My OperaHello Needles California
Sunday, December 17, 2006 1:01:00 AM
Thursday, June 15, 2006... After getting up bright and early that morning, we loaded all our computers, office equipment, a small cooler with some snacks and drinks, our two canine companions and our canary into our 1998 Dodge Caravan SE, white with dark tinted windows. It was a tight fit but we didn't want our computers and equipment shipped with the rest of our belongings which the moving van was going to deliver the next day. We had our Caravan serviced earlier that week and stopped by the local car wash on the way home so it was looking and running great, ready for the long trip to our new home.
At 11:56 AM we left Wateridge Apartment Homes in Anaheim and began our 258.8 mile, 4 hour journey through the desert, to our new home at River Gardens Apartments in Needles, in the Mojave Desert. This was going to be an interesting adventure for us. First, our Caravan already had 136,723 miles on it when we began our trip. Most of the trip would be through the desert in the middle of June. To say it would be hot would be an understatement, but we brought along extra water and coolant plus some tools just in case.
Crystal,our American Eskimo, is a really hyper dog, like a Tasmanian Devil on steroids. Usually she can't sit still, barks and screams from the minute we put the leash on her and continues all through the ride.
Schatzie, our Bichonoodle (Bichon Frise, Poodle mix), is a sweetheart and a gentleman, but he keeps trying to jump on my wife's lap while she is driving. Needless to say, I was expecting to have a very long and agrivating ride.
We were well prepared for this trip. Being an ex-Biker, I was aware of the need to be ready for just about anything so I was pretty good at packing what I might need on the road. One of my favorite runs was The Three Flags Run. I was a Feature Editor for Touring Bike Magazine and was covering the event. I started from my home in Anaheim and rode to Tijuana Mexico where the run began, then from Tijuana to Richmond BC, all on one weekend. This run cost me a lot. I ended up getting rear-ended in Ellensburg Washington, totally disabled for three years followed by 15 years of back pain, but that's another story for another time.
We are members of the A.A.A Auto Club, so if anything happened that was more then we could handle ourselves, we could use our Nextel cell phone to call for help. I was a Technical Support Analyst for Nextel until I retired in 1999 so I knew we could depend on it. We ordered a "TripTik" from their website which provided us with detailed maps with estimated driving distances and driving time, a place for listing estimated and actual trip expenses, driving regulations, emergency phone numbers for different areas and much more.
We had a extra motor oil, transmission fluid, brake fluid and even a portable Battery Booster in case our battery went dead plus an electric Air Pump and tire repair kit, in case we had a flat tire. We weren't being paranoid... we just believe in being prepared.
Now... we had moved many, many times during our lives over longer distances too. Like when I moved from West Haven Connecticut to Orange County California in February of 1970, in the dead of winter. Now that was quite an adventure. I was driving my 1963 Ford Econoline that I had rebuilt myself. I was well prepared for everything that happened on that trip too, and quit a bit did happen, but that to is another story for another time.
This move was quite unique for us because we had never seen the apartment we would be moving into or even the city which we would be living in. Yes, I did drive through it in the middle of the night way back in 1970, but it gets really dark in the desert at night so I didn't actually see anything other than the road. I was barely able to stay awake too because it was "the pedal to the metal" during most of the trip. This made it even more of an adventure for us as we didn't really know what to expect. We found our new apartment on-line. It was free, and after we moved in they sent us $100.00. It just doesn't get any better than that. Most places charge you to have them find you an apartment.
In the beginning we were a bit worried. Was it going to be a nice place or a roach trap? What was the City of Needles itself going to be like? What were the people living there going to be like? We knew that it was in the county of San Bernardino and was in the Mojave Desert by the Colorado River, on my favorite road... Route 66. I don't know about you, but when someone says the word "Desert", I picture sand, tumbleweeds, vultures, scorpions, snakes and a whole lot of heat. I figured... say goodbye to all the conveniences like our favorite fast-food restaurants, my pharmacy Rite-Aid, a Super Market, good health care... well, you get the idea. Man... was I ever wrong!
