The Drive
SPOILERS! (Click to view)We started on the morning of the Fourth. We drove for about an hour and I decided to stop and check everything. The thing on the roof, the Uhaul trailer, the cats, the tires, the coolant, etc. Then I drove for about another half hour when I saw a sign that said "No Service 20 miles then another sign that said "Turn off air to prevent overheating." So, I turned off the air and overheated. It was around 113 outside and I was pulling a lot of weight uphill. We stopped, cooled down, drove, stopped, cooled down, drove, stopped, cooled down, drove, stopped, cooled down, drove, got to an exit. As we exit, we see a gas station, a diner, and a post office. There was one small tree, but the sun was directly above us, so there was no shade. We pull over and and check on the cats, they look miserable. We've been having the air conditioner off. My wife is turning red and looking as miserable as the cats. We park with the air on, as long as we aren't driving, the car won't overheat. My wife says that she doesn't mind if I go in and get a bite to eat at the Desert Cafe, as long as I leave the air on. So I go in and have a sandwich and some glasses of ice tea. After, I go out and sit with her. I am doing fine, but her face looks like she was sunburned. By this time, we were there for a little while and I noticed that the tree was starting to give a little shade, so I pulled up right next to it. There were cigarette butts on the ground right outside the driverside door, making it obvious that I was not the first person to wait in this spot for the day to cool off. I don't know how long we waited there, but it was almost 6PM when my wife said we should start moving again. She also said that we needed to stop at a motel. We found a place for $55 after a short drive. It wasn't bad at all, we showered, ordered pizza, ate, and we were out by 10PM. After that we were on the road until we got to Louisiana. When we were about three hours from home, we stopped at a rest area and slept for an hour or so. While there, I dreamed about friends, sex and violence... it was interesting. After that, it all seemed to go by fast Baton Rouge, LaPlace, Norco, St. Rose, Kenner and our vehicle starts making a funny noise. 5 Minutes later, we're at our new apartment in Metairie.
Our New Apartment
SPOILERS! (Click to view)I know the neighborhood, it looks like I remember. I didn't expect the apartment to be great. I had talked to the owner and he didn't make me pay a deposit, but he said the apartment wasn't going to be perfect and there were a few things that needed to be fixed. I told him that's fine, as long as it's clean and everything is functioning. The outside of the apartment looked alittle worse that I expected. Not bad, just maybe a little bit of hurricane damage that was never repaired because it isn't a problem, it just doen't look very nice. The inside was disgusting. And everything was atleast partially broken. If it could leak, it did, except for the downstairs toilet, it started leaking a couple of days ago. They are much slower to getting to repairs than what the owner said he would be, but they have fixed a few things. After the work they are supposed to do today, they may have fixed enough things for me to decidedto get the electricity and water switched to my name. I was looking at other apartments, but hopefully I won't have to move again for a little while.
Our Vehicle
SPOILERS! (Click to view)2000 Dodge Durango, with around 103,000 miles on it. The rear differential is going to fall apart soon, that was the noise it started making as we were driving through Kenner. It's been parked for about a week and we've been wasting all of our money on a rental. Today as I was walking past it, I noticed a whole lot of transmission fluid on the ground coming from it... Oh well, we can't find a rear differential for it anyway.
It's nice to be back home. We've been seeing family and friends almost everyday. I haven't had to mapquest anything, because I know the area... It kind of works out, since I'm not online yet. Right now, I'm at my wife's sister's house, using her laptop. My wife is out shopping for clothes to wear for my moms wedding this weekend. I haven't been too worried about getting internet at our new apartment, but it looks like we will be there for atleast a few months. I'm really missing California and California friends. These places are so very different, but I think they are more similar now than when I used to live here.
Anyway, an exciting thing happened a few nights ago. My wife and I were coming back from buy a few things, including a garbage can. We turned a corner and there was a car on fire in the mall parking lot. Everyone was driving past. I told my wife to stop, so she pulled into the parking lot. I got out and scooped some water from the side of the road into the garbage can and ran over to the car. The guy took the garbage can and put out most of the fire. Then another guy showed up with a fire extinguisher and finished putting out the fire. Apparently, the guys NOS hose came loose. It's a ashame to see how many people just drove past.
Today, we were on a bridge. It's two lanes, one way, there is another bridge next to it that is two lanes going the other direction. It's a long bridge going over a huge lake. All of the cars infront of us stopped. After a minute we started wondering what was going on. My wife could see that something was blocking the way, so I get out to see what's going on. I pass atleast twenty cars. A few people were out looking around. At the front there was a group of guys standing there looking. In front, there was a pickup truck with a trailer attached turned sideways, blocking both lanes and a guy walking around looking at everything. I walk past everyone that's standing about fifteen feet away from the truck and ask the guy if he's okay. He says he's fine and he tells me what happened. About a minute after I walk up, the group of guys walk up. I don't understand why it took everyone so long to go see if the guy was okay and if they could help in anyway. The people could have taken care of everything before the cops showed up and got in the way. The cops did a fine job, but a cop car squeezing inbetween two lanes of traffic on a bridge, is annoying and difficult.
I dont know when I'll be on again, but there's an update for you. 
