Trip to Ft. Lauderdale to Pick up Furniture

Wednesday morning we packed a suitcase, packed up Tinker's food, bowls & toys and loaded up the car and then drove to Acorn Mini Storage here in Sebastian to pick up the U-Haul trailer Mike had reserved. After getting the trailer we drove south on I-95 to Ft. Lauderdale to our friend's house in Wilton Manors. On the way down we stopped at a McDonald's for a quick lunch.

We arrived at Doug's house about 2:30. It was good to see Doug again and we quickly got settled in our room for the next couple of nights. We are here to pick up a couple of curio cabinets and other furniture that Fletcher took when we sold our house in Dothan in 2006. Fletcher left the furniture here when he moved up to Washington D.C. We spent the afternoon visiting with Doug and packing up the items in one the curio cabinets. 

From June 2013

Then later that evening Doug took us out to dinner at Rosie's Bar & Grill.

Thursday morning Doug, Mike and I went to The Original House of Pancakes for a late breakfast. We went back to Doug's house and finished
packing up the rest of the items from the curio cabinet and some pictures that Fletcher's giving us. We talked with Fletcher in the afternoon on Doug's iPhone using Facetime, so Fletcher could look around the room and tell us some of the items he wanted us to take.

Mike & Doug had put the smaller curio cabinet out in the driveway and Mike's grandfather's desk out by the front door. Then Doug realized that it was pouring rain and we quickly went downstairs and Mike & Doug moved the curio cabinet out of the rain. Fortunately the cabinet is oak and I quickly dried it off with no damage from the rain.

Then Thursday afternoon we started loading the furniture into the trailer. The worst piece was the large curio cabinet that was upstairs, but Mike and Doug managed to get it down the staircase. After a few tries they put blankets under the cabinet (which was upside down)and "slid" the cabinet down the stairs.

From June 2013

From June 2013

The rest of the furniture was easy after that and we had just finished loading the last of the boxes in the trailer when it started to rain.

Thursday night we all went out to dinner at J. Mark's Restaurant - our treat. After all of the work we had been doing, we all deserved a nice dinner out.

Friday morning we got up and packed the car. We thanked Doug for his help and hospitality before we started on the 133 mile drive back home. When we got home we unloaded the boxes and furniture out of the trailer by ourselves except for the large curio cabinet. We called our next door neighbor Bruce and he helped Mike move the cabinet into the house. Neither one of us felt like cooking dinner or going out to eat, so we ordered a pizza from Papa John's.

This morning Mike drove the trailer back to Acorn Mini Storage and turned it in along with the packing blankets we'd rented. Our total for renting the trailer, blankets and buying some bubblewrap came to $126.