After a whole lot of searching with Soople, a few eMails, and some phone calls, all our fears quickly vanished. We checked out a map of the area and liked the fact that we'd be close to the river, the casinos in Laughlin, attractions like Lake Havasu and Oatman plus a whole lot more. We thought it would be pretty cool living in the Tri-State Area where Arizona, California and Nevada come together. From the front of our apartment you can look into Arizona where the time is one hour ahead of ours this time of the year. I jokingly tell people I can see into the future (only one hour though). It's pretty cool living next to a Native American Reservation too. I have a tremendous amout of respect for the Native American culture, spirituality, beliefs, their oneness with nature and their respect for the environment.
We even got to take a look at our apartment and the neighborhood before we ever left Anaheim. We Google-Mapped our new address and got a satellite view of our new home and we were able to see exactly which of the apartments was going to be ours and check out our new neighborhood too. Gotta' love the Internet. We contacted the Managers of our apartment at River Gardens several times by phone, FAX, eMail, and Snail-Mail. Both Jennifer and Staci were great, extremely helpful. They went way above and beyond the call of duty to help us get our new home. We also went to the website of the Needles Chamber of Commerce and requested an info pack. They got it out to us right away and it was filled with helpful information. We found out right off that the people in Needles are very friendly and helpful. As for our other misconceptions, Rite-Aid, my favorite pharmacy had a new store one mile from our new home right next to a supermarket, and we did indeed have our favorite fast food restaurants and new ones too. Before long we were feeling really good about our move and looking forward to moving into our new home.
As we cruised out of Barstow onto Route 40 towards Needles we sat back, enjoyed the ride and looked forward to the beginning of our new life. I was amazed at how well behaved Crystal and Schatzi were. It's as if they knew that this wasn't just an ordinary ride. This was something special. Even Tweety, our canary was sitting peacefully on his perch, taking in the scenery just as calm as could be. Our Caravan was eating up the miles, even up hills, carrying a pretty heavy load running as smooth and care free as a brand new car. I thought to myself, "Life is good." Soon we would indeed be... Alive And Well In Needles.
At 11:56 AM we left Wateridge Apartment Homes in Anaheim and began our 258.8 mile, 4 hour journey through the desert, to our new home at River Gardens Apartments in Needles, in the Mojave Desert. This was going to be an interesting adventure for us. First, our Caravan already had 136,723 miles on it when we began our trip. Most of the trip would be through the desert in the middle of June. To say it would be hot would be an understatement, but we brought along extra water and coolant plus some tools just in case.
Crystal,our American Eskimo, is a really hyper dog, like a Tasmanian Devil on steroids. Usually she can't sit still, barks and screams from the minute we put the leash on her and continues all through the ride.
Schatzie, our Bichonoodle (Bichon Frise, Poodle mix), is a sweetheart and a gentleman, but he keeps trying to jump on my wife's lap while she is driving. Needless to say, I was expecting to have a very long and agrivating ride.
We were well prepared for this trip. Being an ex-Biker, I was aware of the need to be ready for just about anything so I was pretty good at packing what I might need on the road. One of my favorite runs was The Three Flags Run. I was a Feature Editor for Touring Bike Magazine and was covering the event. I started from my home in Anaheim and rode to Tijuana Mexico where the run began, then from Tijuana to Richmond BC, all on one weekend. This run cost me a lot. I ended up getting rear-ended in Ellensburg Washington, totally disabled for three years followed by 15 years of back pain, but that's another story for another time.
We are members of the A.A.A Auto Club, so if anything happened that was more then we could handle ourselves, we could use our Nextel cell phone to call for help. I was a Technical Support Analyst for Nextel until I retired in 1999 so I knew we could depend on it. We ordered a "TripTik" from their website which provided us with detailed maps with estimated driving distances and driving time, a place for listing estimated and actual trip expenses, driving regulations, emergency phone numbers for different areas and much more.
