Ok, for the past month and a half, my wife Megan and I have been planning our move to Chattanooga, TN. My daughter lives in Cookeville, TN with my mom, about an hour and a half north. I chose Chattanooga because its close to my daughter, and because of the tourism. I will be able to do photography here and make the kind of money I made in Hilton Head.
Anyway, we searched online for apartments, and found this really nice looking place with a fitness room, clubhouse, and on site management with a very friendly staff. Its called "The Chalet"
http://www.chaletapartment.com/We did our coorespondance by phone and mail, and sent them a check to hold the apartment, deposit, etc. Well, Friday, the 17th was the big day. After 2 exhausting days of loading the U-haul (while both of were working our full time jobs because we both transferred our current jobs) we hit the road.
I told Megan to go ahead of me in the car, and just get there in time before the office closed. I would catch up with the U-haul. Just outside of Augusta, GA, she had a blowout, and called me. At that time, she was about 25 minutes ahead of me. I know this because it took me 25 minutes to get to her after she called. I put her do-nut spare on for her, and we got off at the next exit to get a new tire.
While we were at the Firestone station, we called the apartment complex to let them know that we would not make it today, and that we would get a hotel in Atlanta to avoid rush hour traffic since it didnt make much sense to keep going at that point. They were disappointed, and offered condolences. Shortly later, they called us back, and said that they had talked it over with upper management, and they decided to leave our apartment door unlocked for us, and we could unload tonight, and settle up with them tommorow morning. Awww...How nice of them! This must really be a great apartment complex. So, we continued on, destination: Chattanooga after the tire was replaced.
Atlanta, GA has been under serious drought conditions. Their resevoir is dangerously low. Today, mother nature decided to bring them some much needed rain...during Friday afternoon rush hour. There were accidents everywhere. By the time we got into Atlanta, I-85 was a parking lot, and every bypass was as well. Lucky for us, I-75 was just heavy traffic. No accidents. But, Megan was once again in front of me, using a Tom-Tom GPS. I-75 and I-85 run together for a while in downtown Atlanta, and they split. Tom Tom told her to stay to the left (which took her to I-85, which was the wrong way.) I continued on using the signs, and my memory. Next thing I know, she is calling me, in an interstate parking lot on I-85. Since there was no way I could get to her, I kept going. She did find her way back to I-75, but by that time, I was a good hour ahead of her.
So, I got to the apartment complex first. I'm driving through, and I noticed that the exterior walls didn't look nearly as nice as they did on the website. No worries. But, I also noticed a bunch of people out in the complex, hooting and hollering. I also heard rap music BLARING out of quite a few apartments at 9:00 at night. Oh well, its Friday night, right?
Anyway, I parked the U-haul, and I went into the breezeway that led me to our new home. I noticed that the nice pretty thin green astroturf that is put in patios...had been glued down at one time. It was now gone. I walked up the stairs, and tried to keep in time with the beat of the rap music that was blaring out of the other apartments, and vibrating the stairs. It didn't work, because I can't dance. I might have been able to tap my foot to keep the beat, but I was tired from a long drive, and 2 days of loading furniture, and I wanted to start unloading the U-haul. Anyway, I got to the apartment, and it was open. I looked around, and couldn't help but notice the smell of bug spray. I went in further, and saw on the kitchen counter a can of Hot Shot bug bomb (Anyone who has used those things knows that they don't work). I turned on a light, and they all scattered. Big roaches, medium sized roaches, and cute little baby roaches. I even saw a few full grown dead roaches which I came to the conclusion that they did not die from the poison, but due to old age. They were EVERYWHERE. On the walls, in the frige, in the oven, in the sink, all over the walls, in the tub...You couldn't look anywhere without seeing several roaches. Megan got there, and almost threw up.
We are now at the Comfort Inn. All of our stuff still in a U-haul that has to be turned in by tomorrow by 10AM or we get charged another day for it. We got the hotel for 2 nights. Hopefully tomorrow (Saturday) we can find a different place. If not, we will put our stuff in storage, and drive up to Cookeville and stay with my mom and daughter for a few days until we can find a place.
I talked to several different people about The Chalet, and they all said the same thing. The area is a nice area, but the Chalet is a dump.
Well, I'm tired, and need to get some sleep.
...To be continued
Author