The Story of an Army Wife: Moving to Fort Knox

After a year of being apart, I finally made the move to Kentucky to be with Akeem.  It wasn't the easiest transition and most of the headache occurred before I even made the six hour drive to my new home.  While it's been two weeks since the move, I thought I would share a little bit of my experience with you all.

Finding Somewhere to Live

When Akeem and I got married, we didn't really have time to go apartment hunting; therefore, it was up to him to find us a home.  I must admit, when he initially sent me the pictures of the place I would soon call home, I was not impressed.  I mean who thought having one bathroom on the top floor of a three story townhouse sounded smart?  I guess whoever created post housing thought it sounded brilliant, along with the orange tile in the bathroom.

My husband, who believes he is such the salesman, thinks he convinced me that the place was amazing.  However, it was the fact that if we didn't take it, we would have had to go on a waiting list and we would have to also push back the movers coming to pick up my stuff.  With the holidays rapidly approaching, it was looking like after January before I would be able to move.

With places on post being limited and the "nicer" places close to post being so overly priced, the decision was pretty obvious.  Plus after a year apart, I wasn't going to wait another two months to be with Akeem.  So preparation for the move went into full effect.

The semi that came and picked up my stuff

Prepping and Packing

The packing process was long and made me want to pull my hair out.  Between realizing how much stuff I was having to ship to Kentucky, my mother and her OCD was turning our house into a war zone with me on the losing end.  Akeem had originally scheduled the movers to come pick up my stuff on the 4th of November, after realizing my mother gave me the wrong dates as to her trip we had to quickly change the date.  The movers were scheduled for the following week.  Unfortunately, that was a little too soon for my procrastinating personality.

While my husband spoke with the people who were handling our move, they didn't give him much info other than the number of the dispatcher and the hours for which they would arrive: between 8am-5pm.  When the dispatcher called my mother, she didn't give much information then either.  The only thing she told us was that they preferred that we didn't pack anything due to the fact that they would be responsible for any damaged property.

Just some of the stuff that got loaded up

My mom informed the dispatcher that we already packed a lot of the things.  So the dispatcher informed her to leave the boxes open so the movers could inspect them.  The movers came and picked up my stuff on November 11th.  

Moving Day

The night before the movers were scheduled to come, my mom received a call from the driver.  Now keep in mind, when my mom received the initial call from the dispatcher a few days prior, she told her what was being picked up.  When the driver called he asked my mom for a rundown for what he was supposed to be picking up the following day.  Besides the boxes of clothes, shoes, kitchen supplies, and other random things, I had furniture as well.  Furniture ranging from a bedroom set to living room pieces.  This guy asked my mom if one guy could do it. My mother told him no before he explained that his helper was not going to be available the following day.

Needless to say, that phone call did not help me establish any confidence in the driver. I told my husband and he simply told me not to help the guy, that it was his job to get my stuff moved.  So we waited for the next day.

The Driver

 The driver told us he would be arriving later in the day if he couldn't find someone to help in the morning.  He came around 11:30 along with the guy who packed up everything.  When he initially arrived, I was surprised to see a semi truck, because due to the relatively small amount of stuff I had (I wasn't moving a whole house), I was expecting a box truck.  Silly me.

 

As the guy was packing, I asked him if he was the one helping with the actually moving.  He told me no, so of course I was baffled by how the driver was expecting to move my furniture.  After I left for work, my mother called me and told me that the packer ended up helping the driver.  He was a nice guy, so I wasn't surprised that he helped despite that he worked for another company and it wasn't his job.

 The Packer

 To cap off the whole situation, the driver wasn't going to arrive to Kentucky for another week because he had another pick up and drop off.  Something else the moving company failed to mention to us.  He originally told me Wednesday or Thursday, but he didn't arrive to Kentucky until Friday.  He told me that if we werren't there within the two hour window he gave us (which the one he gave, he wasn't even close to being there), he would have to place our items in storage.

 Me on moving day

After the Move

When I finally arrived to my new home two weeks later, I was disappointed to find that my husband had not unpacked anything.  To add to my annoyance, two days before, Akeem called me to let me know my kitchen table was missing.  With so much going on, I lost my cool by the time I arrived to my new home on November 21st.

After days of calling the moving company, they finally believed me that I did not receive my table when they found my boxes on the driver's truck.  It has been a little over two weeks since my move and I am still unpacking, mainly due to the fact that I don't know where to put most of it.  But in retropsect there are a few things that could of been done differently.

My Advice 

1. Pack things as far in advance as possible.
2. Take inventory with great detail as to what you pack
3. If you are moving after your husband, make sure he is fully aware of your expectations and what he is supposed to be receiving
4. Get the full details as to what you can pack and how to pack it: I found out on the day of, that you can't pack aerosol cans.
5. Make sure your schedule is flexible on moving day and the day you receive your stuff.
6. Label your own boxes, the packer will label them the rooms you want them placed.
7. Make sure you have the number of the driver and the dispatcher: before, during, and after the delivery
8. Take a deep breath and hope for the best.