Move from NYC to WI

Our departure from NYC did not go as smoothly as planned. The movers were scheduled to arrive at our apartment at 9 a.m. to load up the 16-foot Penske truck we rented. At 10:30 a.m., the movers showed up putting a wrench in our plan to be on the road by noon. Shortly after arriving, the movers told us that they did not think everything would fit into the truck. I hoped for the best and asked them to do whatever they could to make everything fit. Turns out the movers were right—not everything fit. In hindsight, we should have returned the truck for a larger one. Already being late for their next appointment, the movers left us at 4:30 p.m. with several boxes and all of the odd-n-ends that do not fit into boxes strewn throughout the apartment. John wanted to store the remaining items in the basement of our building and have them shipped to my parents’ house in Wisconsin. I insisted that we rent another truck so that at least everything would be in one place. After a minor breakdown, with tears and emphatic outbursts, John left to pick up another Penske truck. I counted our blessings that they had a truck available for a one-way use at such short notice and did not mind that the only truck available was another 16-footer, a truck much larger than needed. John’s friend Shilp was a real godsend when he showed up that afternoon to help us out. Our building super also got two of his buddies to come over and lend some helping hands to load up the additional truck. Twelve-and-a-half hours after we anticipated, we were on the road by 8:30 p.m. After not driving for about five years, I made my re-entrance into the driving world with a machine that could do some serious damage. Hunched over the wheel like an old lady, I made it out of NYC without incident while following John’s lead. We arrived at John’s sister’s place in Philadelphia to spend the night and to get an early start the next morning. As planned, we were on the road the following morning by 6:30 a.m. Save for unknowingly being honked at a few times, the rest of the drive to Wisconsin was, thankfully, uneventful. Paneer refused to sit anywhere except on my lap the entire way. After spending the second night at John’s friend’s Neeraj’s house in Dublin, Ohio (the nearly exact middle point between New York and Wisconsin), we arrived at my parents’ house late in the afternoon on June 1.