Transport Reviews

This is a copy of what I just posted on www.transportreviews.com. It is a site to review auto transport companies and has hundreds, if not thousands, of companies listed. It ended up as being a 4 out of 5 rating.

We recently had our truck shipped from Hawaii to Denver. I was originally going to use another company (AAA Anytime), but did some research on them through this site at the last minute and found they only had a 2-star rating, most of which stemmed from poor/very rude customer service after pickup. They told me they could guarantee a delivery date so it would be waiting at the airport for us when we arrived, but many of the reviewers complained of late deliveries. We are only making a short stop in Denver and will be driving through the SC, so a late delivery was absolutely not an option.

I was quoted $1940 by AAAT, which was lower than most of the other companies I contacted, and the other companies quoted me higher rates before the gas prices spiked! I dealt with Mike and he was an absolute pleasure to work with. He was friendly and knowledgeable throughout the entire process. My only complaint, and the reason I gave them a 5 out of 6 rating, was due to the rude customer service from one of the other guys in the office. Mike was out of the office for the day and it was a Monday in August-the busiest month to move cars. I felt like the guy did not want to deal with my problem and just wanted to get me off the phone. I could have waited until the next day to speak to Mike, but we needed to deliver the truck to the port that day as my husband was leaving for one week. By the time we got the booking number it was too late in the day and I ended up having to deliver it the next day with a friend and had to have my husband fax a notorized letter giving me permission to ship the vehicle. Mike's co-worker said I did not need a power-of-attorney to drop off the vehicle, but Matson requires one. The lady at Matson kindly agreed to accept the truck that day (as it was the last day to drop off vehicles for that week's ship) with the understanding that she would not release it to be loaded until she received the notorized letter.

I called Mike a few days later and he apologized for the problem. My truck was picked up from the port in Long Beach the day it left the ship and was driven straight to Denver. The carrier was Dependable Auto Ship. Mike quoted me 5-8 days from Long Beach to Denver and it arrived on day 5. The carrier called my husband's uncle the day before to schedule delivery. The truck arrived with no damages and from what I understand was washed prior to delivery, making the inspection run smoothly.

Overall I was very pleased with the service we received from AAAT. My only advice for vehicle shipping is to make sure everything is taken care of at least one week prior to the pickup date. The problems I experienced could have been avoided had we not waited until the last minute to turn in the paperwork to AAAT, which was completely our fault. I was very nervous about shipping our truck (it is brand-new with 900 miles on it), but would definitely ship with AAAT again and go through Mike.

Religious Freaks (or Nutcases)

This topic has bugged me for a long time and I am finally going to say something about it. Have you ever watched a show on TV or a movie where the bad guy turns out to be a crazy nutcase who just happens to do what they do because of something in the Bible? I recently watched CSI: NY and the movie Mist by Stephen King.

I don't want to ruin Mist for you if you have not seen it, but there is a woman in the movie who is regarded as crazy by the entire town. As the movie goes on she gets increasingly persistent that she is a messenger from God and starts spouting off things like retribution for sins and God's wrath coming down on the townpeople. She eventually advocates killing certain people to please her angry God.

(spoiler warning) CSI: NY has had a series of shows going for the past month or so in which a NY cabby is killing people and leaving markings on the back of their necks. The killer turns out to be a guy who is killing people because of Lev. 27: 29- "No person specially set apart for destruction may be bought back. Such a person must be put to death."

These are not the only shows in which this has occurred, but they happen to be the most recent and the ones that come readily to my mind. It is just disgusting to see Christianity run through the mud and given a bad "name". How many people watch these shows and agree with the "religious freak" portrayal? How many are turned away from a relationship with God because of things like this?

On a happier note, I was watching America's Got Talent last night and Donald Braswell said he was blessed to be where he was and believed it was God's will that he had made it this far in the competition. I am so glad to hear people give the glory to God and thank Him for His presence in their lives.

Green Hour Challenge

I came across the Green Hour Challenge while browsing around some of the TOG blogs. I have decided that we really need to get out and enjoy nature and have been looking around for quite some time to try to find ideas to get us moving.

