backward-walking guide sees house pass Italian restaurant The head of the moving crew drove the truck.  Five assistants watched all sides of the house and were in radio contact with the driver all along the route.  
house passes antique mall Contrary to Brian's expectations, the house did not fall off the truck and into the antique mall where he works, thus depriving him of both home and job.
house passes bank With no possibility for a mortgage until it is fastened to a foundation and hooked up to utilities ("habitable"), the free house passed the bank which ironically owns us, who took out a regular loan for this project.

As a moonlit cable crew member looks on from the utility basket hoisting him to mid-pole, the rest of the cable crew and helpers lay planks on either side of the fiberoptic cable which they had to lower to the ground, rather than severing it.  The truck cab and 80-plus-ton house rode over it, disrupting no one's cable service.

helpers lay planks alonside cable crossing the road
near-full moon over cable worker lifted in cherry picker
highest peak of house going under four electric wires Whew!  The house easily cleared the four electric wires strung above the fiber-optic cable!
A police car takes up the rear as the house heads westbound The house continued westbound, leaving the downtown blocks.
Neighbors along the route in pyjamas, slippers and bathrobes watch from their front porches As friends walked along with the house as escorts, neighbors along the route, roused from their beds, stepped out onto their front porches to watch it pass by.
passing a sign for a restaurant offering carry-out and daily specials Brian and friend Darlene smile under evergreen boughs along the way
edge of roof barely misses fixed banner on streetlight pole

A night like this helps you see the ordinary in new ways.  Something as simple as a banner, hung high, becomes an obstacle because it's fastened at the bottom as well.  This was one of the few times the driver had to stop, back up, and turn the house to avoid damage.

Police lights reflect on the pickup truck which Brian's dad drives behind the house

Brian's dad took up the rear, driving the pickup into which we piled branches, no-parking signs, and other miscellany we didn't want to carry along the route.

Ken holding no parking signs taken off the curb behind the house

Hmmm.  Tree branches are more pliable than one would think, as it turns out.  And the siding, windows and roof are sturdier than I would have thought.  May I breathe now?

Seriously, with the way the house squeezed between trees overhanging the road, we were quite pleased to only have to trim one branch along the way.

The house squeezes between tree branches on both sides of the street
closeup of tree boughs brushing the house

After about an hour, the building movers had rounded the last corner and arrived at the house's new home...



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