A Tale of Two Cities

A quip the perhaps demonstrates the difference between Chicago and Minneapolis.

We rented a 24ft U-Haul truck to move from Chicago to Minneapolis.

City 1: Chicago
While in Chicago we backed the truck into our driveway and due to the layout of the driveway we blocked perhaps 60% of the road around our complex. Things were going along swimmingly until the very end. As we were taking final inventory of the garage and getting ready to shut 'er down one of our neighbors (or at least one of the residents of the complex) drove up and took the time to stop to complain that we were blocking the road and that we had some nerve to be blocking it for so long. Note that the 40% of the roadway remaining was plenty big enough for cars and trucks to drive by.


City 2: Minneapolis
Same 24ft U-Haul truck. Even worse driveway setup. The townhouses where we're renting are set up in rows that face each other and have a joined alley way (for lack of a better description). This arrangement doesn't allow for too much wiggle room. We backed the U-Haul into the communal alley and then into our driveway. As the alley was not wide enough we parked at an angle blocking maybe half of our neighbors driveway and approximately 80% of the alley. The resultant 20% was big enough perhaps for a moped. Our neighbor came out and I asked if he needs me to move, his response was something like "Nah, my truck is parked in the visitor spot and I can just drive over the snow berm to get around you".

So: Case 1 (chicago), plenty of room, stop to complain.
Case 2 (Minneapolis), not plenty of room, let your truck play in the snow

Chicago was good, but we like it up here. Another benefit is that people let their kids play outside in the snow and cold!


Challenge 2008
Target through today : 5.46
Actual through today : 7.62