So I stood there at the side of the road, while waiting for the people at U-Haul to figure out how to rescue my beached whale and the household full of stuff it contained. Eventually a huge #wrecker turned up, the kind that is as long as a semi with a full-sized trailer, picked up the front end of the U-Haul, and hauled it into town, to my house, where we would need to unload.
My house, in a neighbourhood from the 1910s, with tiny houses, narrow lots, and narrow streets. And full props to the driver, he parallel-parked-by-proxy that U-Haul in a space directly in front of my house that was barely big enough for it.
Got it unloaded, then the wrecker came back and hauled it away.
Takeaways:
1. Real professional #drivers are amazing at what they do.
2. U-Haul #trucks and #equipment are horribly maintained, because the incentives work against the franchisees doing anything but renting them out and hoping it's a one-way rental so they never see it again. Be prepared to deal with problems. Do a *serious* walk-around #inspection for #safety issues before you even think about taking it on the highway.
3. Not illustrated in this story, but U-Haul reservations ... aren't. They might put your name on a "list" when you ask for one, but whoever shows up first gets the truck. You can walk in with a "#reservation" and they'll just say "Nope, don't have any trucks left" or give you something completely not what you "reserved".
2/2