We left home around 5AM and we drove (read, mostly Eric drove) the long fifteen-hours to our future home-town in south Texas. We arrived exhausted... and grateful that we'd arranged ahead of time to stay on the University's campus.
The dorm-style room we'd been given consisted in a small living area, and two small bedrooms. It was spacious enough, but we immediately noticed a slight problem: in each bedroom was one twin bed, with no sheets or pillows. Although Eric and I had been told to bring sheets from our bed at home, we would need to push the two beds together so we could share the single Queen-set of sheets. However, trying to shove one bed (and it's attached frame, tall legs, and enormous headboard) out of it's room proved impossible -- in spite of the fact that Eric made several valiant attempts to deconstruct the beds and carry them out in pieces! Getting more sleepy by the minute, the only options seemed to be playing "rock-scissors-paper" to see who got the linens... or sleeping together on the floor. We resorted to the latter -- by this point just grateful we had a place to crash!
Our second day began just as un-promising-ly as the previous day had ended. With the sun up, Eric and I had a chance to look over our room a little more closely. At first glance, it was cute enough: cheery bright-blue couches, a lovely wooden desk, a table, and a rocking chair. Upon closer inspection, though, we discovered a small refrigerator filled with multi-colored molds of all sizes and shapes; a mysterious stain on the carpet; somebody's whiskers shaved onto the bathroom counter; and in the toilet-room... well, let's just say Eric wouldn't walk in there barefoot!
There wasn't much time to balk over the room, though. We had a 9AM appointment with a local realtor -- and finding a place to live was, after all, our real business in town!
Our first stop was a realty office in the middle of town. The agent arrived thirty minutes after the scheduled appointment, and it soon became clear that she'd completely forgotten all about our meeting... and not only that, but she'd already rented out the house she'd scheduled to show us! Undaunted (the house would have been too large for us anyway), we headed to realty office number two -- an agency which Eric had called ahead of time, but which had assured us there was no need for an appointment. Here, however, we were met by an unsmiling woman who told us she couldn't possibly show us any of the houses... not without an appointment with the tenants!
A bit deflated by our lack of realty-sucess, we decided to do some house-searching ourselves. We drove to one location -- a clearly-vacant house which was listed "for rent." Eric parked in the driveway and we walked around the yard, peeked through the windows, and admired the lovely tall trees. And it was here, while admiring the trees, that I got sprayed by a skunk! Could anything else possibly go wrong?!
* * * * *
Fortunately for us, nothing else did go wrong. That afternoon, Eric and I checked out of the University dorm-room... and into a local hotel. We were looking for anything that was mold-free and clean ("We just want a bed," Eric had told the man at the front desk). But the hotel manager offered us a deluxe suite for the modest price we'd expected to pay for a simple room! So we moved our things into the palatial dwelling (complete with a living area, an enormous jacuzzi, and a canopy-bed), I changed out of my skunk-smelling shoes, and we headed off to a successful meeting with realtor #3.
Throughout the day, we drove by more houses, toured around town, ate at a local Chinese restaurant, and felt that Day Two had at least ended successfully! It wasn't until Day Three, however, that we would find the house we would decide to rent.
* * * * * *
The blue house on the corner of two quiet streets had attracted our attention from the first day of our trip. Besides being just the right size (two bedrooms, one bath), the yard was filled with lovely shade-trees, and the whole place was renting for less than we currently pay on our Colorado apartment! Arranging to see the house took some time, however, since the residents were camping, and out of cell-phone-reach. However, they returned in the afternoon of our last day in town -- just in time!
The couple were honest with us -- they pointed out all the perks (the shady yard, the large backyard shed, the spacious living room and kitchen)... but also showed us the windows that wouldn't open, the warped wood on the front deck, and the tiny crack in the front window. All-in-all, though, the place proved to be just what were were hoping for! It even came with some adorable stray cats who had made their home somewhere in the yard!
So we set off for Colorado the following morning, feeling our trip to the southwest had been -- over all -- a grand success! And the blue house will be ready for us to move in just around the time we're hoping to arrive in town.
No comments:
Post a Comment