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There are so many stories about a drivers personal experience’s moving families across the country. Many of mine shaped me as a mover and a person.
The lessons from Successes and experiences that were not good and what to do about it and learn from it. In the summer of 1984 I was assigned Admiral Scott, His wife and their two daughters, They lived on Great Lakes Navel Training Base IL. The officer’s house on base was about 4,000 square feet with 4 floors, Old building with tight turns and lots of rooms. I arrived on the last day of packing by my Agent Harbor Moving and storage to start some inventory. I quickly realized that this would be the hardest move I’d ever done. Never mind the huge furniture the Department of Defense provides for an officer at this level.
The Scott Family relocation had more challenges than I’d ever seen in one move. From Two huge German shrunk’s all the way to dozens of metal shelves. (We didn’t get third parties at that time,) so it was on me and almost everything else you can think of.
I was worried and so was everyone else. That day I got questioned a lot about my likely overflow even by Admiral Scott.
The next day on move day I hired Two of the packers Jen and Jen excellent movers as well as packers, My right hand man Mike Peoples and two news guys, they were farm boys and would work very hard. (Big basement)
That morning we met the families Great Dane Puppy “Ginny” She was a beautiful brindle 8 month’s old and already weighed 70 pounds and tall. I owned a Dane at the time and had been very familiar with the bread. There was an immediate connection all around. Mrs. Scott loved that dog. The padding and loading went well, Hard, Hot, and a lot of work. Even being difficult it was a good day.
It helped that I assigned one person on disassembly all day- Shurnks, Fence/Dog run, Exercise equipment and endless metal shelves.
In the late afternoon the trailer was filling up fast Everyone said it wouldn’t fit, to make matters worse the house wasn’t empty and the yard was full not to mention 8 or 10 large mattress’s….. Everyone .. They all told me; It wouldn’t fit. The help, The military Inspector The neighborhood and the Admiral was very concerned about an overflow because of a previous nightmare and of course the horror stories that circulated among the ranks. There was at least one person there that quietly though it might fit and that was me. Mrs. Scott treated us with trusting eyes, water and lunch.
To be safe I called the Agent for a pack van to make sure we got it all that night. During the afternoon Ginny (The dog) had to be taken to a kennel and later shipped by air in an animal transportation crate.
Loading I used every single trick I knew to make it tight, Including swinging from the conduit in the old drop frame trailer squeezing everything I could up top bundle after bundle. Them same bundles were not flat a few hours ago,
It’s getting late and my help was tired as well as myself so I decided to rework that final load in the morning. We loaded that pack van. The next day Me and Mike reworked the end of the trailer and swung a handsome gate. 20 K plus on that old 40 foot double drop trailer. Pretty darn good by anyone’s standards at that time. Ended up all went very smooth. So a week later I arrive at the destination, Pull up in front of the house, Hop out to do a walk through with the help and discuss how the day will go.
Something had gone terribly wrong The Admiral was very stiff even more than normal. Mrs. Scott’s face was Red a puffy obvious that she had not only been doing a lot of crying she was deeply sad. So we got going to get set up we had her get her car out if the driveway then we lined up to put the ramps down, I caught her walking back to the house from the car and because we had become quick friends at origin I felt compelled to ask “What’s wrong?” Ginny’s intestines had twisted from nerves during the flight and she died in transit, at this point there are no words, just some tears of my own.
All day I felt torn , numb and hurt during the delivery for that family. My goal was some version of the opposite. I was looking for a successful move and now this is impossible. Me and the crew and the shipper put our heads down and worked hard and careful all day into the night. Every last nut and bolt accomplished.
Now it’s time to sit and sign the mountain of paperwork, at the end of it She Choked out the words. “Robert in 18 moves your work has been the most impressive we have seen”
Admiral Scott wrote a letter to the company without me asking. To this day we share correspondence.
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