I forgot to mention our first day in Minnesota. Why, you ask? Well, read on and enjoy.
We woke up around eight o’clock this morning to a lovely day here in Mannorville, MN. Kurtis had to go back to work and I had a job interview at ten in Rochester so I sent him off to work and proceeded to get ready. Our little house doesn’t have any hot water but we were told we could shower just around the corner in the cabin that Joe’s parents/grandparents own. It has a nice working shower with hot water. Well, I went over to shower but someone was already in the shower. Joe’ parents live next to the cabin in the mansion of Mannorville, yes, mansion. The house is quite old and being renovated itself so they don’t have working bathrooms either. I didn’t have the time or patience to wait for the shower to open so I headed back to the little house with my towel and shampoo and was greeted by a large, tobacco-stained old gentleman driving a golf cart. He introduced himself as Grumpy and said he lived across the street and was good friends with Joe’s grandparents I assume. Needless to say, I was surprised by his open friendliness and spoke with him for a few minutes. I tried to keep my nervousness under wraps so I didn’t seem rude but I told him of my appointment and he shooed me off on my way to get ready. I headed back to the little house, undressed and stepped into the claw-footed tub in the bathroom (that doesn’t have a shower-curtain) and started to take a very cold shower. I didn’t care though—I had an appointment to make!
I finished my shower and started my daily routine. I was so nervous and excited this morning I put both contacts in one eye. Anyway, I finally got dressed and headed out the door to Rochester. I had looked online for directions earlier and found a road that took me straight into the city. All the roads that go East of here, mostly, go into the city. Well, I was heading North to hit a road to turn East on when I was forced to take a detour because the road was under construction. No big deal I thought, I’ll just go around and it’ll connect. It didn’t. I drove through corn fields and 15 minutes in the wrong direction yet still following the detour! I called Kurtis in hysterics and he found where I was (completely out of the way to the West) and got me back on the right direction. He was so wonderful to try to calm me down and work through the crazy back roads—which all seemed to be under construction and prone to detours—and into the city. I ended up at the school 15 minutes late. I called before to apologize for my tardiness and begged forgiveness for getting lost on the back roads. The principle and vice principle were in the office to give me a warm greeting and laughed at my bad sense of direction. The principle, Dr. Jennings, spoke of the many good things my references said about me and then said he was looking forward to having me on the faculty at Kellogg Middle School. He had to leave for a performance (he plays over 12 instruments and has multiple jazz bands) and the vice principle, Gordy, gave me a tour of the school with his thick Wisconsin accent. Everyone has an accent around here and from different Midwestern states. Kurtis likes to annoy me by saying everything with a long “A,” as if he has always been from Minnesota. Well, I did a few other errands in Rochester and finally headed back to Mantorville, only I didn't get lost this time.
2013
Thursday, August 9, 2007
Tuesday, August 7, 2007
The U-Haul that almost killed us
I (Julie) have a lot of stuff. I admit it. Somehow we had to get all my stuff, furniture that my parents graciously gave us, wedding presents and a car to Minnesota. My family came up with the idea of having us drive it out with a small U-Haul trailor attached. Fine, no worries. They loaded it up while we were on our honeymoon (stories to come, or maybe not on second thought..) and we started driving it to Utah the day after we got back from our week of bliss. Everything was fine, no problems with the trailor, everything fit, life was good. We got to my grandparents where most of my stuff from college was stored and proceeded to load up the trailor. Most everything fit, with Kurtis' expertise packing. How is it that men are so good at these sorts of things?! But there was no room to spare.
