In Sam's Kitchen Daily: 8/10/14

Friday, August 15, 2014

Voyage

My voyage to Montana started July 25, 2014 at 11:30 AM. I rented a U-Haul, hired movers, loaded the cats up in a crate, and headed out of Tulsa. I couldn't believe that I was actually going to drive through multiple states all by myself. Yes, my cats are quite the company, but they're not quite conversationalist you would think. All I had to use for directions was my cell phone GPS, and thankfully it didn't fail me; but the rest of my equipment did.

Let me go back, so I picked up my U-Haul in Owasso; from an out-of-the-way gas station, and the gentleman didn't speak really any English and when he gave me the keys and told me what the total was about $200 more than I was quoted by the U-Haul customer service. I tried to explain to him that he was overcharging me but it just didn't translate. I had the movers waiting on me at home and I still had to hook up the U-Haul truck to the U-Haul trailer and drive my car up onto the trailer so I just figured I would deal with it later. As luck would have it, or fate, or God, there was a gentleman there that worked for the company that delivers the fuel to this little gas station, his name was Roy. I asked Roy, well pleaded actually, to help me load up my car on the trailer (not a car tow) so I could get on the road and he was so great, and he got me fixed right up.

All right, so I get back to the apartment and the movers meet me and try to tell me that my stuff won't fit in the truck, well one of the guys thought it would fit in one of the guys didn't. Eventually all my things were loaded up into the truck and I headed out of Tulsa. I ran into my first detour just 10 minutes into my trip at a detour downtown; as there was some highway construction so I got rerouted through Tulsa downtown, but directionally I didn't have any further GPS drama; thank goodness. I stop for gas for the first time, no challenges. I stop for gas the second time and that's when the problems began, the gas gauge didn't recognize the full tank of gas I just put in it, so I called U-Haul customer service, and they tried to reroute me a hour and a half off my trip to another city so that one of their technicians could look at the truck! I think it goes without saying I did not take their suggestion. I told them that if the truck broke down I would be in touch but it was very frustrating, I was tired, I was just not in the mood to be dealing with this drama.

Because of this issue I had to stop when I thought I had reached about half a tank and refuel, eventually the problem would resolve itself but still it was just stress I didn't need. So the rest of the voyage was going smoothly until I stopped for fuel and the check engine light came on! I called customer service again to let them know that their truck was acting up again, and again, they told me to stop and let someone come and take a look at it but I just wanted to power through at that point.

Ultimately, nothing would happen with the truck and I was able to turn it in without it breaking down on me. So I didn't want to stop and worry about the cats getting out into the hotel room and climbing underneath the bed which my cat Sookie has been known to do. I ended up only stopping one time for about three hours and I just kind of laid down in the cab next to the cats in their crate and was able to get a little bit of rest, and then got back on the road.

I left Tulsa 11:30 a.m. Friday and I pulled into Helena, Montana at 5:30 PM Saturday night. As I was driving I received an email from the gentleman that I was supposed to be renting an apartment from sight unseen; he proceeds to tell me that the apartment is basically unavailable for three days. Now remember I'm trying to drive, I'm exhausted and really; outside of my phone, have no way of finding alternate lodgings since he's telling me it won't be available until Tuesday, and this is Saturday night and I'm about to pull into town. Thankfully I had a friend watching my back and between the two of us we were able to find another apartment that I would be able to get into that night. I hired movers in Helena over the phone as I got closer to town and they met me at the new apartment it was awful; the apartments not the movers. So I called the first guy back to ask if he was he sure the apartment wouldn't be available until Tuesday and he said he was sure but that I should go take a look at the apartment, so I did and it was awful also.

I was really blessed to have a mover willing to help. My partner in Tulsa suggested I get a room for the night and shower and eat and get the cats some food and water and get some sleep and start searching Sunday for a decent place to live. So my mover unloaded my car off the trailer so I didn't have to drive it around town and worry about my car AND the truck in the hotel parking lot, he got permission from my drop off U-Haul location to leave my truck locked up at their location until Sunday morning, and he offered to drop the car trailer off for me the next day when they opened and he offered to take me to a nice hotel, and get me settled in with the cats, (they'd been locked up for 30 hours at this point and I'm sure the litter box was calling) so we go into the hotel lobby and I can't find my pocket book in all the confusion; so my mover pulls out his credit card and says, "you can pay me back tomorrow"!

I ultimately found my pocketbook after a much needed shower and cuddle with grateful cats. So it's Saturday night and I'm looking through Craigslist and find an apartment down the street from the hotel as luck would have it, and I like it and call on it, and Tina the owner offers to meet me at 9 that night, and as soon as I saw it, I knew it was where I was meant to live, just like the feeling when I got off the plane in December, and I called my mover up, and got moved in Sunday and the rest is history!