Tales of Nine: Adversity

Sunday, September 1, 2013

Adversity

Everything had even going so smoothly before we set off. The house was sold, our stuff miraculously fit in our vehicles, and we had pretty good weather as we set off. Something was likely to go wrong, right?

First, we had major issues getting around Chicago. The bypass was stop and go all the way. There were thunderstorms, and we even got hit by some hail. It took 3 hours to travel what should have taken 45 minutes. Finally, we reached Indiana and were crossing into Ohio when DS1 ran into us at a toll booth. He looked down at something in the cup holder and misjudged how far ahead of us we were. The damage looked minimal - the grate of the Jetta had a hole in it and the license plate was messed up, and the Econoline's bumper was a bit dented, but nothing looked too bad, so we went on our way.

After a couple of miles, DS1 called. The radiator warning light on the Jetta was flashing, so we thought we would find the nearest exit. The Jetta didn't make it that far. It started smoking and DS1 had to pull off the road. We hadn't removed the trailer hitch from the van after transporting the trailer last week for his Eagle project, and it had punched through the grate of the Jetta, pushing the radiator into the engine. Thus, the damage looked slim, but it was pretty bad.

AAA came to the rescue. We got a tow to a service station in Holiday City, OH, where we left the car overnight, and checked into a Holiday in just down the road. Marriott kindly let us out of our reservation for Cleveland. We found a U-Haul nearby with a tow dolly, and secured it for today. We are now trying to get a dead car loaded onto the dolly properly. DS and the tow truck driver pushed it up the dolly, but it was a little too far to the left, so the tow truck driver is going to jack it up a bit in a few minutes and push it into place for us. Then, we will be on our way. It will be a long drive today, as we head all the way to Fairfax.

What doesn't kill us makes us stronger, right?

*********************************************+++

While we were moving luggage around, I managed to fall into a hole made by a pipe going to some drain tile and scrape all of the skin off of my left ankle. Luckily, we weren't checked out yet, so we were able to go soak it and get all the dirt out. I am grateful it wasn't my right ankle, or Aaron wouldn't get a break driving today.

If anyone out there is superstitious, you can quit worrying about us now, as everything comes in threes. ;-)

No comments:

Post a Comment

I moderate all comments, so if yours doesn't show up right away, it is because I haven't seen it and approved it yet. This will keep spammers and rude people from tarnishing the experience.

Abbreviation Help

A few readers have asked what DH stands for. They figured out that it had to do with my husband, but didn't quite get it. For anonymity's sake, when necessary, we use the following abbreviations:

DH = Dear Husband

DS = Dear Son

DD = Dear Daughter

I have put numbers after each of the DS's, since there are six of them. I numbered them DS1-DS6, from oldest to youngest.

You may see other abbreviations over time, like MIL (mother-in-law). I'll try to add their explanations here when that happens.

HHE - HouseHold Effects - items that you can't bring to temporary housing with you that are stored in a warehouse, such as Haggerstown, MD. When you leave temporary housing, you get to send HHE items to your new post from storage. You can add anything you don't want from your temporary housing to HHE storage, and anything that isn't going in your UAB or on the plane with you will go into HHE that is going to post. You get to visit Haggerstown once before you leave and take out boxes if you need to go through and remove some things. For example, our packers mixed ice skates with garden tools in one box. I will be removing that box, and will send the skates back to storage (other than any we have outgrown) and send the gardening tools onward. HHE allowance is 18,000 lbs and includes items in storage in Haggerstown or any other government storage facility. 18,000 lbs. can go to a post with no furnishings provided. 7,200 lbs. can go to a post with furnishings provided. The remaining 10,800 lbs. can stay in storage. Weights include packaging materials, and you don't get to pack your own stuff.

UAB - Unaccompanied Air Baggage - When you go anywhere, you get a small shipment sent more quickly than your HHE. This could mean you get it two weeks after arrival or 3 months after arrival, depending on the destination and customs hold-ups. Nothing in UAB can be over 3' long and 2' wide, as this is the approximate size of a UAB shipping box. UAB weight allowance changes with family size, and any amount you don't use can be added to your HHE allowance. Weights include packaging materials, and you don't get to pack your own stuff.

POV - Privately Owned Vehicle - You can also ship one vehicle at the department's expense. Every country has their own guidelines as to what vehicles they will allow to be imported, so don't take this as a blanket rule that you can ship whatever you want to drive. The maximum size the Department will ship on their tab is 800 cubic feet, and you have to pay overages if it is bigger.

CDO - Career Development Officer - The person (which will probably change once while you are a junior officer) who decides where to send you for your first two tours

TED - The date of departure from your current post (even though it is a specific date, for bidding purposes, you can use the whole month, and after that, we hear there is wiggle room up to a month prior to that date, if necessary)