Wood Stoves and Xanax

Living in this trailer is like living in the twilight zone. The windows don't close all the way, so it gets chilly at night. The windows don't have any screens, so the bugs fly in and out all night. There is no skirting along the bottom outside of the trailer just randomly placed pieces of wood, so animals often scurry in and out of the underside of the trailer. The kitchen sink (until 3 days ago when our landlord replaced the faucet) boasts water even Henry is afraid to drink, yellow/brown and smells of iron. There is no hot water in the kitchen for dishes. There are several holes in the floor patched up with some duct tape and covered with rugs. I often step into them and fear I will eventually fall through the floor. Water damage everywhere. Smells musty, and no matter how often I burn the nag champa incense, it still smells the same. The oven doesn't work, and we have to light each individual burner with a lighter when we turn it on. The wood stove is great, but the chimney is very rusted. I'm also pretty sure that the chimney hasn't been cleaned ever, which is scary and makes me never want to use the wood stove for fear of a chimney fire. And let's not forget that I came out of the bedroom a couple nights ago to find a rat running across the floor and into the wall. I can't wait to move out.

We've been told that we cannot afford much of a mobile home either. Sarah has great credit, but a very short history, so they will not lend us very much. New mobile homes are roughly $30,000 more here, than their equivalent in Michigan. Fuck California. So now, we are looking for a very cheap mobile home. We cannot afford to buy new, which was the original plan. We have found a company that will finance an older mobile home, but will only finance us up to $35,000. In California, that is the price equivalent to a 30 year old single wide mobile home. In Michigan, that would be a brand new double wide. This is why I say Fuck California. So with these parameters in mind, we hunted for some homes in our price range. We found several really great looking homes, but as we drove by most of them we realized they are almost all in senior only parks. FUCK CALIFORNIA. All of the homes that we really liked, that were bigger, or double wides are in senior only parks, and those senior only parks are everywhere. We have only found 3 parks with places for sale that would accept us. Apparently people like to retire here. There are 3 senior parks to every 1 family park. It's been really frustrating.  So, now we only have 2 places that we are planning on looking at, and it has come down to one or the other and we really don't have much choice beyond that.

We took Henry to his 2 year vet check up. He did much better than he ever has at the vet. He normally growls and barks at the vet. He received updated shots, and a clean bill of health. Our vet decided that it would be good to put him on some anxiety meds because his separation anxiety has gotten worse since the beginning of the move. She put him on Xanax. Funny thing is, the stuff doesn't even touch him. We came home yesterday and he had torn the towel we drape over his crate to shreds. He's been injuring himself when we leave too. He tried to get out of his crate and ended up scraping his nose badly enough that there was blood all over the crate and he gave himself 2 giant scabs. He just needs a tranquilizer.

Dumpy Trailer In The Woods

I swear we have been all over the map with this housing crisis we have been facing. We decided that our grand plan is to purchase a mobile home in a mobile home park, and then save for land, then move the mobile home to the land and live in it while building our dream cabin in the woods. This is far far down the road, but it's still good to have goals right?

But that doesn't solve our lack of housing right now. So we called up Jayme (the guy with the dumpy trailer for rent) and asked him if we could do a short term, month to month lease while we look at new/used mobile homes in our price range. We met with him and agreed to a 3 month lease at $900 a month. Pretty expensive, but we have simply ran out of time and moving in to his trailer will ultimately save us money because the corporate housing we are in currently is something like $1600 a month. So we move in to the trailer tomorrow. Pictures will be posted because it's just too funny not to.

Our next step is to decide if we are going to buy a new mobile home and put it in a park on a lot, or find a used one for sale already in a park. I feel that we should buy a new one for several reasons. 1. financing a new mobile home is much easier. Most banks do not finance for mobile homes that are old (meaning 10 years or more), as our real estate agent has informed us. 2. If we are going to own this home and live in for quite some time until we build our cabin, I want it to be in good shape. Newer mobile homes are better constructed. Earthquakes are a real threat out here and if we have a well built home, they can withstand the shaking. Also Sarah had mentioned that some of the newer mobile homes are so nice that she might be okay with not building a cabin and just plopping it down on some land, saving us money on constructing a new home. I also think we would save money on closing costs and we wouldn't have to give the real estate agent a cut of the sale, bringing our up front costs down. The only drawback to buying new seems to be finding an open lot for us to put it in.

