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We have arrived

We have arrived. Saturday, actually. It will take me years to off-set my carbon emissions from towing a trailer with Sarah, my 1998 Honda Civic, but she survived and is resting in front of Julie’s neighbor’s house. The trailer is due back tomorrow; I’m hoping to have an apartment by then so I don’t have to pack and unpack my schtuff numerous times. The apartment field is not looking promising. Correction: there are lots of apartments I like, but no one is calling me back. Grrr.

I’ve been doing a lot of thinking, ‘bout what I want to get involved in here, ‘bout who I want to get involved with, ‘bout job prospects and apartment prospects. I’ve expressed interest in volunteering with moveon.org and signed up for the emailing list for the Denver Hash House Harriers. I know the dance scene already, but I think I’ll try to branch out a bit, and not get stuck in the “It’s [day of week], I must go dancing” mindset.

Even with all that thinking, being here still feels temporary. Despite the loooong drive, despite the trailer of schtuff, despite the job applications and the phone calls about apartments, the whole scenario feels temporary, as it has been for the past five years of visits. Julie says her move two years ago didn’t start feeling permanent until winter came along, but she moved in March, so had been in town for eight-ish months by the time winter rolled around. Granted, winter’s not right around the corner, but I’m not sure four months is long enough. I was in Nepal for four months; did that ever start feeling ‘permanent’?

In terms of social scene it did; with the Hash House Harriers and the American Club I got involved as much as I felt comfortable. However, each time I saw an ad for an apartment, I would have to remind myself that I didn’t need to look for my next place to live, as I was leaving. In Denver, it’s the opposite. I keep having to remind myself that I need a place to live, that I can’t be at Julie’s house for the duration of this visit, as this ‘visit’ doesn’t have a terminus.

So, back to craigslist I go…

Moving week

The road trip has commenced, yesterday actually. I decided to take route 90 to 80 to 76 into Denver. So, it's lodgings on route 80 for last night and tonight. Last night we stayed in Toledo, Ohio at the Howard Johnson's. Don't recommend it; breakfast was donuts and Capri Sun whilst the restaurant is renovated. Julie was quite upset about this. I was a bit annoyed, but realized that the problem isn't found in the actual breakfast, or the staff who decided that donuts and sugar water are adequate nutrition, but in our expectations of the breakfast. We read "breakfast provided" and interpreted that as "continental breakfast" and were disappointed when reality didn't match up to our interpretation.

Tonight we're at a the Red Carpet Motel in Walnut, Iowa (we've seen the breakfast area; there's at least cereal on the premises, although I can't drink milk and didn't bring any soy beverage). She thinks this a seedy motel. I think we have a (free) hot shower, cable TV, wireless internet, and beds with sheets and are therefore staying in luxury. What I am not happy about is the price of the motel; $60 for a motel in the middle of nowhere Iowa! The Super 8 (which we eschewed) was $80 for the night! Cripes. Something tells me we're not in Nepal, anymore, Dorothy.

Tomorrow hopefully we zoom through the rest of Iowa and all of Nebraska in order to get to Julie's house in Denver in time to sleep. It's slow going with the trailer attached to the Honda Civic, but we can hit 70mph on the downhills. In fact, it was really smooth sailing through Ohio, which I can now tell you is flatter than Iowa, with an average speed of 70mph. We're a bit nervous about the ascent into Denver, although neither one of us remembers it being a sudden incline. Maybe the final stretch won't be as slow as we're anticipating...?