Providence

SO. I moved to Rhode Island! After 5 and a half years in Alabama, I am now calling chilly New England my home.

The trip was...what to say about the trip. It was long. It is 1,100 miles from Birmingham AL to Providence RI. Because I am slightly insane and melt down a little when I don't have control over situations, I made this journey in a Uhaul, towing my car. On the shorter, inland route that had fewer major cities but way more mountains. By myself. Well, not by myself entirely, because I had with me as companions my two cats. Knowing that the going would be slow and that I ( and the cats) could only take so much in a single day (and again, see earlier re:insane and needing control), I broke the trip up into three 375ish mile segments and one 90 mile segment. Then I went to get my truck, and surprise, instead of 10 feet+honda civic, it was 17 feet+honda civic. Fun!

As far as four day, 1100 mile journeys across the Appalachians in a Uhaul towing a car with two cats go, it was pretty much ideal. Driving the truck was actually not difficult. I got slightly stuck the first time I got gas, but thanks to some super-helpful truckers (I am guessing they had not so much as seen a lady in several weeks), I not only got out of my jam but also got a lesson on maneuvering a longer vehicle. I could even back it up semi-competently by the end of the trip. The cats were ok. One cat (the simple one) took about 45 minutes to forget she had ever lived anywhere other than a small crate inside a Uhaul and did fantastic the rest of the trip. The other cat (ie helper cat) did not quite thrive. Howling and Wailing, usually calming down only at about the fourth hour of driving. I covered the crate with a blanket and told her it was nighttime which helped a little, if only in muffling the crying.
The drive was pretty-Tennessee and Southern Virginia were all sparkling rivers and snow covered hillsides. Even the less picturesque regions of Appalachia had something lovely about their bleakness. The rolling farmland of Maryland and Pennsylvania reminded me of where I grew up, even though the farms were never quite so pastoral in my little section of Ohio and are long gone anyways. And Oh, once I hit New England...there is something in me that feels so at home in northern rocky woods. The streams and ponds, bare misty trees, dark rocks, winding roads that come around a curve to reveal a cold stony shore. It's so beautiful to me, way more so than a tropical beach.

And now I am here. The movers brought in my things, i'm slowly unpacking. I've been to several grocery stores, found the nearest Wal-mart, Target, and mall, gotten a library card, tried and failed to get a drivers license, made vegetable stock and 3 kinds of soup. My apartment is great although sort of empty at the moment while I save for some real furniture. My two fears-that no one would be nice and that everything would cost an arm and a leg-appear to be unfounded. Everyone I've met has been kind and welcoming-not necessarily the surface friendliness of the south (which I frankly always found kind of fake) or the earnest openness of the midwest, but nice nonetheless. And while gas and rent are more expensive here, produce (my big grocery expense)is cheaper than in B'ham, even without taking the 10% sales tax on groceries in Alabama. The cold is cold, but bearable. The only bad thing so far is the drivers! I swear I have a near-death experience everytime I go out on the road!

All in all, I think I'm going to like it here.