At least we have 3 months to get everything squared away. Just in time for our parents to come visit. Yay adulthood.

Housing

We've been mulling around the idea of buying a motor home to live in since renting out here is the most difficult thing we've experienced, and then I was sitting outside the hospital today, waiting for Sarah and a lady walked up and struck up a conversation with me. I was going through my spiel about how we just moved here and we're having trouble finding housing (we have 10 days left in our current place). She told me that our best bet would be to buy a mobile home. They are cheap, and she said that's how she started and now she lives on the peninsula by the beach. The idea sounded good to me. I had tried to talk Sarah into this earlier in the month, but she shot the idea down (she says I just didn't sell the idea well enough).

When Sarah came back to the car I told her what the lady said. She was on board. So we jumped online when we got home to scope it out. Lot rent is under $400 a month here, some places closer to $300. There are also plenty of mobile homes under $25,000. We called an agent with a listing we were interested in to get the ball rolling....here we go!

Trouble With California

Sorry folks, it's been a while.

California, has been a mix of emotions for us. We arrived here cheery, and ready to face the challenges ahead. We have been exploring the area, frequenting all the local breweries for wings and beer. I'm impressed with most of the breweries in the area. 6 Rivers Brewery is our favorite. It's located in McKinleyville which is 10 minutes north of Arcata, if that. The view from the brewery is wonderful, the microbrew exceptional, and the wings are the best we've found! It's nickname is "the brew with a view", Love it!

We've visited the farmer's market (two blocks from our apt.) and have been impressed with the quality of produce and fun surrounding the plaza every Saturday morning. There was not a single booth selling conventional produce. Everything was organic and local! We became member/owners at the Northcoast Co-op, and enjoy shopping there often (also very close to our apt.). We also got our library cards! The interesting thing about the libraries here is that your card works at all the libraries in the county, and you are able to return books to any branch, not just the one you checked out at. Pretty neat!

We spent 2 hours at the DMV getting the car fixed up with registration, license plates, and drivers licenses. It was expensive. Believe everything you hear about California being more expensive than the rest of the country. Holy crap! It cost $500 just at the DMV. Plus, you have to get your car smog tested before you go, and that was another $60. And our car insurance is more than $200 a month thanks to my not so clean driving record. Luckily, it will go down next time around because my record will be clear.

We've visited the ocean several times. It's a 10 minute drive from our apt. The beaches up here are pretty nice, and Henry really loves the ocean. If he wasn't attached to his long line, he would jump into those huge waves and get carried out to sea. He also likes to drink salt water. Whose dog does that? I can't imagine liking to drink that crap. So every time we go to the beach I have to pay careful attention to him when he gets near the water. I don't want the pup getting sick!

We took a trip south and drove the avenue of the giants, through Redwood National/State Park. The redwoods are my absolute favorite tree. I have learned quite a bit about them in the recent months. Did you know that the redwoods only survive here because of the coastal fog? Redwoods get so tall because they absorb the water from the fog at the tops of the trees instead of having the put all their energy into pumping up the water from the ground. They are not found anywhere else in the world, the climate and fog are the only reason they survive. A recent discovery, salamanders inhabit the canopy of the redwoods and are the largest predator living in the canopy. The salamander can only survive if its body stays moist. Researchers have found that the branches of the redwood trees provide the ideal habitat for the salamanders. When dead branches and leaves fall onto other branches it creates a nutrient-rich compost that sits on the branch, coastal fog keeps the compost moist, and provides an ideal environment for bugs, ergo the salamander can live. Researchers speculate that most of these salamanders (who reside 200-300 ft up in the canopy) never touch the ground during their life cycle. AMAZING. It never fails to take my breath away when I see one. Another perk of living in Arcata is Redwood City Park located about a mile away from our apt. They aren't the biggest redwoods, but it's a pretty amazing park. I often take Henry for a walk there. Jealous?

