: Update from New Jersey :
So if you've been following my life so far, you're probably wondering how the move from Houston to New Jersey went off. It was quite an arduous trip, in many ways more than I'm going to talk about here, but now that I'm here, it feels great to be having a fresh start (even if I did bring a ton of stuff with me).
I've been moving pretty much non-stop since last Friday. I got up at about 7 a.m. to get ready for my movers and tree people to wrap up my ficus tree. Then I got a call from the moving company - the credit card I'd given them had been declined because my credit card company was slow to post the payment I'd made on Thursday, so I needed to either provide another card number - by fax, and I don't have a fax machine - or pay with a cashier's check upon delivery. Since I didn't have a fax machine, I told them I'd give them a cashier's check when my stuff got unloaded. But then I thought better of it and decided I should charge it, in case my checks didn't clear the bank before then (more on that in a second). So I drove down to my leasing office to use the fax machine, but they were still closed, despite being 30 minutes after the posted opening time. I waited outside the gate for a while, then decided to try and go to my bank down the street and use their fax. I was turning around on the street when I saw them open the gate, so I went back in and had them fax the credit card info. This day was starting off with a bang.
Then the tree guys show up and take my tree out of the pot and wrap it in burlap for the trip. After they're done, the movers show up, but they can't get the trailer truck into my apartment - I have to call to have someone open up both gates. After getting a wrong number and finally reaching them, they say that they would prefer the truck stay on the street so as not to block tenant parking or the fire zone. But the mover says that he can be ticketed for being on the street, so they finally let them in, on the condition that someone stay with the truck so it can be moved if necessary. It only took them about two hours to pack and load everything, then I drove to the office of my ex's attorney to pick up my portion of the divorce settlement, a large lump sum of money that is going to pay for my SRS and has to sustain me until I find a job. I deposited the checks in my bank and came back to the apartment to finish my packing and clean the apartment.
After locking up and dropping off the keys and remotes to the leasing office, I ran a few more minor errands - including another run-in at the U.S. Post Office - and left Houston at about 3:30 p.m. on Friday. I drove I-10 through Louisiana, leaving a growing storm coming off the Gulf of Mexico behind me. In the Bayou State, I accidentally took a wrong turn, going south to New Orleans instead of staying eastbound, which took me about 70 miles out of the way. I kept driving on I-59 northeast until about 1 a.m. and stopped in Meridian, Mississippi for the night.
The next morning, I got up about 9:30 a.m., had breakfast, and continued my trip through Alabama. Unfortunately, about 17 miles east of Tuscaloosa, Alabama, one of my tires went flat. I was driving along when another driving pulled up alongside me and started honking furiously. I looked over at him and he pointed down to my car. I immediately pulled over and got out in time to hear the last of the nitrogen escaping from my front passenger's side tire. I called my roadside assistance that comes with my 21st Century auto insurance and waited for the tow truck. I couldn't get to my spare tire because my van had been packed in so tightly that it would have taken hours to get enough stuff out to get to the spare. Fortunately, my insurance covered the cost of the tow back to Tuscaloosa, and the problem was simply a bad valve stem, which only cost $5 to fix. All things considered, things could have been a lot worse.
Since I lost a couple of hours with that incident, I started taking more times between breaks and made good time all the way to Knoxville, Tennessee. Unforturnately, that's where I made another wrong turn and went 35 miles up into the Appalachian Mountains in heavy rain at night before I turned around to get back to I-40. It was then that I noticed that my car was having some serious vibrations when I accelerated between 60 and 70 mph. I figured that the engine mount that my mechanic had been telling me about for a while was finally ready to give out. The result was that I could only cruise at about 45-50 mph and have everyone pass me, or use a downhill to get up to 80 mph and risk getting a speeding ticket. Then, to compound matters, when I entered Virginia, I noticed the sign that says, "Radar detectors are illegal in Virginia," which gave me further to choose the first of my two options. I finally stopped in Wyethville, VA for the night.
I first tried the Hampton Inn, but they were full for the night. So I went across the street to the Ramada Inn, and asked the front desk woman if there were any rooms - there were. She asked if I was a AAA member, or an AARP member (do I look that old?!) or a teacher, or a government employee? I said no to everything, and she said, "I'm just trying to save you money!" Then she saw the earth goddess pendant that I always wear and she gave me 10 percent off for being pagan :) She explained that the bartender at the restaurant is Wiccan, and she was a Buddhist-something or other. "All I know is that God isn't a man - men aren't that creative" she said with a smile. She was nice enough to give me a relatively spacious handicap-accessible room on the ground floor. This is just the sort of thing that would never happen in Texas - it seems that the further north you get, the more open-minded people get, although there are plenty of small-minded people everywhere.
On Sunday morning I woke up at 7 a.m. for my final leg, since I knew it was going to be slow due to the car situation. I slowly made my way along I-81, sometimes driving for four hours straight at a time, passing through Virginia, West Virginia, Maryland and Pennsylvania (I called my FTM friend Chris and left a message as I passed Hershey, PA to let him know I was nearby) before arriving at my destination in New Jersey at 6:30 p.m. We went out to dinner to celebrate my arrival, and unloaded my van into my new living quarters. My moving truck arrives this weekend with the rest of my stuff.
On Monday, I ran my errands, picking up my post box keys, submitting my change of address, getting my storage area squared away, visiting a compounding pharmacy to fill my HRT prescriptions, and looking for a car mechanic. I unpacked and set up my computer station and my DVD player. Yesterday I took the car into a Honda dealer to get my 100,000 mile tune-up and get that vibration checked out. Unfortunately, all the work I need on the van comes out to a $2,300 repair bill, and that's not including replacement of two bent wheel rims and worn tires I need to address soon. But despite all the ordeals of moving, I'm so happy to be here finally, after months of waiting and planning. I'm looking forward to a wonderful new life here, being with the people who I love and who love me more than anyone else in the world.
