First week in a new place

Moving is always an interesting experience. Since my mom has died, it's made it an even more interesting experience. My mom would make sure I would have everything prepared before actually moving to a new place, and that makes it not near as fun as what I ended up doing.

To tell the truth I did try as least a little to get things set up in Alabama. I was able to find out who the bishop from 2004 was and contact him. He gave me some information of a member who was renting apartments. So I figured this would be pretty easy. I called him up and never could get anybody to answer. This happened for several days. Figuring that I would have someplace at least to sleep by Monday night, I set a job interview for Tuesday morning in Alabama. Well, it was Monday day, and I still hadn't gotten ahold of that guy, so I decided I'd try to find his work number online. I googled his named, found the company he worked for, looked up the company's website and phone number and gave him a call. I asked for him, and the reply I got was that he would be on vacation another week and there was no way to reach him. So I called the original contact I had and never got through. Not looking good. I was moving to Alabama, leaving on Monday, had no contacts, and a job interview.

Well, left Monday night at 9:00 P.M. I figured that I'd take my time driving there and just pull over and sleep when I needed to. About 2:30 A.M. I finally pulled over and fell asleep. I woke up a couple hours later and found that there were two cars on each side of me who did the same thing. Got up and drove the rest of the way. Drove to where my interview was going to be, found the place with a little difficulty. Why in the world would they have two different street signs posted for one street. I read the wrong street sign and passed it a couple of times before I realized it was the right one. Now that I knew where it was, I went ahead and found the church, because I figured that'd be as good a place as any to crash and sleep in my car. Did the interview that morning, basically just the initial meeting, nothing too much more than that, and said to come back on Friday.

Now time to do apartment searching. Went to a grocery store, picked up an apartment guide, headed to the library to research in the newspaper and use the computer for more resources. Spent most of the day calling from a pay phone trying to set up times to see apartments. Set up a couple appointments, and then a couple of callbacks, but they were all for the next day. Figured I would be spending the night in my car again, and it had been a couple of days since I had the chance to shower. Had to look in a phone book at the library and found where the YMCA was. Still had my membership there, even though it was for a MN YMCA, I still figured I could at least get in. So I got in, worked on my shoulder a little bit, then finally showered. Got back into my car and headed over to the church parking lot for yet another night of sleeping awkwardly across the front seat with the hand break stuck in my back.

On Wednesday morning, the family history center opened. I was still asleep in my car. I slept from 9 to 9, but that was a very interrupted sleep. I was so excited to actually see somebody at the church and make contact and hopefully find a place to crash for at least a day or two. Well, they just see some random car from Kentucky, packed completely full of stuff, with a random bald guy pop out all excited to introduce himself. At this point sleeping in a car for a couple of days and not having a place to call home was pretty grating. Well they let me use the phone in the church to make phone calls so I didn't have to use a payphone. Made my calls and started attending appointments. The first appointment didn't even show, scratch that one off, next one was a callback to check if they had something available, third one was for holes in the wall very close to campus. Cheap holes in the wall. The last one was a callback to a man that was renting part of a house, and was the one I really wanted, but he wouldn't have it ready till the first of the month, so my only prospect was the hole in the wall. Not too excited about that, but it's better than sleeping in a car.

That night showed up at the church. Talked to the bishop for a couple of seconds. He asked if I needed anything, and me being the stubborn and independent person that I am said no. We were the last two to leave the parking lot, so I went to my vehicle, drove off, and after the bishop had left, returned to the parking lot for yet another night of attempting to sleep on seat belts and the hand brake. Not particularly fun.

Woke up and filled out the application for the hole in the wall and got the paperwork into their office and the first months rent paid. I am now the proud renter of a hole close by campus, which hadn't even had the floors cleaned, at least everything else was. It was messy enough that I threw everything into a corner, laid out my air mattress that I've been using as a bed for the past year, and that was it.

Friday, I showed up for my second interview, which they ran me through a couple of repairs, just to see how I did with it. Finished those up and then I took off to New Orleans to help finish some houses with the priesthood. It's amazing how many houses down there still haven't been restored and moved into. A ton were still empty. Well, helped finish two houses, mainly trim and doors, counter tops, bathroom fixtures, etc. Arrived back home on Sunday night.

Monday, had to go buy and broom, dustpan, and vacuum, and spent the entire day cleaning everything in the apartment. Finally, I had things situated to a somewhat livable environment.

So in one week, I was homeless three nights, spent one night in my apartment, then slept in a church two nights, and one more night in my apartment. Personally, I don't care too much for sleeping in my car, and hopefully, I won't have that problem again. Not fun, but definitely a different experience.