Now to the downside of this whole experience. Housing out here is absolutely ridiculous. We have been here over 2 weeks now and cannot get housing. It's either too expensive, too far away from the hospital, or not dog-friendly. Almost nobody allows pets out here, even though the area is so pet friendly. Or if they allow pets, the ads say "small lap dog or cat considered". Our dog is not small. Then there are all these places that want you to pay to put in an application. F' That, we decided. We do not want to pay to put in an app unless we are definitely going to get the apartment. Landlords also do "open houses" out here. This is also a new experience for us. Normally in the past it's been first come first serve. Out here they want you to put in an app for $25 then come to an open house and then the landlord will decide who he/she wants. We do not like this system at all. There are also these companies out here that act as the middle man between landlords and prospective tenants. These companies charge a fee and then give you listings of what you are looking for. Instead of the landlord doing it, they give it to this company and they do the landlords job. We do not like this either. It seems to us that everyone is trying to make money off of you out here. So, if you have to pay for a list of apartments (normally $50), then pay to put in an app ($25) and then you might not get the apt because the landlord picks someone else, you're out $75. Who can afford to do this? that's rent and security deposit money (out here they can legally charge you 2 months rent for a deposit, in Michigan it's 1 1/2 months).

So looking for a place that doesn't require an app, that's in our price range, accepts dogs, isn't listed through a 3rd party company, and is within 30 minute drive to the hospital is nearly impossible. One would think being able to pay $900 a month in rent would get us a spot easy, but not so. Everything is SO expensive. The housing prices for rentals, as well as the buying market are total shit. Humboldt County is a depressed area to say the least. There is 12% unemployment and a ton of homeless. I can see why now. We are close to being homeless ourselves. There is something legitimately wrong with the housing market out here. I feel like I'm living in Detroit (not really, but there's a lot of poverty here), but can't find housing under $900 a month. It's pure greed out here.

Speaking for myself, I've been really depressed this past week because of the housing situation. Our corporate housing is great, but we have to be out August 1st. It costs $1600 a month to stay here and we are not going to pay that. We have had a few housing prospects, but nothing solid. We looked at a dumpy old single wide trailer on 5 acres out in the woods last week. I mean DUMPY. Guess how much it is? $900 a month. With utilities it will cost over $1,000 a month. We asked the guy if he'd be willing to accept $750 a month, he's thinking about it.

We've been all over the map when it comes to housing options. We've thought about buying a house, we've thought about buying land, living further away, quitting and moving back to Michigan etc. etc. Our plan now is (if the dumpy trailer doesn't work out) to buy an old motor home and live in it at the RV park. We have the money to purchase a motor home, and the rent per month including all utilities is roughly $500. That way, we would be close to downtown (so I could get a job), it would be cheaper all around, we'd always have a roof over our heads, and it would allow us to save money quicker.

That's enough for now. I'll keep ya posted!

Bozeman MT to CA

We arrived in Bozeman MT in the early evening. After spotting Buffalo all day it seemed only fitting that we would get a Buffalo burger for dinner. We ate at a place called the garage, an old mechanics garage that had been remodeled into a restaurant. The menus are on old license plates. It was pretty cool. We ordered some microbrews and devoured our Buffalo burgers. They really don't taste any different than beef, at least from what we could tell.

The next morning we decided to hit up a little cafe for some breakfast before leaving town. What a great decision! Nova Cafe is the best place in town. It is also very eco-friendly, and environmentally aware (as is a lot of Montana, surprisingly). Then we took Henry to a huge park in the middle of downtown Bozeman to run off some of his energy. He ended up getting away from us AGAIN. His rope slipped out of my hand and he was in the creek and running as fast as he could away from me. Naturally I jumped right in after him. Everything from head to toe was wet. My boots took two days to dry. Ugh.

