It has now been 1 year since I moved to Seattle, and I’d like to try to tell the story of the horrible trip here one year ago. It all started the day before I left. My plan was to stay up all night and then work the next day on no sleep. Then I would go home and get a good sleep and depart at around midnight. Well, that didn’t work out. I was unable to stay awake the entire night and ended up getting about 4 hours of sleep. I worked my last day at Walgreens on 23rd and Meridion and went home to try and get some sleep. I lay down in my bed, but I wasn’t tired at all. My mind was on the 2,000 mile journey I was about to embark on. I tried for an hour to get sleep, but I could tell it wasn’t going to happen. Not wanting to delay my trip by staying another night, I decided my best course of action was to just leave right away. I loaded everything I could into my car and said goodbye to my roommate and friend Heidi Tramell. It was sad for me to leave after all the fun times we had together, but I was equally excited about what was ahead of me on my 30 hour drive. I left at about 6:30 PM. I had prepared my iPhone with audiobooks and podcasts that would keep me entertained. I first listened to David Sedaris “Let’s Explore Diabetes With Owls.” It was an amazing book and I have since read/listened to it several times. By 9:15 I made it to Wichita, KS. I stopped at a McDonald’s for a couple McChickens in McPherson, KS. I stopped for fuel at a local gas station. While I was paying, I had a nice conversation with a trans lady behind the counter. She was telling me about the terrible time she was having with her transition, and how she wished she lived somewhere more accepting. I wished her the best and assured her it was only a matter of time before people came around. I got back on the road. I could see lightning ahead of me and opened my Doppler radar on my phone to see a large storm coming straight toward me. Normally this wouldn’t be a big deal, but my car has awful headlights. The front end had been rebuilt at some point in it’s life, and the headlights were not quite right and pointed down more than forward. Driving in the rain at night limited my visibility greatly. Luckily there was very little traffic as it was now going on midnight. The rain came on heavy and the wind was ferocious. The 16 wheeler ahead of me was all over the road, and I kept my distance. I could see there was a overpass coming up, so I slowed way down and planned to park under it until the rain let up a bit, but the semi had the same idea, and he took the spot. I kept going thinking it would be easier without having to worry about him getting into an accident in front of me. It wasn’t. It started raining so hard, I couldn’t see the lines on the road and wasn’t sure where I was on the road. I slowed way down, but kept moving at a snail’s pace until the rain finally let up. I was finally out of the bad stuff and then I started getting really tired. I had to turn off Malcolm Gladwells “Outliers: The Story of Success.” As interesting as it was, it was also putting me to sleep. I stopped at a Wal-Mart in Hays, KS for a quick power nap. An hour later I was back on the road. I was still tired, but my spirits were high and I was getting excited. Kansas was almost over and the sun was going to be rising soon. I made a stop in Goodland, KS at 4:30 for fuel. My friend Steve Stepp texted me while I was there and asked how I was doing. He was surprised when I told him I was in Goodland, as he used to live there many years ago. It’s a small world. Goodland also marked my 25% point in my trip. I was soon in Colorado and I was happy to be out of Kansas. With the sun now gleaming, I was feeling only slightly tired and I planned to stop in Ogden, UT for my next sleep. I powered through Colorado, feeling anxious and bored. I drove really fast as hard rock and metal music was now setting my pace. After what seemed like an eternity, I was on the edge of Denver. I was very happy to see some mountains in the distance. I hadn’t seen mountains in many years. My GPS was guiding me through the roads and I was feeling great. I got on the toll road and I remember seeing my temperature gauge was getting a little high. I was in the orange, but not in the red. I turned down my music and tensed up a little bit. I kept a close eye on it, and it started to go back down into the yellow area. Then it went back into the normal range and I relaxed. I was in some heavy traffic, so I was paying a lot of attention to that. I had a bus right next to me that was getting really close, and I didn’t look at my panel for a while. A few minutes later I noticed a new light was on the panel. It said “Check Gauges.” I looked over and my temperature gauge was now in the red, and the dial was as far up as it could go. I knew I needed to stop immediately, but I was on the toll road and there was no place to pull over. It took me a good 5-10 minutes before I got to the next exit to pull over. I stopped in a parking lot and called my dad to ask what I should do. I also called my friend Kyle Radtke to get more tips. I let it sit and relieved the pressure in the engine coolant tank. After waiting for 30-40 minutes for it to cool down, I decided to test it. I drove down a small road and again, the temperature gauge went right back into the red again. I knew that it was risky driving my car on such a long trip, but I had driven it tens of thousands of miles before and had very few problems. I decided to take it to the nearest auto repair place. I took it to Firestone in Westminster. I dropped it off and promptly fell in and out of sleep on the chair in the waiting room. They had a few cars to work on before mine, so it was a good hour before they got to mine. They offered me a couple possible solutions, and without much option, I told them to do whatever needed to be done. I can’t recall what they did exactly, but neither worked, and it was still overheating. They spend the next couple hours working and I could see they were deep inside my car looking for the culprit. Eventually the mechanic walked up to me and I look at him with hope in my eyes, much like a surgeon telling the family how their loved one did during a