Move It - Pack It - Or Lose It

 

Fresh from college, I worked for the Ashtabula County Soil and Water Conservation District in the northeast corner of Ohio. My office was next door to the Farmer’s Home Administration (FmHA) which among other things, helped people buy their own home. FmHA had to repossess a home so they made it available to me to buy. So, I was able to buy a house shortly before we were married for no money down and a monthly payment of $137. Too bad no one will offer such a deal today! Above is Marcia on our front door step just before we moved out.

The only downside of having the house was that since it was bought with a government backed loan, we couldn’t rent it out while we went to Thailand. So, by August of 1982, it was time sell it and move out. Pictured is Marcia with my parent's truck ready to go with a load. I suppose at the time we didn’t think about how much loading trucks and moving would be part of our lives but the move out of that first house and going to Thailand was the first of what has now become 20 moves in the last 42 years. We have packed and unpacked many a box and loaded and unloaded many a truck!

The availability of household appliances and all kinds of consumer goods in Thailand has changed dramatically since our first move there. Today, anything one can think of plus other things we don’t know exist are already available in Thailand. But in 1982, even in Bangkok and Chiang Mai, western style appliances and goods just weren’t there. But International Ministries had a generous “freight allowance” that enabled us to pack up and ship quite a lot goods, clothes, books, etc. Having never been to Thailand and really not even able to find much information in libraries (and no, neither Google nor the internet existed in 1982), we were really flummoxed as to what to take, what to ship and what to leave behind. But we muddled through and in the American way, took a lot of stuff we probably could have left behind.

While the choices of what to take weren’t clear cut, we did have very detailed instructions, on how to pack things up in wooden crates if need be, and how to pack up and seal steel drums. The instructions were very clear that steel drums were the packing container of choice and they were very specific in that we should get sealable and lockable lids that were sealed up with a lockable ring that kept the lid secure. But the instructions were also clear that the lockable rings alone weren’t good enough. We needed to spot weld the lockable rings onto the drums as well. So, we dutifully followed the directions to the letter. We had to search far and wide for the right kind of drums, make stencils and spray paint labels. We loaded them up and took them to a place where they could be weighed and loaded them up again and took them to a place where the lids could be spot welded. Finally finished, we started to become familiar with strange terms like “Bill of Lading” and arranged for the drums and crates to be shipped by boat to Thailand.  Of course, to be shipped by boat, the drums and crates had to first be trucked to a port.

Finally, in October of 1982, a Mayflower truck pulled up to my parent’s house where everything was stored and packed. Each drum weighed 250 – 300 lbs. or so but an impressive young man insisted on hoisting the drums on his back and carrying them to the truck. I’m sure by the age of 35 his back was a collection of crumbled vertebrae but he was gung-ho at the time.

It took several months for the freight to get to Thailand but it’s arrival was memorable for us in that everyone involved was mystified as to why on earth the drums had lids welded shut. The Thai Customs officials, the freight companies involved, the mission office, no-one it seems had ever encountered drums with welded lids. How were they supposed to open the drums? How were the customs officials to do whatever it is that they do? We had no idea! We just followed the instructions! Of course, that excuse was seen as very lame, but the customs officials did eventually find a way to chisel through the welds and we eventually did receive the shipment, albeit, with wounded lids.