We had a extra motor oil, transmission fluid, brake fluid and even a portable Battery Booster in case our battery went dead plus an electric Air Pump and tire repair kit, in case we had a flat tire. We weren't being paranoid... we just believe in being prepared.
Now... we had moved many, many times during our lives over longer distances too. Like when I moved from West Haven Connecticut to Orange County California in February of 1970, in the dead of winter. Now that was quite an adventure. I was driving my 1963 Ford Econoline that I had rebuilt myself. I was well prepared for everything that happened on that trip too, and quit a bit did happen, but that to is another story for another time.
This move was quite unique for us because we had never seen the apartment we would be moving into or even the city which we would be living in. Yes, I did drive through it in the middle of the night way back in 1970, but it gets really dark in the desert at night so I didn't actually see anything other than the road. I was barely able to stay awake too because it was "the pedal to the metal" during most of the trip. This made it even more of an adventure for us as we didn't really know what to expect. We found our new apartment on-line. It was free, and after we moved in they sent us $100.00. It just doesn't get any better than that. Most places charge you to have them find you an apartment.
In the beginning we were a bit worried. Was it going to be a nice place or a roach trap? What was the City of Needles itself going to be like? What were the people living there going to be like? We knew that it was in the county of San Bernardino and was in the Mojave Desert by the Colorado River, on my favorite road... Route 66. I don't know about you, but when someone says the word "Desert", I picture sand, tumbleweeds, vultures, scorpions, snakes and a whole lot of heat. I figured... say goodbye to all the conveniences like our favorite fast-food restaurants, my pharmacy Rite-Aid, a Super Market, good health care... well, you get the idea. Man... was I ever wrong!
After a whole lot of searching with Soople, a few eMails, and some phone calls, all our fears quickly vanished. We checked out a map of the area and liked the fact that we'd be close to the river, the casinos in Laughlin, attractions like Lake Havasu and Oatman plus a whole lot more. We thought it would be pretty cool living in the Tri-State Area where Arizona, California and Nevada come together. From the front of our apartment you can look into Arizona where the time is one hour ahead of ours this time of the year. I jokingly tell people I can see into the future (only one hour though). It's pretty cool living next to a Native American Reservation too. I have a tremendous amout of respect for the Native American culture, spirituality, beliefs, their oneness with nature and their respect for the environment.
We even got to take a look at our apartment and the neighborhood before we ever left Anaheim. We Google-Mapped our new address and got a satellite view of our new home and we were able to see exactly which of the apartments was going to be ours and check out our new neighborhood too. Gotta' love the Internet. We contacted the Managers of our apartment at River Gardens several times by phone, FAX, eMail, and Snail-Mail. Both Jennifer and Staci were great, extremely helpful. They went way above and beyond the call of duty to help us get our new home. We also went to the website of the Needles Chamber of Commerce and requested an info pack. They got it out to us right away and it was filled with helpful information. We found out right off that the people in Needles are very friendly and helpful. As for our other misconceptions, Rite-Aid, my favorite pharmacy had a new store one mile from our new home right next to a supermarket, and we did indeed have our favorite fast food restaurants and new ones too. Before long we were feeling really good about our move and looking forward to moving into our new home.
As we cruised out of Barstow onto Route 40 towards Needles we sat back, enjoyed the ride and looked forward to the beginning of our new life. I was amazed at how well behaved Crystal and Schatzi were. It's as if they knew that this wasn't just an ordinary ride. This was something special. Even Tweety, our canary was sitting peacefully on his perch, taking in the scenery just as calm as could be. Our Caravan was eating up the miles, even up hills, carrying a pretty heavy load running as smooth and care free as a brand new car. I thought to myself, "Life is good." Soon we would indeed be... Alive And Well In Needles.
