After a harrowing, snowy drive over the mountains from Los Angeles, we rested up for a night in Visalia before arriving at the Jackson Rancheria Casino Hotel in the foothills east of Jackson, California.
That same storm has hit this region and we arrive to a rare coating of snow here at the 1500 foot elevation of Jackson (see pic above). We're hoping there won't be more because I want to be safe and I really don't want to have to put chains on our tires.
As always, the staff at the Rancheria are excellent and have a very nice room waiting for us. Housekeeping gets us a roll-away from another floor...where they have better and newer portable beds, apparently...so that we all have a comfortable place to sleep.
It's very welcoming after the packing, the cleaning, the moving...all the frustrations of leaving a long-time home...plus a very hard journey up. With L.A. in our rear view mirror, a world of the unknown looms ahead of us.
Enjoying a nice breakfast at Margaret's Cafe, we plot out our next moves. We'll be heading down the hill to meet the owners of the house for a walk-through of the property. They'll be vacating later tonight...my mover keeps calling me to see if he can get his guys in a day early but I've told him many times, no...and then we'll pick it up in the morning.
The main obstacle for us has been access for Tim to the house. Due to it being in a flood zone, the floor level of the house is raised four feet off of the ground. I had ordered some aluminum wheelchair ramps from a company in Wisconsin. Heavy snow there delayed delivery for weeks but, finally, the day before we're to meet the old owners the ramps showed up.
When we arrive, they are in boxes on the side of the house. I open up the long one (ten feet) and we prop it up against the front steps of the house to give Tim a temporary but steep way in. I stood behind him to brace as he went up.
The old owners are nice people, a retired couple getting ready for a big move to Finland, which is the home country of the wife. The husband shows me several 'smart' features of the house...sprinklers, cameras, lights, etc...and says "you'll figure it out" when I ask how they work (note - I didn't so I operate them manually now).
Tim is impressed with his new home. This is the first time he's been inside. After chatting for awhile, we leave them to finish their packing and we go back to the casino.
It's bright and early the next morning as we go to meet our movers who said they'd be there at 8am. We're there at 7:30 and they're already waiting outside.
Letty gets the keys we received yesterday and lets herself in to our new home for the first time as unencumbered owners.
We put the 10 foot ramp back in and find a place for Tim to be comfortable in and out of the way while the heavy work begins. There is no internet or TV yet so that will be quite a chore for him. The movers chat with him as they go, trying to keep him involved so he doesn't get bored. Tim's being a trooper, though. No complaints from him.
It's about a four hour unload of the truck. I tip the movers, who did a great job, and they're off to try to make it back to L.A. before another predicted snow storm closes the Grapevine. They were lucky and made it back before it did.
We spend the rest of the day unpacking boxes, getting as much stuff out as we could and throwing any boxes that can wait into an extra bedroom that we're not using yet. Around dinner time, we head back to the casino for one more night...I wanted to stay here for another day to get some rest in an uncluttered room and also to give Tim one more shower since it had a roll-in shower and our new home did not.
The next morning, we check out of the hotel for good and head to actually move into our house.
Yesterday, while the movers were unloading, I had to partially demolish the shower in Tim's bathroom. With the glass doors on it, I would not be able to get Tim's shower chair into it.
For now, I've taken those doors off, put in an aluminum threshold ramp, and am able to somewhat roll Tim's shower chair in but he has to take showers in a reclining position until we get that fixed.
This morning, I have to build a better ramp for Tim. This will also be temporary, just so he can come and go in and out of the house as he pleases.
The ramps I bought were 10 feet and 8 feet long, respectively. I bought these two because it was much less that way than trying to buy an 18 foot or 20 foot ramp. I'll build a landing ramp to connect the two so he'll have 18 feet of ramp that won't be nearly as steep as just the 10 foot ramp.
To do this quickly and cheaply, I decided that I'll get some 4x4 foot wooden pallets and nail them together.
It's a 35 minute drive to the town of Galt where the closest pallet recycler I could find was. I drive into the yard and try to buy three but only two would fit in my van. I'll get some 4x4 inch boards to build a square frame underneath them so I'll still be about as high as three pallets would be. The cost of this solution is $15.
I got three very nasty splinters loading them in. That'll teach me to forget the gloves. It's a painful cure as Letty removes them with a needle but it heals fast.
After nailing the pallets and 4x4's together into a 16 inch high turning platform, it's time to attach the heavy ramps to the deck, the pallets, and the ground. Luckily, a new neighbor...the former mayor of the town...came by to introduce himself and he helped me pick up the ramps and place them in the proper spot for mounting.
I don't think it came out too bad, do you?
Once that is done, Tim and I go back in to call up Dish TV to re-install our service and the local Internet company to hook us up.
Letty and I spend the rest of the day unpacking. Tim comes out to help me rip apart the cardboard boxes and smash them flat with his heavy wheelchair.
Worn out, we sleep soundly for the first night in our new house. Trip accomplished but, this time, we won't be heading back to Los Angeles.
Darry Musick
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