Shipping cow art to the PA All American Dairy Show

So this all sounds familiar right? Pack a vehicle, travel north. Well, this time I'm doing it a bit differently. I packed the majority of what I will need for the PA All American Dairy show (art, display materials, etc.) and shipped it via a packing crate.


Bessie the metal cow will be making an appearance at the show again. She was a hit, especially with those kids that were on her level.











The art display pedestals and their tops are on their way again. They pack nice and flat, but are a bit wide (24 inches). The size of these pedestals are the reason why I got the size crate I did.








The crate just fit into the back of my vet truck. My kids were excited to see this big box in the back of my truck.











I ended up using UPS freight to ship my crate to Pennsylvania. In order to get the best shipping price, I had to take it directly to the shipping depot in Ocala, which is about an hour away. (My business doesn't have a loading dock or a forklift, so it was going to cost a lot more to have a truck come directly to the office.)

Notice the tailgate of my girly girl vet truck doesn't come even with the loading dock? This will become important in a minute.



The first attempt to get the box off my truck with a forklift (or as my kids say "Guido" -- a tribute from the Cars movie) didn't work. It just couldn't reach the pallet to scoop it up.

Go to Plan B.








The UPS freight guys were super nice and used a hoist and the forklift to get it up on the dock. Now we're cooking.










And here is its home -- for a couple of days anyway. Actually, as I write this, the crate is already there. I shipped it last Friday. The process actually went a little easier than I was expecting.

Now, to shove everything else in two suitcases. Yeah, that's not going to be as easy as I thought.