After catching up with him and changing out of my soaked clothing we drove a bit down the freeway until we hit Missouri Headwaters State Park. We decided to camp there for the evening. We were hoping for an Elk sighting, but didn't get so lucky. However, it was the first successful camping we did without rain, or wind or natural disaster. Henry dug a giant hole, and we had a fire complete with roasted weenies. We also camped where Lewis and Clark did on their journey. Love Montana.

6/28/11

We left Montana for Spokane, WA. Idaho was pretty, but we were only there for about 45 minutes. Spokane was the largest city we had been since Madison WI. Spokane was a little rough. While on the road reading about Spokane, I discovered that there is a huge meth problem. For the eastern side of the country, it's hard to grasp the magnitude of the problem. Meth started in the west and has slowly trickled across the US to the east. Apparently Spokane has it the worst. Not to mention our hotel for the night wasn't in the best part of town. It's odd having to make sure that everything that is valuable in your car comes with you. People often break windows in in order to find something of value to sell or trade for meth. It's sad. Our hotel stay wasn't bad, in fact none of our stays were. It's just those extra things that one has to worry about when moving west.

We left Spokane for Tacoma, with a little bit of wiggle room to stop in Seattle for a moment. Seattle was pretty cool. We decided to go to Pike Place Market, and the flagship REI store. The REI is out of this world. 3 stories, a rock climbing wall, and anything you want in outdoor gear. I was drooling the whole time we were there. We headed to the market walking roughly a mile or so from our parking spot through downtown Seattle. All of the buses and cable cars run on electricity. PRETTY SWEET. Pike Place was full of activity. Really crowded. We purchased some local Washington cherries, and ate dinner at a cute little coffee bar. Hotels were expensive in Seattle, although we would have loved to stay there. So we headed to Tacoma instead.

6/30/11

We left Tacoma and decided to visit Evergreen State College. It's a little college near Olympia, WA that takes great pride in its mascot, the geoduck. What's a geoduck? First, it's pronounced gooeyduck. Second, it looks like a boys part. Third, it's hilarious. I'll post a picture above. A geoduck is the largest burrowing clam in the world, and it's siphons or "neck" can reach up to 2 meters in length. It's found in Washington and Canada mostly. When our friend, Steve Sabo told us about it, we had to go visit the school. The school itself is tucked away in a forest of evergreens. Beautiful walking paths through dense forest, and a school store that carries lots and lots of organic and local products. Should have gone to school here. We picked up a few items and headed on our way.

We decided from Washington we wanted to drive Hwy 101 down the coast, all the way to Arcata. We drove all day, winding in and out along the coastline. The drive was fantastic. We reached Coos Bay, OR and decided to stay the night. Our motel was fancy with a flat screen, a recliner, and a really sweet balcony. We had a few beers and toasted to our arrival in California the next day.

7/1/11

We followed the coast all the way down to Arcata, CA. On the way down we drove through a bunch of Redwoods. The Redwoods are something everyone should see in their lives. We stopped at the giant Paul Bunyon and Babe statue. I'm not quite sure why he was there, we thought that was a Michigan thing. When we arrived in Arcata it was sunny and beautiful. Our apartment was ready, and we unloaded the car and plopped down after a long road trip. We were officially home!

from the UP to Montana Pt 3

We spent the next hour or so rolling through the Black Hills National Forest, on our way to Wyoming.

Wyoming was beautiful. The high plains has one of the lowest population densities in the continental US. Nothing but oil fields and livestock. We rolled through towns with populations in double digits, and eventually made it to Big Horn National Forest. Elevation ranges from 5,000 meters to 13,000 meters. We really felt how high up we were when we stopped to let the dog out. There was snow over the hill, and it was quite cold. The phenomena of seeing snow at the end of June will get you every time. We played in the snow for a few minutes, checked out the vegetation, and got back on the road.

