....and Northward...aka..."Sweet Home Minn-e-sota"
Published on August 18, 2005 By Ziggystyles In Life Journals
Many people know that my girlfriend Marcie (JU: MarcieHelen) is headed up to MN as we are moving up there. She left early Tuesday with my car hauling my bike behind it in a Uhaul trailer.

Well...I figured I could make this a daily blog of how she is doing to keep everyone up to date because there seems to be some interest in how she is doing. Instead of making a new blog entry every day...I will just write replies to this particular blog article itself.

Tuesday...
She left around 7am here...and headed east to the Hoover Dam and then southeast to Albequerque. She had some problems with the car overheating but she made it to Santa Rosa, NM by the end of the day. 688 miles.

Wednesday...
She left Santa Rosa.....I think around 9am or so. She called to ask a question about the bikes straps as one of them was loose. I told her how to tighten it down and it was fine the rest of the day....I hope. Car was still overheating but not as bad as yesterday. She got a little mixed up with how the Kansas Turnpike works down there. Really tweaked as far as I can tell. I didnt know it went that far south or else I would have warned her had I remembered. Down there, you pay to get on the interstate and then its a toll road when you have to get off or something. Well she was running low on gas and had to get off. I think at first she didnt understand how it worked with there being gas stations and fast food joints inside the tollway....then figured it out. Stopped for the night in a dinky town just outside of wichita. 612 miles.

For tomorrow, she is going to try and get up to Austin which is 652 miles away. She has to take a detour to Cedar rapids and drop off the bike. I tried showing her how to do it..but I myself almost dropped the bike trying to get it up and then off the trailer. So...having her do it wasnt an option. My brother will be able to get off of work for a bit and meet her at his house (if she finds if with my directions) and then get it off. Ill have to head down there sometime to get the bike...its a 3 hour drive or so. But I figured he could have fun with it and take it for a spin if he wants. ......although he wrecked his last bike....hmmmm.

Im busy packing...took five xerox boxes from school today and packed up alot. Marcie reads alot of books...so lots of those are being put away. Im having a friend of ours come over and tell me if the truck we have is enough or not. If its not going to be big enough...Ill just cancel Uhaul and switch to Penske.

Comments
on Aug 19, 2005
Well tonight Marcie made it into Austin. She dropped off the bike in Cedar Rapids earlier in the day so that took the load off of the car..somewhat. She will drop the trailer off tomorrow...but has to stop by the school first as she has one of her boxes in the trailer....no room in the car! Friday or Saturday, she will head down to Mason City to prepay for the Penske rental truck...

I originally reserved through Uhaul....and that is the trailer Marcie is using...but after reading some complaints about them...I decided to look elsewhere. I like Penske trucks...though they arent as low as Uhaul. I just went through Uhaul when we came down here last year because I didnt think to look anywhere else...but I always passed those great looking trucks. Always looked brand new...not old like Some Uhauls can be. Uhaul, while they do have a maintanence plan of some sort in place for their fleet....they let their trucks run longer than Penske. I was told that Penske keeps their trucks for 85,000 miles and then sells them. Sounds about right to me because I have not once seen a older model Penske Truck. They are all fairly new...and on average...a year and a half old. That and Im saving around 900 bucks. 900 bucks less for a better, newer, more efficient truck...Ill take that.

I digress....

I will be picking up the truck on sunday so I very well might be able to move out of here on Monday...because I have a couple of guys coming over to help me and one used to own a trucking business specializing in moving people so it sounds like Ill have everything mostly out of here in a very short time on Sunday. My only concern is keeping my older bike from falling down in the truck....hmmmmm.

