Oh-No-Oh

Somehow we have now lived in Ohio for two and a half weeks. That is almost hard to believe. Especially considering that this place is STILL a mess. It is slowly coming together though.  There have just been a few setbacks. From day one. For starters, I somehow thought that we would have the truck loaded and be on the road around noon on moving day.  That would put us in Cincinnati by 3, which should give us plenty of time to unload. Boy, was I wrong.

My parents and brother were the only ones who volunteered to help us move, and they showed up bright and early Saturday morning. We started off strong. But it took forever. And there were unexpected delays...like we couldn't get the couch out of the apartment for a long time. It took removal of the front door and a lot of rotating to find the right angle. We weren't even planning to bring the couch with us, but of course we still had to get it out to the dumpster before we left.  Around 4 or so in the afternoon, we were about at completion, so we made a food run to Dog N Suds, and the family gathered around the truck for a late lunch.

With my apartment empty and as clean as it was going to get, we hit the road. I drove my Mazda, and Francisco drove the clunky Budget truck.

Since we got such a late start on the road, we didn't plan to do too much unpacking. Alas, we had failed to heed the sage advice of 'pack your bed last'. We had to clear enough stuff to get the bed out so we had a place to sleep. That was the main goal of the night. We headed out for dinner and ended up stopping for take-out at Big Boy. We sat on couch cushions on the living room floor to eat (while we had left the couch behind, we brought the cushions for extra padding in the truck.) 

The next day started out fine - we ran out to Target to get some cleaning supplies and the like. We had finished unloading the truck, so we went to return it around 4 or so in the afternoon. We had to stop at a Speedway to fill 'er up first. I pulled into the back parking area to wait while Francisco gassed up the truck, then pulled up a ways while he pulled out from the pump. I was going to have to wait for him to get turned around, so I was just sitting in the car off to the side of the pumps, a good distance out of the way for anyone to pull in to or out from getting gas. 

Or not? At least not if you're blasting your car stereo and backing up at crazy-high speeds at a gas station. I saw this car backing up straight toward me and didn't really have time to do anything but lay on the horn. So, the collision happens. I get out. The guy gets out. I flag Francisco over. The guy explains that he doesn't have a drivers license, so he doesn't want us to call the police. Hmm. He went in the car to get his insurance, but it wasn't there, so he said he was going to have to call his wife to have her bring the information. Then he explained that since he had the car, she would have no way to get there, so he was going to have to go pick her up. We didn't think that was good idea. ;-) He said he was going to move his car out of the way, so he hopped in and started driving...away...out of the gas station parking lot... I was just a bit perplexed, 'really? he really just did that? he really doesn't think that we've already gotten his license plate number?!?' Francisco had surreptitiously snapped a pic, and I had memorized it. Everything just happened so quickly, and I was still shaken up from the whole ordeal.   

We called the police - who took well over an hour to show up. Called our insurance to report the accident. And waited. FINALLY, they showed up...with good news! They had apparently already caught the guy. I later asked how this happened, and the police officer explained that they literally just met him at his house as he was coming home. The officer was nice enough to follow us to Budget so we could drop off the truck and then he gave us a ride home. He recommended that we have the car towed, because the wheel was bent in so much so it wasn't really drivable.  

And then we were car-less. We hadn't had a chance to do much grocery shopping, so pizza delivered for dinner it was. We spent many hours on the phone with Progressive the next day and finally arranged for a rental. An Enterprise representative picked us up in the evening, so we were finally able to stop at a Kroger and get some food in the house.

Two and a half weeks later, and we're still Mazda-less. I finally got a call Monday with the repair estimate. $2,787?!  We're responsible for the deductible, and then hopefully we will get that back once they collect from the guy. If they collect. He claimed to not have insurance, but Progressive was still verifying that last I heard.

So, not the best start to this new life, but I should have my car back by Friday or Monday.