Kelly's Life: Two weeks in Charlotte...

OK, so I have been in Charlotte 2 weeks. On May 14th, Mom and I picked up the moving truck and

(incorrectly) assumed that one's auto insurance will cover one, should one get in to an accident with one's moving vehicle. Not so much. FYI: Buy the insurance that they offer you when you get there if you haven't already purchased it at the time you reserved the truck. It may sound like a scam, and you may, the gentleman at the Penske rental office said that "... in all his years renting trucks, he has only seen maybe 2 people who had auto insurance that covered their moving truck rental..." and ... "... they must have had some real good insurance." Geico does qualify as "real good insurance", apparently.

After getting the truck home, the loading began. I would say we were done with just about everything by about 4. After taking a shower, Bernadette and I took a ride to drop off the kids and then headed back. I left Laurel place in the truck, with Bernadette following in the Jeep at about 8 pm. We made a stop at Mommy's, got gas and then got on the road at just about 9. I had the furry fur cats in the cabin of the tru

ck with me. I worried that each time I got out for gas or a bathroom break, or if I rolled down the window too much at a toll booth, one of them would try to make an escape, but it never happened. They did however, turn against each other on the ride down. They all settled in their spots and hissed at each other if they so much as looked at another. Jerry monopolized the front seat when he wasn't layed out across the dashboard. Benjamin found his comfort zone in a duffel bag between the seats and Emmy hid beneath or behind my seat. I was stressed, but we were on our way to our new home.

By about 2 am, we started looking for a place to sleep for a few hours. The timing was tricky. As it turned out, the leasing office of the apartment complex I was moving into was closing at noon on May 15th - the day I was supposed to be there to sign my lease and get my keys. So, I was figuring that if we left at 9 and had to be there by noon, the difference was 15 hours. The drive to Charlotte is 10 hours, which left 5 for sleep. We exited 95 for the first time in Virginia and we might as well have been Joseph and Mary because there was no room at the inn. We hit at least 4 places on that exit, drove a few miles more and checked with another 4 or 5 places and each had a sign on the door: "No Vacancy", "No More Room", "Sorry. All booked." After moving about for a little bit, we caught our second winds and decided to drive on a bit more. By about 4 or 5, I was exhausted. we tried finding a place again and were met with the same problem. This time I actually found one woman who told me that there was a convention a little further up north and that's why there were no rooms.

We tried one more place and then decided, we might as well push through. At 6, we stopped at McDonald's to use the restroom, get coffee and reaffirm the fact that Dunkin' Donuts is the best coffee ever. By 8, we were beyond exhausted, but nearing Raleigh and knowing that the end was in sight. What would have been great was knowing what exit I was going to be living off of. I knew I was going to know it when I saw it, but I had no idea what it was. And then slowly, by about 10 am, things started to look familiar. At 10:30 am on May 15th, after over 13 hours of driving, only 2 cups of coffee, a bag of sunflower seeds and too many catfights to count, I was there! I was so over tired, my hands were shaking noticeably as I signed the 15 papers I had to sign.