Tennessee blizzards and moving adventures

Somehow I always manage to move on some of the most extreme weather days of the year. When I moved twice in DC, it was in the 90s, with scorching heat and humidity.

This past weekend my brother brought a UHaul truck of my furniture from DC to move into my new duplex. We were planning on moving everything on Monday morning, and used Saturday evening and Sunday to sightsee a bit around the city.

The temperature plummeted on Saturday evening, and by Sunday there were flurries in the sky. With temperatures in the low 20s, and a cold stinging wind, I we opted to drive around to see some of the highlights of Nashville, like Centennial Park and Vanderbilt campus instead of getting out to see them and walking around.

By Sunday afternoon the snow was beginning to come down more heavily, and we decided to turn back to my friend's apartment where we were staying earlier than anticipated. It was a good thing we did because the roads got really bad, really quickly. Because Tennessee isn't prepared to handle snow but once in a blue moon, they don't know how to salt the roads, send out plows, etc. This equals havoc.

It was crazy because along the road leading to the apartment complex where we were staying, there were abandoned cars all over the place. People couldn't get up the hills so they just left their cars on the side of the road. One news channel reported 65 abandoned cars along the highway, along the apartment complex drive, and in a gas station parking lot all in a few mile stretch.

The high on Monday was only 19 degrees. Brrr! I didn't think it was supposed to get this cold in Tennessee. Ever. But it probably was only 15 degrees when we set out with the moving truck on Monday morning. The roads were still slick and snowy in some parts, but trudging along slowly we were thankfully able to make it safely to my new apartment, about 20 minutes away.

The most dramatic event of the moving process, however, was that the padlock on the UHaul truck had gotten frozen shut. The key just would not go in. My brother, some friends and I all tried to get it opened with no avail. The door to open the truck was also seemingly frozen shut.

Thankfully I have an industrious landlord, who has a sister that also lives in the neighborhood. He went and got a hairdryer from his sister down the street. He also got an extension cord (which he later told us he had to unplug from his sister's Christmas decorations) so we could plug it in inside. Although it was freezing outside, it was kind of an amusing sight to see three guys pointing a hairdryer at the back of a UHaul truck.

It did the trick though, and in no time the lock was unlocked and the truck door was open. What a relief!

With the helping hands of some friends, unloading the truck did not take long at all.

I am so grateful for all those who were able to help me with this move; it's exciting to have furniture and my things in my new abode.

Now comes the unpacking, the organizing, and best of all, the decorating!