The Green Hour Challenge is a weekly nature study using the Handbook of Nature Study (you can download it free from the Green Hour Challenge site). The author of this blog has broken down the Handbook of Nature Study into weekly bite-sized bits and gives out a new assignment each week. She starts out slow, with only 15-20 minutes being spent on the nature walk, but continues with follow-up assignments to do during the remaining part of the week to add to or focus on the topic. She has relieved a lot of the stress of nature study by breaking it up this way and it is nice to know that we can take it slow and don't have to be experts before heading outside. I don't want to feel pressured to spend entire days outside looking for or researching things I have no experience in.

If I can figure how to add the button to my sidebar I will get it added. Hopefully I will be able to blog soon about our nature study excursions.

Move Countdown-starting now!

20 days to go! I was just typing out a list of what our last few weeks entail and thought, wow, we have a lot going on!

Some friends will be moving in with us on the 11th and staying through the 18th (they are moving out of their rental out in town and waiting to move into housing on Hickam). The dog goes in for his vet appointment on the morning of the 16th, dh gets pinned in the afternoon, the movers will be here on the 18th and 19th, we move into the Navy Lodge on the 18th, the Khaki ball is on the 20th, our move-out inspection is on the 22nd, dh checks out from PSD on the 23rd and we fly out on the 24th. Our flight is not until 9:30PM so we will have all day to do whatever we feel like. We need to pick the dog up from the kennel by 2PM and have arranged for him to have a doggy playdate at a neighbors house until we need to leave for the airport. Hopefully he will be nice and tired and will be able to sleep for most of the trip. The first leg of our journey is about 8 hours and the second is 1 1/2 hours. FYI for any of you planning to travel with your pet in the near future, we are paying $275 for our 16 pound dog to fly in the cargo bay. Mind you, it is a fully pressurized compartment, but come on, $275!

The airline we will be flying with recently changed their policy regarding baggage limits for active-duty military on orders, so dh husband will be allowed to check in 4 bags, each weighing up to 80 pounds and up to 80 linear inches (L + W + H). If the second leg of our flight was not a connection (meaning a sister airline) he would be allowed up to 10 bags. The rest of us are allowed one free checked bag, one carry-on and one personal item. As our temporary apartment in South Carolina is fully furnished, including linens and dishes, we will not need to pack any of those items. That will free up our luggage for clothing, as the mainland will have cooler temperatures at that point. That reminds me that I need to head over to the NEX to shop for winter clothing for the children and myself. Hawaii does not get cold, so I only brought a couple of sweatshirts and packed the rest in storage.

Dh purchased a tonneau cover for the truck which is being delivered to my mom next week and I just got confirmation that the truck will be delivered next week to dh's uncle. We are flying into Denver and driving cross-country to visit friends and family on the way. The military is paying us per diem for a portion of our trip, making this a good time to visit with everybody. That and the fact that we only have to drive one way instead of the normal two. We are taking two weeks to do the entire trip, whereas we had two weeks 1 1/2 years ago to drive from VA to CO and back. We ended up spending 6 days of our 14-day total driving.

Daddy helps with breakfast

I woke up Labor Day morning to find my husband and daughter busy in the kitchen making chocolate chip pancakes. Daddy had cleaned up the kitchen and was helping dd mix up the batter and flip. We like to eat our chocolate chip pancakes with powdered sugar. Below is a picture of ds eating his extra-large pancake. He also likes to have his with syrup (corn syrup free, of course).

Almost

As Monday was a holiday and Dad had the day off, we decided to also take the day off from school. We headed up to Turtle Bay and stopped at the Turtle Bay Resort where we hoped to see some turtles. We were too far east of where we should have been and only got to see 4 turtles swimming in the water. Had we gone to the actual Turtle Bay beach, we would have been able to possibly see turtles on the beach and could have listened to locals "talk story".

We then headed down to Hale'iwa to window shop. We walked by a roadside stand where I saw a really pretty sea shell windchime. I told the owner we would stop in on our way back. We kept going and found a lunch wagon selling malasadas and found out they were open until 6:30PM. We headed back to the restaurant where we were meeting friends and had our dinner. Ds and I left the restaurant and drove over to grab some malasadas. As we were pulling in they were closing up shop. The roadside stand was also closed up.

So, we almost got to see turtles close-up, almost got a windchime and almost had some yummy malasadas for dessert with some left over for breakfast. What a disappointment!