutes on the road, the tarp comes loose again. I pull over tuck it in, then drive to the next exit so I can really stop. I spend 20 minutes working with the end of the tarp that is now shredded from dragging for 80 miles and get it tucked in nice and tight. I head back on the road and finally start making headway. I drive some more and the tarps are still coming loose. I pull over again, fix it again and get driving. At this stop, I think I finally figure out a way to use the other rachet strap and some rope to hold the top chair in place. That is one less thing to worry about.
Finally I get to the ALA. border and pull over again. I check the tarps and they are coming loose but not as bad. I am so po'ed that I just use the pen knife that I luckily had and cut the excess tarp. I stop and get gas and check the ropes. I am back on the roads and as I ride along in the right lane I see people passing me and I wonder what they are saying as I drive down the road with a loaded truck etc.
I hit the Florida border finally and part way in I get more gas or was that in Alabama, the stops all started running together. In Florida I start driving through rain bands. I am just praying the furniture doesnt get ruined. I get to Tallahassee and I stop for more gas. Everything seems to be holding together now. I head back out praying the rains stay light. I had just driven through a heavy rain band and I can see dark clouds to the south right where I was heading. I call Mrs. Boiler to see what it is doing there. She says it is just cloudy. Finally about 4:15 I get home. I roll out of the truck and stretch my legs some. I then start to get everything untied since the clouds are still dark and I am afraid of it getting rained on. I had planned on taking a couple of pics of the truck without the tarp but I forgot. All I wanted to do was get the furniture out of the truck and in the garage. I find a neighbor who can help me get the furniture out and into the garage.
Monday: I wake up and my arms are dead tired! I guess it was the stress of hanging on to the wheel and worrying that the chair that we had tied on top of everything might go rolling off the back of my truck and hit someone. When I get caught up on my real work I take 10 minutes and figure out that I averaged about 17 mpg on the way out and only 10 on the way back!
So now the furniture is in the garage dried out, I washed the slip covers at a laundromat since they are so big, and the are hanging to dry so they don't shrink. The plan is to move the furniture in tomorrow if I can track down a neighbor to help.
If my dad sends me the picture of the loaded truck I will post it.
Have a great weekend everyone.
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JACKED UP
PRESIDENT
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Joined: 06 Jun 2003
Posts: 21238
Location: www.johnnydu.com
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Posted: 08/13/05 - 13:55 Post subject:
 I bet that was quite a sight FB! Glad you made ok for the most part!
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Floridaboiler
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Joined: 18 May 2002
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Location: Jacksonville, Florida
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Posted: 08/13/05 - 14:18 Post subject:
I am sure you are right JU. Now that I have had time to recover from the trip I am sure it was pretty humorous to see me driving down the road like that.
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Cappy
Excelent
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Posted: 08/13/05 - 14:37 Post subject:
I am assuming the rest of the family stayed home?
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JACKED UP
PRESIDENT
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Joined: 06 Jun 2003
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Location: www.johnnydu.com
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Posted: 08/13/05 - 14:40 Post subject:
| Cappy wrote: | | I am assuming the rest of the family stayed home? |
He should have taken them. They could of held the tarp down!  
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Floridaboiler
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Joined: 18 May 2002
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Location: Jacksonville, Florida
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Posted: 08/13/05 - 14:41 Post subject:
| Cappy wrote: | | I am assuming the rest of the family stayed home? |
Oh yeah, in the cab of my truck I had a picture I wanted (ansel adams photo of a waterfall in Yellowstone, a sculpture of a pelican that my parents were thinking about leaving behind but I offered to bring it in my truck and some stuff from the pantry.
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Cappy
Excelent
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Posted: 08/13/05 - 14:42 Post subject:
| Floridaboiler wrote: | | Cappy wrote: | | I am assuming the rest of the family stayed home? |
Oh yeah, in the cab of my truck I had a picture I wanted (ansel adams photo of a waterfall in Yellowstone, a sculpture of a pelican that my parents were thinking about leaving behind but I offered to bring it in my truck and some stuff from the pantry. |
Where was the dog and shotgun?
