New Digs

On Monday the lease ended on my apartment at the Villages, so I had to vacate completely by close of business. I moved out all my stuff over the weekend and packed two days before, so I was prepared. What I wasn't prepared for was the truck that I borrowed being too small to fit the couch in. No matter how hard I tried to cram it in, the most i got was about 1/3rd of the couch in the bed. So I got online and tried to find a U-Haul truck. I got the smallest kind and thankfully found the location to be on Jones Ferry Road. I made the reservation (which is weird because it's not apparent that rental trucks would be in high demand) and immediately got a call from a woman with the rental agency saying, "The truck you selected isn't available at the location you chose. Would you like me to expand the search?" "Sure" "Well, the closest one available is in Durham." "That's fine, I'll take it."
And so at 9:30, my search for Guess Road was on. Mapquest wasn't specific in its directions; I took 15-501 Business and somehow took a left turn, winding up on 15-501 East, arriving at some rather quaint neighborhoods. "Well, shucks, this isn't where I wanted to go."

So turning around in my trusty Taurus, I went in the complete opposite direction from whence I came...which resulted in me going by several parks in downtown Durham and going straight through Duke University's campus. I turned around and finally got on the right exit for Guess Road. As I was driving down the street, looking for any U-Haul trucks, I noted to myself that I was in a rougher part of town. An ABC store, via a large sign, politely informed potential customers that its parking lot was solely for the buying of high alcohol content beverages, and not for drug deals or any other sorts of underhandedness. An adult "entertainment" video store offered wild excitement inside...along with the ability to wire money and pick up lottery tickets and plastered its walls with images of people actually wiring money and looking excited about it, as if to say, "I'm so happy to send money to my relatives while watching porno! "
I think that says a lot about your multi-tasking ability if you're able to scratch off lotto tickets and wire money to your family while watching adult videos.

I found the location which was a service garage that was missing an easy to read sign. It was next to The Dog House (a hot dog establishment). I got the U-Haul truck and drove it back to my apartment, loaded it up, and drove off to my new home. In certain parts of Carrboro, Hispanics congregate to be picked up by various employers for general labor or odd jobs. And it just so happened that I was about to turn onto a street where they were all congregating. The first one to see me tapped his buddy on the arm while I was in the turning lane. Soon, all were pointing at me, and when I turned onto the street, they actually walked into the U-Haul's path with cries of: "Hey! HEY! HEEEEEY! OYE! OYE! hey! HEYA!" Unfortunately for them, I didn't need any help. I unloaded and drove back the same way, passing by the migrant workers again (listless cries: "hey. heeey. oye. hey."), and dropping off the U-Haul. The afternoon was spent cleaning my entire apartment.

Often when you remove large amounts of furniture from a room, you stop and admire it: "Gosh! Look at all this space! Why, I could've put a mini-bar right over there between where the couch and lamp used to be!" Not so with my apartment. When I moved out everything and was looking at the shell of the apartment, I noticed: "Gosh! Look at how small it looks now! How did I have that much furniture in here anyway?"

I cleaned, and checked out, gracing the leasing office with my BO and sweat laden t-shirt (Hey, I was moving furniture and cleaning all day), and moved to my new place. Hopefully I won't have to repeat this experience when I move out in 4 weeks.