Wilmington, NC

This will likely be my last entry for a couple of weeks.

Lots of change for me right now.

But first, let's bring you up-to-date since my last entry.

[Thu Nov 27]
Drove up to Wallace today and picked up a 100-pound pig at Wells Pork Products. Mom and Bill decided to have the feet and head removed. The man carried it out in wrapped in plastic and put it in the bed of the truck. We drove it home and iced it in a cooler. Mom baked pies and Bill got the barbecue ready to roast the pig. We set up a table and chairs outside and cleaned the barbecue with the pressure washer.

Dawn and George and the boys showed up around 9 PM. I guess traffic was very heavy for the Thanksgiving holiday. Dawn slept in her old bedroom, George and the boys slept in sleeping bags in the family room.

Bill got up early (around 6 AM) and got the barbecue started. The pig needed to cook at between 210 and 240 for 6 or 7 hours. Mom covered the turkey with foil and put it into the barbecue too.

Bill began working on a bench with chest made out of pine that is going to replace the old toy box in the family room. He got a lot of it done, but I wonder how long it will take to finish.

Marrissia and Kevin came over and they brought Duncan, their black labrador retriever with them. Mom had pigs ears for Duncan.

Around 1 PM we ate. I abandoned my diet for one day and enjoyed most everything we had. There was salad, deviled eggs, corn caserole, french green bean and mushroom caserole, mashed potatoes, gravy, sweet potatoes, brussels sprouts, olives, crudite tray, cranberry sauce, pecan pie, pumpkin cheese cake, pumpkin pie, apple pie and peach pie with whipped topping.

[Fri, Nov 28, 2003]
Mom and Bill gave Jordan and Tyler presents they got at the dollar store. Their favorite toy is this can of putty called "Flarp". When you press your fingers into it, it makes loud sounds of flatulence. It was such a hit that Dawn went to the store to get extra cans of it for the neighbor kids!

[Sat, Nov 29, 2003]
Today we went to Olan Mills for family pictures. We had a large group picture, poses with Dawn, Marrissia, and me, a set with Marrissia, Kevin, and Duncan, a set with Dawn and George and the boys, and a set with Mom, Bill, Marrissia, Dawn and me. I don't like getting pictures made.

After that, Dawn and George took off back to Virginia hoping to miss most of the traffic, and Mom, Bill and I went to Texas Roadhouse to eat lunch.

[Mon, Dec 1, 2003]
Around 5:30 AM Mom and I got into Bill's truck and started driving north to get some of my belongings out of storage so that I can function in Florida when I begin my new job this month.

We drove up I-40 West to I-95 North, up past Richmond and DC, up to Baltimore. Then, to avoid the tolls, we drove around the Baltimore beltway, and got on I-81 North into Pennsylvania. It got colder and colder as we went north. Past Wilkes-Barre, up to Scranton, then we got onto I-84 East and drove down into the Poconos. Snow beganto fall out of a leaden sky. By around 4:30 PM we entered New York state and stopped for the night between Middletown and Newburgh. A hot shower and a good sleep.

[Tue, Dec. 2, 2003]
Got up late, around 7, I guess. Got belongings gathered up, checked out of the hotel, and drove to Newburgh to get a U-haul trailer. Snow fell all night and a small accumulation had dusted the ground. Mom was nervous driving in it.

Got a 5x8 trailer at U-haul and drove to Fishkill to close my checking account at Hudson United Bank. Then we drove to the 9D EZ Storage to see Melody and bring my account current. Melody was just as cheerful and talkative as ever. Her dog, Sandy, climbed right up into Mom's arms !

Drove back to the storage unit and began to pull things out so that I could reach the items I thought I would need the most. Those items included: clothes, cleaning products, food, mattress, sheets and towels, shoes, and my computer. We filled the bed of the truck with boxes of canned food. Into the trailer went a mattress, folding table, folding chair, vaccuum cleaner, computer, monitor, printer, 3 wardrobe boxes, 4 Rubbermaid tubs of folded clothes, boxes of sheets and towels, boxes of cleaning gear, bathroom supplies, ironing board, three boxes of CD's and DVD's (I can view/listen to them on the computer DVD reader), kitchen utensils, and a box of batteries and film.

It was cold outside and we were both working hard as we loaded boxes up and moved furniture around in my 10x20 storage unit.

I drove south down 9D to the Bear Mountain Bridge, down the Palisades Parkway to I-95 South and took the New Jersey Turnpike south. We went down 95 instead of into the mountains because we suspected that we would be less likely to see snow down there and less up and down travel would give better gas mileage. Unfortunately, tolls for us towing a trailer totalled $16.60 !

Down I-95 South, through Delaware and Maryland, through Baltimore, around DC, down past Richmond and into North Carolina. We stopped for the night just inside of North Carolina for another well-deserved rest.

[Wed, Dec. 3, 2003]
Got up and on the road at 6 AM. Continued south down I-95 into South Carolina, past Florence, down into Georgia. Around 12:30 PM we crossed the state line into Florida. I as optimistic that we could be in Orlando by 3:30 or 4. Then it happened.

