Note: My original intention was to split the drive down to Florida over two entries. Then, once I got writing, I decided to just keep going while the words were flowing pretty easily. Then, as I tend to do, I changed my mind again, especially after seeing how long of an entry it was going to be if I included both days. So, here is the conclusion to our drive to Florida. This is where things begin to get interesting, if by interesting you mean horrible, but as with all things, this too came to pass...
BE SURE TO CHECK THE BLOG ARCHIVE TO THE RIGHT
AND START FROM THE BEGINNING OF THE JOURNEY!
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| This is what Florida looks like most of the time, just in case you were wondering. ::Read Sarcastic:: |
The weather started off as
pleasant as the previous day’s had been for most of the drive; it was even cool
enough outside that I rode with the windows down for quite some time, but about
the time we rolled into the Orlando area, it began to rain. As I drove down the
wet Florida roads, I was reminded of another
subtle, yet slightly more important difference between WV and the giant, almost
sea level swamp that is the Sunshine State : water on the roads has nowhere to go and pools
much quicker than that which can run off the Appalachians
and into the valleys. It’s not really a huge problem, but you can definitely
tell a difference driving in wet conditions here than where I’m used to
driving. Nevertheless, we moved along just fine and continued our journey.
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| Looking back on this picture, I think her reaction was a little less than accurate, especially based on how much she freaked out about the incident as the movie progressed. |
Now, I’m not sure at what point
in the trip the feeling that I had forgotten something began to set in to my
brain, but I know that I thought on it for quite some time before I realized
what it was. Finally, I had a moment much like that of Mrs. McCallister in Home Alone, except, I hadn’t forgotten
my kid at home while going on my Christmas vacation, which, in my opinion
could’ve been handled in a much safer fashion than the McCallister family
decided to handle it, but I digress…what I had forgotten was much worse that a
kid being left to fend for himself against burglars whose physical number was
probably higher than their combined IQ score.
A week before leaving, I had
called Duke Energy, the electric company for the area to which we were moving,
in order to have the service transferred to my name, and was placed on hold,
finally hanging up after an extremely long wait. I called again about four days
out from leaving and again each following day. Each time I called, save one
when I was informed there was no one to answer my call and I should call back
during regular business hours, I was placed on hold only to be lost and
forgotten like the matches to the drawer full of single socks we all have
somewhere in our bedroom. Needless to say, I had never gotten in touch with
anyone to set the electricity up in my name.
September 6, the day on which I
realized this and we were supposed to move into the new apartment, was a Friday.
If you haven’t connected all the dots in this puzzle, allow me. I called Duke
Energy once again, and once again I was placed on hold for what seemed like
forever, but driving down the highway listening to the radio while my cell
phone rested in its clip, on the dash, on speaker, it was easier to wait them
out for someone to answer, especially since I was being thanked for my patience
ever few minutes. Side note, I think it’s presumptuous for a company to thank
you for the patience they’re not even sure you’re displaying.
I was finally connected with
someone whose name I’ll never remember and isn’t important. What is important
to note is that Duke Energy does not offer next day service, so, the earliest
they could arrive to change the service into my name was Monday. Now, if I were
running an apartment complex and this scenario arose for a new tenant of mine,
particularly one that was so far away from home, I’d probably make some kind of
arrangements to help them out in some way. Maybe they couldn’t stay there
themselves, but I’d let them move their things into the apartment. Maybe I could
let them reimburse me for the days the electric was still in the complex’s
name. I don’t know exactly what those arrangements would be, but my response
would not be the one I got, which was something to the effect of “sorry,
there’s nothing we can do”.
This very possibly should’ve been
a red flag signaling what the rest of my dealings with this company would be.
However, when you’re in a situation like this, moving far away from home with
few to no alternative options, you’re kind of stuck. Maybe I should’ve just
said forget and started looking for somewhere else to stay, but then again, it
was technically my fault that things weren’t as they should be, so, I let it go
and delivered the news to my roommate the next time we stopped.
It wasn’t as if we had any
decision to make. We were without an apartment to move into immediately, and we
knew no one to stay with in the area. We were going to be looking for a motel
or hotel of some sort for the weekend, all three nights. It was a little
disappointing, but it wasn’t the end of the world. So, we found a motel close
to our still future apartment and
decided to enjoy the weekend as best we could.
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| You can see how I might come to make the comparison I make in the paragraph below... |
We visited a local attraction
called Gatorland, and if you’ve never been there, it’s an OK stop to make if
you like animal attractions. It’s good family entertainment, if a little hokey
at times. I keep making the joke to my roommate, who chose the trip on her
parents’ recommendation, that it reminds me of the Goof family’s stop at Lester’s
Opossum Park Florida residents (we had our lease as
proof), it only cost $10.00 each. We also scoped out the area to see what was
close by our new home. We found a mall, Walmart, a couple grocery stores, and
plenty of restaurants.
We were lucky enough to find a
nice motel to stay that wasn’t all that expensive. I went with Choice Hotels
despite our experience with Quality Inn on the trip down south. The lady that
owned the motel, a Rodeway Inn, was very nice and polite, and had a great
British accent. Her staff was more than pleasant, too, which just proves my
point about hotel ownership being a deciding factor in the establishment’s
service.
We made it through the weekend
unscathed, but we were excited to get moved into our new apartment. We had
gotten a decent look at it on Saturday morning, but we hadn’t had the chance to
look in-depth at anything. Moving from out of state, we made a trip to FL and
looked at the apartments we were interested in back in August, but most
complexes only show the models, which is, we learned, a very deceptive practice
at times, where the company shows you a really nice apartment that they
furnish, clean up, and show in place of an actual, vacant apartment where
someone will be living. Looking back on it now, I would’ve handled the
nightmare of a situation we were about to encounter completely differently, but
little can be known about the future until it’s past.
Next: Creepy Crawlies and the Run
Around
Feel free to check out my other blogs, too. I've got a movie blog I update once a week, and a music blog I update once a day. There's even a post or two about songs from A Goofy Movie.
