Garage Clearing in Valpo, Part 2

Headed over to Valpo this morning, to help clear out the garage some more. Bob was renting a truck and bringing back a ton of large equipment from Frankfort… and we still needed to clear some more room in the small garage.

I showed up a little after 10AM, and worked with Julie to get a few loads transported. I was careful to drive along the perimeter of the lawn (to avoid the septic tank), but the rain and wet grass started to get a little tricky.

A little after noon, Dan arrived and I picked him up in the truck. As we made our way back to the garage… I ended up getting stuck. It was not a pretty sight.

Dan got some plywood and other things to throw under the tires, to try to get some traction.

Here’s what it looked like near the front. I tried backing up a bit more to see if I could get a hold of a patch of grass… but it was a muddy mess.

When Dan first arrived, I saw him as I was turning the truck around on the North side of the house. He ended up hopping into the cab with me, and was in the truck when I got it mired in a ton of mud.

I was happy to have had him in the truck, when this happened. Because otherwise, he would have shown up and just watched me get the truck stuck from a distance. Would which have been way more embarrassing.

Eventually, we got free. Julie ended up taking the wheel while Dan was pushing and I was at the back of the truck. For a little while, I was trying to jump up/down on the truck, to see if that would help get it to catch the plywood. But we ended up rocking it enough to where Julie was able to get the truck up a small hill and back on solid ground again.

Once the truck was free, I looked down and realized I and been tagged by a ton of burrs.

Looking back at the plywood. Yes, that would be smoke from how much the tires were spinning.

Julie and I got a lot moved during our runs. But when Dan showed up, we were able to tackle some of the heavier items. All told, we made some really good progress on clearing the garage out.

You can see a bit of what it looked like, previously.

Dan fired up the John Deere lawn mower, and was able to relocate it over to the main garage.

We sure did get some mud on the truck.

Around 2:30, Bob and Kenny showed up with their full truck. We ended up taking a break for lunch, and after several pizzas and bottles of water… we were back at it.

Unloading the truck.

The last two big items, which were the most difficult and nerve-wracking to get down.

Though the shearer (on the left) was way heavier, in my opinion the large break on the right was way harder to navigate. With my wrist, I wasn’t all that much help… but we all got these large pieces down to the garage safely, without them tipping, and without anyone getting hurt.

When the shearer touched down and made it 100% off the ramp, the relief was palpable.

Kenny, closing up an empty truck.

Bob and Dan, revisiting the scene of where we got stuck.

All told, we got done around 5:30 – which wasn’t too bad. We got the small garage cleared out and filled up again. And we also transported a lot of boxes from the main garage, down to the basement.

A really solid day’s worth of work. In Frankfort, Bob S and Nathan helped Bob and Kenny load up the truck. While in Valpo, Julie, Dan and I got things prepped and ready. No matter what the move entails, it’s always so much faster and better, when more hands are involved.

For someone who sits in front of a keyboard for a living, today was a very long and very active day. I’m totally ready for a nap.

Related:
Garage Clearing in Valpo
Goodbye, Frankfort (Part 2)