Marcie is also going to try and find us a place to live up there too. There are lots of places...but very few (which surprises me that its so many) do not allow cats. WTF, our cat doesnt smell. She herself doesnt smell, her food doesnt, and her litterbox doesnt smell either. When you walk into our place...there is no cat smell that you....smell. Only have heard from one place so far that will take her...hmm.
on Aug 19, 2005
Marcie is also going to try and find us a place to live up there too. There are lots of places...but very few (which surprises me that its so many) do not allow cats. WTF, our cat doesnt smell. She herself doesnt smell, her food doesnt, and her litterbox doesnt smell either. When you walk into our place...there is no cat smell that you....smell


It's proven fact that only to another cat owner it doesn't smell. To someone tht does not have a cat, it stinks! I have a cat, so no it don't stink.
on Aug 19, 2005
It's not just the smell, but animals can do property damage. I had a cat once take up a corner of brand new carpet. Also, if it's a rental, the landlord has to consider that the next tenants may be allergic to cats. No matter how well you clean, it's almost impossible to remove all traces of cat hair.

I love cats and dearly wish I could have one in my apartment. I'll just have to wait til I get my own house again. Good luck in finding something and welcome back to Minnesota!
on Aug 19, 2005
this is why colleen and I buy homes instead of rent... our babies.. buffy the moth slayer and simon meathead, we love our cats.
on Aug 19, 2005
We were thinking of buying a house...but all the paperwork and mumbo jumbo of doing that, at this time, didnt seem feasable.

Marcie looked at some places today and it sounds like she didnt like what she saw....managed to look at two places. One had a really teeny bathroom and we would need to get a washer and drier and haul them out of the basement when we move. The second was just funky...older and not as nice as we'd like.

Now our only problem is finances. Marcie ran a little dry on money and Im getting there. Luckily, we have one paycheck left in a few days...but other than that...its going to be tough ebcause some apartments want an arm and a leg up front and we dont have the means to do that. Crimeny...Im not sure what to do when I move...might end up sleeping in the truck with the cat....dont think I can afford a hotel.
on Aug 20, 2005
Ziggy: Thanks for the update. That's quite a woman you've got there. I'm very impressed. I don't think I could have done it without having several major melt-downs.

Best wishes with the money situation and finding a suitable place. I understand how that is. Moving can be sooo expensive.
on Aug 20, 2005
TW,
Thanks for the support and kind words.

Tonights update...
Marcie called tonight...she usually does before she goes to bed. Nothing new other than what I said earlier. The place she is staying at now will let her rent it by the week for 120 bucks. Dang...Im almost tempted to move in there. I think she likes it, hasnt said anything bad about it yet. She is going to drive around town tomorrow and look for some places...maybe take a trek over to Albert Lea and look at some places over there. I wouldnt mind living there, but she is concerned about the drive to and from work during the winters. Its all interestate and MN does a pretty good job clearing those off first before anything else...but she has a point. She dropped off the trailer earlier today, so that will help out a ton on gas mileage. Ill probably change the oil right away, despite i had it changed last week.

Outside of the finances, we have an issue with Penke. Marcie is paying via her credit card for the rental. Before she left, we had one reserved through U-Haul..but we decided to go and save some money with Penske (just read on their website...their trucks for one way rentals are no more than 42 months old....compared to 12 years for other (cough...Uhaul....cough) companies. Man...Im starting to like them already and I havent even seen the truck yet. Well with Uhaul..she went in and when we picked up the trailer...she left information for her so that I could pick up and pay for the truck on sunday using her credit card. Well now we are going through Penske which means we are in a sticky situation. She cant give the card number over the phone to pay for it and I dont have enough money to pay for it. So, she went to Mason City Iowa today, about 65 miles, to that penske place, the nearest one. She went in to pay and there was a problem with the computers and she doesnt know if it went through or not. That and they are closed on Saturday and Sunday which means Im SOL if it didnt go through. Im going to try and call penske tomorrow and see if it worked...otherwise...I dont know what to do.
I need to know what to do because I still have them both Reserved. Im ok if I cancel Uhaul...as long as they ahve 24 hours notice. I cant really cancel penske because they went 48 hours notice. WELL crap and a half.