We got on the freeway the next day and proceeded to speed up to catch traffic. But as we did, only one exit past the Lombardo's the trailor started swaying side to side. Kurtis was driving and he tried to counter this swaying action by turning the car a little. This seemed to only worsen the swaying and soon the trailor was pulling our car into other lanes. Luckily, we were still in the right lane and I calmly told Kurtis to pull the car off to the side but it was too late. As we were pulling to the side the trailor swayed heavily to the left, pulling the car around to face traffic and landing us in the median of an onramp. As I looked in the rear mirror I could see the trailor up in the air on one wheel before it slammed back down to the ground. We were truly watched over. We didn't hit anyone else, our car was safe and there was a state patrol officer on the on ramp who saw the whole thing. We got out to look at the trailor to find it missing a wheel. We couldn't move the trailor one inch. The men got it unhooked and we drove the car to the side of the freeway. The trailor sat there inches into the right lane in the median. The officer parked his car with the lights on so no one would clip it. He told us to get U-Haul NOW to come get it or else he would impound it. We did everything possible but still waited a couple hours for them to come. I couldn't watch as the guy attempted to put this crippled trailor up on a giant truck with only a hook and pulley system. It almost fell off the side of the truck as it was being pulled up.
The officer was extremely helpful and considerate and did not impound us, despite his threats. He was just doing his job. The U-Haul people were less considerate. Kurtis did not accept their offer to give us a new trailor when this one almost killed us. Clearly, they did not give correct information when they said our little Corolla would have no problem pulling a filled trailor. Finally, Kurtis got them to give us a discount, small miracle, but we ended up with a very large truck and car dolly. We unloaded the trailor and loaded the truck that afternoon and headed back to the Lombardo's. There was no way we could leave for Wyoming that day. We did make it to Gillette and stayed with mom's wonderful cousins and left for Minnesota the day after that. I just have to say, regardless of what Kurtis says, I am not cut out to be a trucker.
We got on the freeway the next day and proceeded to speed up to catch traffic. But as we did, only one exit past the Lombardo's the trailor started swaying side to side. Kurtis was driving and he tried to counter this swaying action by turning the car a little. This seemed to only worsen the swaying and soon the trailor was pulling our car into other lanes. Luckily, we were still in the right lane and I calmly told Kurtis to pull the car off to the side but it was too late. As we were pulling to the side the trailor swayed heavily to the left, pulling the car around to face traffic and landing us in the median of an onramp. As I looked in the rear mirror I could see the trailor up in the air on one wheel before it slammed back down to the ground. We were truly watched over. We didn't hit anyone else, our car was safe and there was a state patrol officer on the on ramp who saw the whole thing. We got out to look at the trailor to find it missing a wheel. We couldn't move the trailor one inch. The men got it unhooked and we drove the car to the side of the freeway. The trailor sat there inches into the right lane in the median. The officer parked his car with the lights on so no one would clip it. He told us to get U-Haul NOW to come get it or else he would impound it. We did everything possible but still waited a couple hours for them to come. I couldn't watch as the guy attempted to put this crippled trailor up on a giant truck with only a hook and pulley system. It almost fell off the side of the truck as it was being pulled up.
The officer was extremely helpful and considerate and did not impound us, despite his threats. He was just doing his job. The U-Haul people were less considerate. Kurtis did not accept their offer to give us a new trailor when this one almost killed us. Clearly, they did not give correct information when they said our little Corolla would have no problem pulling a filled trailor. Finally, Kurtis got them to give us a discount, small miracle, but we ended up with a very large truck and car dolly. We unloaded the trailor and loaded the truck that afternoon and headed back to the Lombardo's. There was no way we could leave for Wyoming that day. We did make it to Gillette and stayed with mom's wonderful cousins and left for Minnesota the day after that. I just have to say, regardless of what Kurtis says, I am not cut out to be a trucker.
Thursday, August 2, 2007
Elizabethtown, Minnesota
For the first few days we were in Minnesota, we stayed in the Elizabethtown of Minnesota. A small town called Mantorville with a popoulation of about 1,200. Kurtis' old roomate and co-worker's grandparents own pretty much half the town now including the oldest house in Mantorville. This was the house they so kindly allowed us to stay in. It is unfurnished but they moved in a bed for us. They are the classic grandparents and were so nice to us.
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