surgery. I could tell from his tone that it was not good news. They did all they could. My car went into cardiac arrest and they performed CPR, but it was just not in the cards for my car to make it. It had holes in the head gasket and he assured me it would most certainly not make it to Seattle. Probably not even Ogden. I immediately went into panic mode. My dream was over. All I wanted to do was move to Seattle. I’ve wanted to do this for so many years, and I was so close, but now it’s over and I’m just a failure. I sat in my abused 1998 Pontiac Sunfire. I needed to clear my head and figure out what was next. It hit me that if I could just get to Seattle, I could simply take the bus and I wouldn’t even need my car. I could rent a car and drive the rest of the way. I was suddenly back to being optimistic. It wasn’t ideal, but I had to make the best out of a bad situation. The next problem was my car. What should I do with it? I considered just leaving it there, but I assume it would eventually be towed and I’d be hit with a large bill later on. My dad suggested finding a scrap yard and selling it for metal scrap. I looked up scrap yards in Denver, and called the first one I could find. I spoke to the owner, and he told me if I got my car there, he would drive me to the car rental place. My friend Jennifer Wehr arranged for a rental car for me in Aurora, which is a suburb of Denver. My car made it to the scrap yard without much problem. I asked for the owner and I asked him if he could take me to the car rental place as he said he would. Much to my surprise, he refused to take me to Aurora saying it was too far for him to give a free ride. I was a little angry, but I figured I could just take a cab there. I made sure all of the employees knew not to destroy my car yet. Everything I owned was in my car and I needed to get my rental car and come back and get my stuff. When I was sure they understood, I called the cab company and got a drive to take me to Aurora. I paid almost $50 for the cab ride, which was much more than I was expecting. I walked in and told them I had a reservation. They found my reservation and asked for my information. We did some paperwork until I got more really bad news. Based on my credit, I was not allowed to rent a car without a credit card, which I don’t have. I called every car rental company I could think of, and they all said a credit check was necessary and I knew I would never qualify. I was now totally screwed. To make matters worse, my phone was very low on battery and I had no idea what I was going to do. I called my dad, Ray Cramer and he calmed me down. I remember him telling me that I was in a bad situation, but no matter what, I wasn’t going to die. I was going to be okay. I still remember this and I am really thankful for his calming words. I stood in front of the car rental place and I was really beginning to feel the effects of sleep deprivation. Other than a couple quick naps, I hadn’t slept in over 36 hours. Then, my aunt, Janice Hoesel found a solution. She told me I could get a plane ticket to Seattle for much less than I thought possible for the next day. My dad ordered the ticket online for me and I called the cab company to take me back to my car. I had to get as much stuff as I could packed into my bag, but sadly, I couldn’t fit much. I ended up leaving almost everything I owned in my car. One of the employees there said he would send my video game systems to me, but even then I didn’t believe him. He didn’t respond to my e-mails after I moved here. It wasn’t one of the things I was going to put in my bag anyway. I really wish I could go back to that moment so I could’ve made better decision about what I put in my bag, but I was in a hurry because the cab driver was waiting for me. I got my check for my car and the cab took me to the airport. I told my cab driver my whole story of everything that happened to me. It was a pretty long drive. I didn’t realize how far away the airport was. The cab ride ended up costing me over $100. I made it to the airport at around 3:30 PM. My flight wasn’t until 5:00 AM the next morning, so I had plenty of time to kill. I found a room with an outlet and was very relieved to get my computer and phone charged. I spent the next several hours walking around the airport. As it got later, the airport started to empty. Even at the latest, there were still a couple hundred people in the airport. Luckily there was a 24 hour burger king. I got some comfort food in an uncomfortable situation. It was very hard to find a place to sleep. I managed to get an hour of sleep combined through all my naps, but there was nowhere to lay down. I remember being so sleep deprived that I kept feeling really emotional all the time. I figured I would sleep on the plane, but of course I was put right between two families with small children that were crying and whining. When we started to descend over Washington, I could see the mountains and they were breathtaking. I remember feeling like I had made it at that moment. I finally made it to the place I wanted to be for so long. I found the bus stop and used my Transit App to make it to my new home. I walked in and saw my bed and I wanted so badly just to sleep. I needed sleep so bad. But, I didn’t have my rent money, and I wasn’t sure when the landlord was going to come to collect it, so I had to take a bus to my bank and I also had been wearing the same clothes for a few days. By the time I got back home and took a shower, I was so tired I could have collapsed. I slept for 14 hours. I could’ve slept longer, but I had an appointment at the car dealership to get my new car and explore my new and mysterious emerald city. My first year in Seattle hasn’t been perfect, but it’s the closest thing to perfection I’ve experienced in my life. I climbed a mountain, went to MLB games, ate pizza with fish on it, walked on the beach of the pacific ocean and much more. I don’t regret moving here for a second, and I never want to move again. Sometimes you have to sacrifice safety for the things you really want in life, and usually its worth it.
Posted on: Sun, 10 Aug 2014 04:45:10 +0000
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