We finished packing up the Uhaul trailer, the Expedition and the Vibe by around 9:30 and took off with Ely driving the Expedition pulling the trailer and me driving Ely's Vibe. I thought we would caravan there, but I caught a red light and lost Ely and assumed he was way ahead of me. After a while, he called to let me know he has stopped to get gas, so it turned out I was way ahead of him. The drive to Hunstville was uneventful and smooth.
Ely caught up with me in Hunstville and I followed him to his new house where we dropped off the Expedition and the trailer.
Finally, Carl meets us at the office, where they find out that the carpet has not yet been replaced in the house. This means, that Ely will have to put his stuff in the garage until the carpet is installed. We get the keys and head to the house. Keys won't open any of the doors. No problem, she also gave us the combination to the lock box, which has a key in it. Carl uses the combination and gets the lock box off the door, but ......the lock box won't open. Can this get any better? Did I mention it was 105 degrees in the shade???? Carl calls the lady and she tells him to make sure his turning the combination to 7's and not 2's. Well, they've been to college, they can tell the difference between a 7 and a 2. She says she's send the locksmith out to meet us. I suggested that we go sit somewhere cool, which we did.
We went to an ice cream parlor and sat for a while and waited for a call from the locksmith. Finally, after about 45 minutes, Carl just drives to the real estate office to get the new keys. Meanwhile, Ely and I went grocery shopping at Kroger's. I'm not a big Kroger's fan. It was sort of dirty. I told Ely he should shop at Publix from now on.
Carl calls to say he has the key, so we head back to the house. So, I think the day is getting better. But, oh no. We get in the house and it is filthy. It was supposedly cleaned beforehand, but not so much. There are also quite a few things broken. For example, the oven door won't close all the way. Carl called the realtor and she agreed to meet him there the next day to look over the problems.
We move Ely's stuff into the garage and put a few things in the kitchen. Strangely enough, the refrigerator was clean. And, more good news, the electricity was on and the AC was working.
After we got the trailer emptied it was time for me to drive the Expedition and trailer back to Birmingham. Didn't really want to do it, but had no choice. It was a white knuckle drive allthe way back. I was afraid to go to fast, so I stayed in the slow lane behind a tanker truck all the way back.
The Uhaul place in Pelham was going to close at 7 p.m. and I pulled in their lot at 6:58, finally something went right! Got home, and took a long soaky bath.