I've been moving pretty much non-stop since last Friday. I got up at about 7 a.m. to get ready for my movers and tree people to wrap up my ficus tree. Then I got a call from the moving company - the credit card I'd given them had been declined because my credit card company was slow to post the payment I'd made on Thursday, so I needed to either provide another card number - by fax, and I don't have a fax machine - or pay with a cashier's check upon delivery. Since I didn't have a fax machine, I told them I'd give them a cashier's check when my stuff got unloaded. But then I thought better of it and decided I should charge it, in case my checks didn't clear the bank before then (more on that in a second). So I drove down to my leasing office to use the fax machine, but they were still closed, despite being 30 minutes after the posted opening time. I waited outside the gate for a while, then decided to try and go to my bank down the street and use their fax. I was turning around on the street when I saw them open the gate, so I went back in and had them fax the credit card info. This day was starting off with a bang.
Then the tree guys show up and take my tree out of the pot and wrap it in burlap for the trip. After they're done, the movers show up, but they can't get the trailer truck into my apartment - I have to call to have someone open up both gates. After getting a wrong number and finally reaching them, they say that they would prefer the truck stay on the street so as not to block tenant parking or the fire zone. But the mover says that he can be ticketed for being on the street, so they finally let them in, on the condition that someone stay with the truck so it can be moved if necessary. It only took them about two hours to pack and load everything, then I drove to the office of my ex's attorney to pick up my portion of the divorce settlement, a large lump sum of money that is going to pay for my SRS and has to sustain me until I find a job. I deposited the checks in my bank and came back to the apartment to finish my packing and clean the apartment.
After locking up and dropping off the keys and remotes to the leasing office, I ran a few more minor errands - including another run-in at the U.S. Post Office - and left Houston at about 3:30 p.m. on Friday. I drove I-10 through Louisiana, leaving a growing storm coming off the Gulf of Mexico behind me. In the Bayou State, I accidentally took a wrong turn, going south to New Orleans instead of staying eastbound, which took me about 70 miles out of the way. I kept driving on I-59 northeast until about 1 a.m. and stopped in Meridian, Mississippi for the night.
The next morning, I got up about 9:30 a.m., had breakfast, and continued my trip through Alabama. Unfortunately, about 17 miles east of Tuscaloosa, Alabama, one of my tires went flat. I was driving along when another driving pulled up alongside me and started honking furiously. I looked over at him and he pointed down to my car. I immediately pulled over and got out in time to hear the last of the nitrogen escaping from my front passenger's side tire. I called my roadside assistance that comes with my 21st Century auto insurance and waited for the tow truck. I couldn't get to my spare tire because my van had been packed in so tightly that it would have taken hours to get enough stuff out to get to the spare. Fortunately, my insurance covered the cost of the tow back to Tuscaloosa, and the problem was simply a bad valve stem, which only cost $5 to fix. All things considered, things could have been a lot worse.
Since I lost a couple of hours with that incident, I started taking more times between breaks and made good time all the way to Knoxville, Tennessee. Unforturnately, that's where I made another wrong turn and went 35 miles up into the Appalachian Mountains in heavy rain at night before I turned around to get back to I-40. It was then that I noticed that my car was having some serious vibrations when I accelerated between 60 and 70 mph. I figured that the engine mount that my mechanic had been telling me about for a while was finally ready to give out. The result was that I could only cruise at about 45-50 mph and have everyone pass me, or use a downhill to get up to 80 mph and risk getting a speeding ticket. Then, to compound matters, when I entered Virginia, I noticed the sign that says, "Radar detectors are illegal in Virginia," which gave me further to choose the first of my two options. I finally stopped in Wyethville, VA for the night.
I first tried the Hampton Inn, but they were full for the night. So I went across the street to the Ramada Inn, and asked the front desk woman if there were any rooms - there were. She asked if I was a AAA member, or an AARP member (do I look that old?!) or a teacher, or a government employee? I said no to everything, and she said, "I'm just trying to save you money!" Then she saw the earth goddess pendant that I always wear and she gave me 10 percent off for being pagan :) She explained that the bartender at the restaurant is Wiccan, and she was a Buddhist-something or other. "All I know is that God isn't a man - men aren't that creative" she said with a smile. She was nice enough to give me a relatively spacious handicap-accessible room on the ground floor. This is just the sort of thing that would never happen in Texas - it seems that the further north you get, the more open-minded people get, although there are plenty of small-minded people everywhere.
On Sunday morning I woke up at 7 a.m. for my final leg, since I knew it was going to be slow due to the car situation. I slowly made my way along I-81, sometimes driving for four hours straight at a time, passing through Virginia, West Virginia, Maryland and Pennsylvania (I called my FTM friend Chris and left a message as I passed Hershey, PA to let him know I was nearby) before arriving at my destination in New Jersey at 6:30 p.m. We went out to dinner to celebrate my arrival, and unloaded my van into my new living quarters. My moving truck arrives this weekend with the rest of my stuff.
On Monday, I ran my errands, picking up my post box keys, submitting my change of address, getting my storage area squared away, visiting a compounding pharmacy to fill my HRT prescriptions, and looking for a car mechanic. I unpacked and set up my computer station and my DVD player. Yesterday I took the car into a Honda dealer to get my 100,000 mile tune-up and get that vibration checked out. Unfortunately, all the work I need on the van comes out to a $2,300 repair bill, and that's not including replacement of two bent wheel rims and worn tires I need to address soon. But despite all the ordeals of moving, I'm so happy to be here finally, after months of waiting and planning. I'm looking forward to a wonderful new life here, being with the people who I love and who love me more than anyone else in the world.
