The VanNess Vagabonds

Friday January 29th-
We drove to North Raleigh meet with our accountant to do our taxes, then we packed a borrowed 1970 pick-up full of everything we could. We drove to our storage unit and pulled out our remaining belongings to reorganize (in order to fit everything we had back into it). As soon as we got everything out- our paintings, couches, bed . . .it started snowing! It started snow heavy and as we began to rush to cram everything into our 10×10 room we realized that all this stuff covered in snow was going to be locked in this little room for one year- waiting for us when we came home and hoped it didn’t get saturated to the point of molding while we are gone.

Once we got everything inside we started up the truck, now covered in about an inch of snow, and began to drive. A few minutes later the windshield seemed to be a little harder to see through. We realized the wipers on the old truck had lived much beyond their years. The windshield quickly turned into a solid sheet of ice with about a millimeter opening in which to glare though intensely while managing to not wreck the truck as cars were sliding all over the highway. We arrived back at our apartment safely. Luckily I had the foresight to grab a pot and pan from the kitchen box before leaving the storage unit. With our bed and television in the living room (nothing else was left) we relaxed for a couple of moments before I made dinner. Mushroom gnocchi, Greek salad, and grilled chicken. I went to serve it and found that all I had was a Tupperware container and its lid to serve as plates and only large serving spoons for utensils. As we laughed we grabbed a bottle of Italian wine that I had saved for 5 years for a special occasion. If I could think of the perfect moment to drink the wine- a freak North Carolina snowstorm the weekend you are moving was definitely it. Went to grab a wine tool, but all we had was a steak knife and a plastic monkey cup- puurfect! Amused we sat down on the bed with our dinner and watched a movie in the living room.

Saturday January 30th-
The next morning we drove through the snow with Lola loaded up in the back of the sliding Mazda (front wheel drive is no good in the snow/ice) and went to the Harris Teeter/Starbucks to visit our friend Knew (the manager at Starbucks- so she had to be there in any weather condition). We got some beer, cream, and coffee to hold us over for the rest of our snowed in stint. As we had coffee with her I mentioned that the situation wasn’t so bad- in North Carolina it never snows like this 2 weeks in a row. So at least we were getting it out of the way the weekend before our flight. Mark responded “really, did you really just say that out loud, knock on wood now.” We went back home and checked the weather channel and what do ya know- calling for snow/sleet wintery mix Thursday, Friday and Saturday for the next weekend (the weekend we planned to fly out). Frustrated we thought about packing the rest of our stuff, then realized we didn’t have any more boxes and decided not to test our luck driving through the mess for some cardboard. We ended up having cheddar cheese and tortillas with spinach dip for lunch and dinner, laying around in our pjs all day, not accomplishing anything (which is why snow days suck and rock all at the same time). We made sure to send out a message that the show we were supposed to be going to as a farewell party was still on, but we wouldn’t be there (why chance driving in the snow, or taking a taxi home and not being able to get back to our car, or there not being any taxis to take).