Friday, November 14, 2008

RELOCATION: DAY EIGHT - ELEVEN

[Note to all friends & family that read my blog. If you can tell by the dates I have been taking my sweet time in telling the tale of my relocation. For all of those confused that have been contacting me....no, I am not moving to Canada.]

Relocation: Day Eight. I made it to the Canada/US border & the best part was that I could finally go into a Duty-Free Shop. Proof that relocating isn't as exciting as a beatnik novel. The most fancy thing that I bought there? Maple Cream cookies to bring as an offering for my new roommates. They wanted me to pick up cheap cigarettes because Chicago has over 10% sales tax, but Canada doesn't sell American cigarettes. The cigarettes need to be covered with huge pictures of heart disease & old men coughing their lungs out which the US doesn't do. They even have their cigarettes covered with curtains in gas stations.

I have some impolite things to say about homeland security but since I have to work with them when I design airports, I will mutter them to myself.

Relocation: Day Nine & Ten: Near death, I stayed in my hotel room for a couple of days. I'm respective of the hotel owners that let me stay there & let Itchy wander unattended & for Itchy loving me enough to come back to me. Forever will these days be known as The Black Days of Relocation.

Relocation: Day Eleven. I desperately needed to get to Chicago. My roommates didn't know if I was dead or alive & my cell phone battery died just as I was telling them where I was. So late night I hung out in a rest area while my battery powered up. I slept in my truck with my puppy because there is no place scarier than a Good Sam's at 1am without any working lights.

When I made it to Chicago I was almost pleased to see toll booths & bumper to bumper traffic. My roommate Jason took the day off & unload the trailer with me in under an hour. Then we went to the Uhaul 'castle' to return the trailer. To my joy, the great guys in Fairbanks gave me three extra days on the rental so I wasn't late turning it in:) And what a relief to have that thing off the back of my truck! I was free....& unencombered to try to parallel park again....with a pickup truck. Yeesh! Talk about 42 point parking job.

That night was bliss. Theres nothing as nice as sleeping in your own inflatable bed:)