The truck was shaking and making noise. I looked out the driver's side window to see the trailer with a flat tire. We pulled over and called U-haul. They dispatched a man from Jacksonville to come and replace the wheel. It took an hour for him to get there. We put the windows down because it was now warm and balmy outside. I called apartment rental offices on my cell phone while we waited.

He came and quickly replaced the wheel, but he saw the other wheel and decided to replace it as well. Mom sure was relieved to have new tires on the trailer!

Back up onto the highway, continued down into Jacksonville. As we got into Jax we began to run into a lot of rush hour traffic and we slowed a lot. As we got south of Jacksonville our speed picked up and we got down to Daytona where we turned off of 95 South and onto I-4 West. Down 4 past DeLand and Sanford, down to Orlando.

In Orlando we ran into bad rush hour traffic again and crawled past the downtown as it began to rain. It got dark while we did this. As we got past the downtown traffic sped up and we continued down past the theme parks to 192. We drove down 192 into Kissimmee and got a hotel room for the night.

[Thu, Dec 4, 2003]
Woke up around 5 AM when the air conditioner in our room died. Power went out for about 10 minutes.

We got up and dressed and went next door to IHOP for breakfast. Mom got sausages wrapped in pancakes and I got a big Colorado omelet. More food than we could eat.

Checked out of the hotel and drove the truck and trailer to the apartment complex nearby I wanted to look at. We were early so we parked near the rental office. After 9 they were open and I went into apply and see if I could rent a one-bedroom apartment. The rental agent, Lin, took us to view a model unit, then drove us in a golf cart to see the unit I would be renting. A one-bedroom, ground floor unit. It is nice for now, and maybe in six months I will try to upgrade to a two-bedroom unit right before I go back to New York to retrieve my furniture.

Before we could move in we had to get the electricity into my name, so we had to drive to Kissimmee Utilities Association, KUA, and leave a $125 deposit that I will get back if I pay my bill for a year, or I can get a credit letter from Central Hudson in New York. Then back to the rental office to drop $841 for December rent, security deposit, and non-refundable redecorating fee. My rent is going to be $610 a month. She got keys made for me and let me move my belongings into the unit, but told me that the carpet is going to be replaced.

Good thing too. Last occupant had a cat and the cat pissed all over the carpet. Plus the rug was pulling out from the doorways. So, a new carpet will be nice ! Began carrying stuff inside... put Mom in the kitchen to put away dishes and food. I brought much more kitchen stuff than I really have room to store, so I told her which things to put up. She was astounded at how much food and cleaning supplies I had in storage!

I unpacked my clothes and began hanging them in the closet and unpacked the cleaning gear and put it away in the bathroom and under the kitchen sink. Turned on the AC too! We were getting very hot from working so hard.

This apartment has one-bedroom, living room, dining room, screened porch, kitchen, front closet, walk-thru closet, bath, and washer drier. They have a pool, jacuzzi tub, health facility, tennis and volleyball, and trash "valet" service M-F ! It is near the Kissimmee Municipal Airport.

Got everything carried in and put away as best as we could, put the trash away, and back into the truck to return to North Carolina by 3:30 PM.

Up I-4 East... as expected we ran into some congestion near Orlando, then up to Daytona and onto I-95 North. Drove up to Jacksonville and went around the Jacksonville bypass, but even it had a lot of rush hour traffic. Plus it began to rain. Back onto I-95 North, up into Georgia, across Georgia and into South Carolina. It was dark now, but it was getting foggy too. As we went north it got much cooler too! I was still wearing shorts from my afternoon in Central Florida !

Around 11:30 PM we drove into North Carolina and got off of I-95 and onto US 74 to cross Robeson, Columbus, and Brunswick counties. I was becomming very tired and Mom had to keep talking to me to keep me awake and on the road. We drove in around 1:30 AM and just parked the truck and trailer in the front yard. We were both dead tired.

[Fri, Dec. 5, 2003]
Took the U-haul trailer back to the dealer first thing.

Next, took my 1991 Toyota Tercel to a wholesale car dealer and sold it at a loss, but I got much-needed cash to deposit into my checking account for the January rent. Mom gave me $100 for Christmas too and we all drove up to Jacksonville, NC to the Navy Federal Credit Union to deposit this money into my checking account and move some money from savings to checking. Then we had lunch at Ragazzi's.

Back in Wilmington I began to sort all of my receipts out and get some business done on the phone. I applied for a line of credit on my checking account so that I could have overdraft protection, ordered checks, and put in a change-of-address with NFCU. Next I called Central Hudson to have a Letter of Credit sent to me in Florida. Then I called USAA to put in my adress change and change my policy to Florida with only one vehicle. Man, my premium went down from $780-something to $470 for six months! Just for moving to Florida.

This morning I got my hair cut. I still need to go to the dollar store and get some shower curtain hooks and a narrow silverware tray for my new home. Maybe I will go out tonite to drink a glass of wine and see my friends in Wilmington one more time before I go down to Florida again on Monday.