Chicago

I'm back! (Well, not back as much as I'm here...) Odds are you've read Scott's blogs - but this is my (condensed) version of what has happened since Salt Lake City.

Scott and I woke up on July 25, finished packing odds and ends, then picked up the Penske truck (Wow. I can't believe it's been more than two weeks.) We had some help from one of his best friends Lisa and my sister's husband Kirk - and despite the fact there were only 4 of us, we were able to get everything packed in the truck in a little under 2 hours. One of my best friends Caitie came to see us off while she was on her lunch break - so there were some emotional good-byes and then Scott and I were set to go.

I drove the truck first - simply for the fact that I don't mind winding canyon roads and Scott gets a little freaked out... and it turned out to be quite a bit better than I expected. There wasn't a governor on the truck, so we were able to maintain a steady speed of 70-75. Scott had boughten a MP3 transmitter for the radio, so I was able to listen to all my music the entire time so time seemed to pass a lot quicker.

We only stopped a few times to rest and were able to make it to Scott's mom's in Des Moines by 1:00 the next day - Tired as hell, but excited to be there. The cats were less than thrilled to be out of the car. They were terrified when we first began in Salt Lake, but by the end of our trip, they had ventured out to walking outside of their kennel to check out their small surroundings in the car. But being at Collette's house was another story since she has a cat and ceiling fans - both of which we just found out, our cats are completely terrified of.

So we parked our Penske truck in her drive way and tried to relax over the next day and a half. Our plan from there was to road trip down to Chicago and get a hotel and spend Monday and Tuesday diligently looking for apartments. Luckily our roommate-to-be, Jessie Lyons, lives in West Des Moines near Scott's mom, so we were able to pick her up and have her involved in the whole process.

After a good 5 hour drive we arrived in Chicago - now... I'll spare dramatic details, especially because Scott has posted not one, but two blogs about this entire ordeal - but suffice to say, after two days and much drama, we were able to get a beautiful apartment in northern Chicago. (For the entire story, visit these links: Part One http://eveningchats.blogspot.com/2008/07/queens-queers-and-quandaries.html , Part Two: http://eveningchats.blogspot.com/2008/08/queens-queers-and-quandaries-part-deux.html - good stuff indeed)

We drove back up to Des Moines on Tuesday evening and we excited that we had that step taken care of. We were able to relax a lot more as a result and spent most of that time before we finalized the move to Chicago to catch up on sleep.

Scott and I started the final stage of the move on Friday, August 1 at 5:00 a.m. - after another lovely 5 hour drive, we arrived at our new place, got our keys to the apartment and loaded everything in the apartment. I was actually pretty impressed with us - it was only the two of us unloading the truck and we live on the second floor of the apartment building, so we had to climb up a flight of stairs each time... but we were able to get it done in about an hour and a half. Again, we were tired as hell, but since we needed to return the truck to Penske by a certain time, we choked back our tears and set out to get rid of the rental truck.

Now, I'm not sure if Scott blogged about this little experience, but we had nothing but great experiences with Penske right up until this point. But the address to the drop off location we were given, we soon realized, was directly across the street from Wrigley Stadium. And as luck would have it, the Cubs were playing a game that day. So hordes of fans and traffic added to the stress of driving a massive truck down narrow Chicago streets and after 3 failed attempts to make it into the parking lot of the Penske location, Scott called their company and asked for directions. It turns out the drop off location was somewhere else - they gave us the address and shady directions and we did our best to find it . I was driving the truck and actually found the location first - which was a large empty parking lot of a factory at the end of a narrow side street. There was no one there to give the keys to - in fact, no one was around at all - and if there hadn't been two other trucks there, I would've sworn it was a set up of some sort. The entire experience of simply dropping off the truck took about 2 hours - Needless to say, Scott and I were a little upset, but more so tired - so we went back home and unpacked briefly and took naps.

Scott's sister, Stacey, along with her husband, Isaac, and their little girl Eponine came down late Friday night to help us over the weekend to unpack our things and get everything set up. It was so great to have them here for those first few days... We were able to get quite a bit done and unpacked in those first few days as a result.

The big task at hand now is finding a job. Scott has a pretty promising situation with Gap on Michigan Ave. downtown, but as for me, I'm still waiting to hear back from positions I've applied to. There seems to be quite a bit of opportunity for me here - I'm just waiting now for it all to happen and fall into place...

It also didn't help that Scott and I didn't get the internet until this past Friday... so we had literally no connection to the outside world at all... But we're back.

All in all, Chicago has been beautiful - aside from a freak storm last week (The lightning was so intense that Scott and I were sure there was a strobe light outside) And we were able to meet new people last night at Chicago's Market Days on Halsted - which was, as Scott put it, a Pride festival, a gay bar and a county fair rolled into one. But I feel really good about being here... I feel that things are going to work out amazing for us both. Wish us luck!

P.S. As soon as I get the apartment straightened up, I'll be snapping some pictures and showing you all our new place...