Our plan was to make it to Thermopolis, Wy and camp. Thermopolis is aptly named for its hot springs. The springs are open free to the public. When we arrived at Thermopolis, we were disappointed. The only camping spots were in open fields next to a bunch of RVs. That's not our vision of true camping, and we didn't want to set our tent out next to a noisy RV. We wanted to be in the wild. We continued on into the Wind River Canyon. The end of the canyon spits you out at Boysen State Park. We decided to camp there. We were next to the Wind River, and looking at red-striped mountains. We soon learned why it's called the WIND river. Around 11pm the wind started kicking up and almost blew our tent in on us. The sheer noise from the wind would not allow us to sleep, and Henry was quite unnerved by the whole experience. I looked out of the tent to see a storm in the distance. We decided to pack all our things up and sleep in the car. It took us quite a bit of time in that wind. I almost lost the tent twice while we were taking it down, and we only had one headlamp to work with. We load everything up, crouch awkwardly in the front seats and try to sleep.

We didn't sleep that well, and we essentially paid to sleep in our car. Thanks Wind River.

After a hellish night, we were on our way to see Grand Teton National Park and Yellowstone National Park.

6/26/11

The Tetons are out of this world. 13,000 Ft up and snow-covered, rocky and HUGE. We drove through Jackson Hole and witnessed our first Buffalo of the trip. We drove through the Tetons to get to Yellowstone. All along the roadway were signs warning us of animals in the area. We were stoked! We arrived at Yellowstone and immediately understood why it was our first national park. it is majestic. Huge waterfalls, geysers, hot springs, fast rivers, deep canyons, elk, moose, buffalo, and bears! Just stunning!

What we didn't realize was how large Yellowstone actually is. We only had time to go through half of the park due to inadequate planning. We did end up seeing quite a few herd of Buffalo. One Buffalo almost got in our car! Sarah had the passenger window rolled down taking pictures, and all of a sudden from 6 feet away, the Buffalo starts moving toward the window. I shut the window rapidly, almost catching Sarah's hand in the window. It was a pretty cool experience to be that close. We also got to see Old Faithful.

Did you know that there are 500 known geysers in the world and half of them reside in Yellowstone? Old Faithful is neither the biggest geyser or the most frequent geyser. It's a good medium, according to the park ranger.

We left Yellowstone and headed to Bozeman, MT where we would stay the night.

from the UP to Montana Pt 2

We left Pine Ridge and headed north to Badlands National Park. The drive up was beautiful. We took a back road, that ended up being a dirt road, in the middle of nowhere southern South Dakota. I mean nothing but rolling hills of sweetgrass, sage, and a farm here and there. for about 60 miles. South Dakota is breathtaking. I am still shocked by this revelation. South Dakota, who knew?

We got into the Badlands for free because the south entrance to the Badlands was unattended. Apparently we came in the secret back way?

The Badlands are strange formations of clay and rock that have been eroded by wind and water. The rocks crumble in your hand. It's a very interesting texture. I also had a chance to snap a photo of a Mule Deer hanging out in the crevice between two peaks.

We left the Badlands for Rapid City where we would stay for the night. On the way to Rapid City we got caught in a major thunderstorm. The clouds looked like mountains, layered and layered. 70 mile an hour winds and lightening in the distance. The best storm so far this year.

When we arrived in Rapid City, the storm had passed. The hotel we had planned to stay at was full. Who would have thought a Friday night just outside of Mount Rushmore would cause this? We found out that there was only one place in town that accepted dogs and still had rooms. $150 later, we had a room for the night.

Mount Rushmore 6/25/11

Mount Rushmore was a trip. A strange trip. Here's this giant mountain, that was a sacred place of the native Sioux, that was stolen from the Sioux, and taken as a project to promote tourism by an active KKK member (at the time)? Then you walk in and there's a sign outside the gift shop advertising "native american crafts"? It's surreal. When Sarah and I discovered inside the gift shop that the little statue replicas were made in China, we laughed. Mount Rushmore is kinda cool, overall. It's dramatic, and in a beautiful setting in the black hills.

We moved on to the Crazy Horse Monument. Crazy Horse is pretty cool. The visitor center was basically a Native American museum, with the majority of its items donated. The monument is supported independently through donations and entrance fees. The Sioux will not take federal money to support the creation of the monument (although they have been offered it).

to be continued....I'm tired, it's 11:00 pm here, 2:00 am est.