The Trip to Texas, Part I

I drove to Texas by myself from northern-divinely-neglected-Illinois over a two-day period.  I had just turned eighteen.  The trip was a tad stressful.  I'd never driven through a city with a population greater than 150K before in my life.  My possessions were all in my car.  Opening the trunk was high on my list of Things Not To Do, as doing so caused an avalanche of books.  (When I later unpacked the trunk, I got a nasty bruise on my foot from a vicious hardbound Complete Works of Aristotle, which just shows that Aristotle was out to get me before school even began.)  The varied clothes, books, storage containers, books, computer accessories, books, CDs and books were stacked up to the bottom of the back seat windows.

When I got to Fort Worth, I promptly missed my exit.  I blame this on PTSD after driving through Dallas via I-35/I-30 on a Friday night.  After going through some really interesting neighborhoods, I eventually found my way to the tiny liberal arts school that I was going to attend.  This is when I first hit a spot of a snag.

Bear in mind that I'd been in Fort Worth once before, and that I hadn't driven here, and that I spent much of it alcoholic-sitting.  (Even longer story.  Will blog someday.)

I got to Fort Worth a week before the start of school in order to familiarize myself with the neighborhood.  I'd cleared this with the school, and was supposed to stay at a guest cottage for a couple of days before moving, with two roommates, into my new house.

That snag I mentioned?  It was about 9 PM on a Friday night.  There was NO ONE at the college offices, or, it seemed, anywhere else.

Now, I hadn't expected that.  I had called and left messages periodically through the day to let the college people know that I'd be getting in a bit late, and perhaps they could just hide a key somewhere for me.  I never actually spoke to a human being that day, but I was supposed to come in that day, and they knew that.

Ergo, I was sans place to lay the head for the evening.

Bugger.

So, not terribly daunted, I hied me over to the student apartment building.  I pounded on the first door, and actually found someone who seemed to remember my visit earlier in the year.  I asked about the nearest hotel/motel facility.  I thought that since she was a junior, she'd have no trouble telling me how to find such a place.

Ha-bloody-ha.  The girl had no idea.  I later wondered how on earth she could have lived in the area for that long and not been able to direct me to turn right at the next light, drive half a mile, and pick one of ten hotels.  She did have a phone book that she let me use, and I called a bunch of hotels whose names I recognized until I found one with a vacancy.

More to follow tomorrow or so.  Highlights will include vermin of mammalian and insect descriptions, a kitchen whose color scheme consisted of burned pumpkin and mint green and (my favorite) having the Secretary to the Chancellor teach me how to pick a lock.