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Ms. Jenn
Fresh, Hot & Wild
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Joined: 14 Feb 2004
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Posted: 08/13/05 - 19:22 Post subject:
| Cappy wrote: | | Floridaboiler wrote: | | Cappy wrote: | | I am assuming the rest of the family stayed home? |
Oh yeah, in the cab of my truck I had a picture I wanted (ansel adams photo of a waterfall in Yellowstone, a sculpture of a pelican that my parents were thinking about leaving behind but I offered to bring it in my truck and some stuff from the pantry. |
Where was the dog and shotgun? |
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Floridaboiler
POTFH
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Joined: 18 May 2002
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Location: Jacksonville, Florida
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Posted: 08/14/05 - 06:46 Post subject:
| Cappy wrote: | | Floridaboiler wrote: | | Cappy wrote: | | I am assuming the rest of the family stayed home? |
Oh yeah, in the cab of my truck I had a picture I wanted (ansel adams photo of a waterfall in Yellowstone, a sculpture of a pelican that my parents were thinking about leaving behind but I offered to bring it in my truck and some stuff from the pantry. |
Where was the dog and shotgun? |
The shotgun was packed up and in a box. The dog, unfortunately passed way about 10 years ago.
Last edited by Floridaboiler on 08/14/05 - 08:57; edited 1 time in total
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bburgoyne26
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Posted: 08/14/05 - 08:20 Post subject:
did you grow up in Baton Rougue?.....and now your parents are moving to FL?......I'm a little slow, sorry..... 
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Floridaboiler
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Posted: 08/14/05 - 08:59 Post subject:
| bburgoyne26 wrote: | | did you grow up in Baton Rougue?.....and now your parents are moving to FL?......I'm a little slow, sorry..... |
Actually no, My dad got transferred there about 10 years ago for work from NJ, and he retired about 2 years ago and they have been trying to sell the house ever since. Now that it is sold they are going to stay in a condo they own in Wilmington NC until they can find a house the like somewhere else. It sounds like they are going to try and find an area that is kind of in the middle of the triangle between Atlanta, Raleigh, and Jacksonville.
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Ms. Jenn
Fresh, Hot & Wild
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Joined: 14 Feb 2004
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Posted: 08/14/05 - 09:05 Post subject:
| Floridaboiler wrote: | | bburgoyne26 wrote: | | did you grow up in Baton Rougue?.....and now your parents are moving to FL?......I'm a little slow, sorry..... |
Actually no, My dad got transferred there about 10 years ago for work from NJ, and he retired about 2 years ago and they have been trying to sell the house ever since. Now that it is sold they are going to stay in a condo they own in Wilmington NC until they can find a house the like somewhere else. It sounds like they are going to try and find an area that is kind of in the middle of the triangle between Atlanta, Raleigh, and Jacksonville. |
Traffic isn't so good there. Ask MB.
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Floridaboiler
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Joined: 18 May 2002
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Posted: 08/14/05 - 09:31 Post subject:
| Ms. Jenn wrote: |
Traffic isn't so good there. Ask MB. |
My parents know. They have owned the condo out on Wrightsville Beach for quite some time. They are retired so they can plan their trips around the traffic!
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robp
Pyromaniac
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Joined: 26 Jul 2002
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Location: Waiting in line at the beer store...
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Posted: 08/15/05 - 08:57 Post subject:
Your trip pretty accurately described some of my moving adventures. On one of my moves, performed in late winter, my box springs and mattress went airborne from the bed of the '54 Chevy pickup I was using to haul them. They landed in a ditch full of slush. It took nearly a week for them to dry sufficiently to sleep on them.
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Floridaboiler
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Joined: 18 May 2002
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Posted: 12/30/05 - 18:04 Post subject:
I finally got the pictures from my Dad showing my tarp covered furniture piled in the truck if anyone is interested in seeing that.
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