I once knew a man who said he could move at a moment’s notice because he didn’t own more than he could get into his pickup. I envy him his Spartan lifestyle. AND I wonder if his wife was happy.
Much of our settling in to the new house has been “where will we put this” We made multiple trips to dumpsters to throw away things as we were moving, N cleared out the storage house and threw much of that stuff away. We auctioned a big pile of our miscellaneous things. The man at the donations door at Good Samaritan and I became buddies as he was amazed I could get so much stuff in the Smart Car time after time, after time, after time. All this is said to begin a discussion of STORAGE, ----in this case- boat storage.
Nick sold his old boat while we were in Bwd preparing to move and was planning to buy a new one cuz he’s never had a new boat.
Son-in-law suggested he look on Craig’s List online because he might be able to find a real deal that was almost new. AND HE DID. He is thrilled with his "new" boat that has obviously been garaged and protected for 16 years, being used very few times in the interim. It is as new as possible for a 16 yr old vessel. Perhaps I should say “she” since boats are generally thought to be female.
N's "new" boat at the lake
Anyway, the boat has been behind the fence in our backyard, and has a new custom made cover, to keep it looking new. The back yard is not arranged for boat storage and it was really sort of “in the way”, so N looked online and in the phone book for boat storage. He found a few but they were not in the neighborhood or near the lake, so he continued his search. He phoned some folks who did not have one long enough—boat is 17+ feet and trailer extends beyond that w/ back and tongue. Then while driving to the neighborhood hardware store, he saw it ---Uncle Bob’s R.V. and Boat Storage, right there all along and he hadn’t seen it. AND IT WAS NOT ONLINE. You are thinking, well, poor old uncle Bob probably doesn’t have a computer. Uncle Bob is a national chain of storage facilities and why “he” isn’t online is beyond me. Or maybe it is just our lack of searching skills----anyway doesn’t matter. N talked to local Uncle Bob employee and they told him to phone the 800#. All arrangements are made—interestingly enough if you sign up for 6 months, the first month is free and the second month—you tell them how much you want to pay---3,4,5 and 6th months are at their price.
We drive boat to the facility and the rains began. Number one problem, there is no place at their office to park anything longer than a car (note to self—if we do this again, drive there, do the mountain of paperwork, get the entrance code—then go home and get the boat) We parked about a block away in a bank parking area—I’m sure they were thrilled—and N slogged up hill to the office in a pouring rain and I waited in the van. And I waited, and I waited, and then I waited some more. I wish I’d checked my watch when this all began, but my guess is 30-45 min. When N returned, still slogging thru the rain, he had all the paperwork, but had accidentally left his glasses in the office. He said that Bob’s employee was way chatty and told him more than he wanted to know about his life—that’s what took so long—along with the computer going down, having to be rebooted, and trouble with inputting the information a second time.
We drove to the entrance gate and N got out (still raining) to input the code, which does not work. He put it in again—Nothing. He phones the office w/ my cell—the guy says, “Yeah, I’m seeing on the computer and on the camera that you’re having trouble” Does he offer to come help (in the rain), NOPE. But he does give us his personal code to get in AND IT WORKS. Hallelujah
Nick drives in and we look for our slot # . It is in a good location and it is nice and deep to accommodate the trailer. And Nick backs and straightens and backs. (I am worse than terrible at backing, and N is pretty good—but I’m a pretty good guider.- at least I’m loud when I yell WHOA)
We get the boat situated –it needs wheel chocks, which N will take tomorrow- and we proceed to the exit gate. In the meantime, he chocked the tire with my metal first aid kit from the van. It's always good to carry a first aid kit. (And when he replaced it with wooden chocks on Saturday, the metal box was a little squished.) The exit is a different gate from the entrance gate and our code WORKS! Maybe it just needed some time before being used--- who knows?
The storage facility has an interesting collection of items inside. Business trailers which are probably not used every day,
limousines (about 4 or 5)
a really old bus,
empty boat trailers, RV’s of every size and description,
and yep, more boats. This is an open air, but well covered enormous space and I’m certainly glad Uncle Bob is so handy to our house and the lake.
NICK'S BOAT all snug and safe and dry
Thanks to Nick for sharing his pictures.
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