Homeless in Humboldt County

Downtown Arcata (where you form your first impression) is in the flatlands between the hills and the ocean, which explains why downtown isn't a forest (to my dismay). Click to make the photo bigger and get a better idea.
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We rolled into Arcata mid-afternoon on Monday.  I hated it almost immediately.  I was expecting a Eugene-like town full of wonderful old trees, pretty flower gardens, and streets buzzing with energy.  This place had the feel of an tiny town in Iowa where people sit around and watch paint dry.  Trees exist, but they weren't the towering wonders we had in mind.  The streets were dead, save for random pedestrians, and I immediately craved the energy I had been expecting.  Disappointment started to seep in, and I wondered if maybe I had bitten off more than I could chew.  Three years in this place?  Oh god.

The plaza in downtown Arcata. I like that the town has a plaza (I am always discussing this hole in American city structure with fellow travellers). I think it's too open, but the farmer's market held there every Saturday is a blast.
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I had been making cell-phone calls to rental ad phone numbers the whole way, so we swung by city hall to pick up a map to lead us on our immediate house-hunting expedition.  We had exactly 48 hours to find a house, apply, and unload the Uhaul before Pat started orientation on Thursday.  After spending the day driving or walking by dump after dump, my heart sunk lower and lower as we peered in each dirty window at ten-year-old carpet, teeny-tiny kitchens with peeling laminated cupboards and yellowed cracking linoleum.  After a depressing day, we headed for Kari and Brent's place.

She showed us around our dream apartment...

Samoa beach with a huge hunk of a redwood hundreds of years old.
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(Tangent {copied from another blog, so I apologize to those who read both}):  Back at the coal mine there is an awesome day-shift mechanic from Gillette, Luther.  We are both bus riders, and chat all the time.  Luther gets wind that I'm quitting and asks me about future plans, so I spew out my most recent passion which is to get into nutrition while in Arcata and earn a degree that will give me the credentials to teach Americans what their government won't about food.  Luther's says his niece lives in California and is a nutritionist for a school district out there, so I get her number.  I am expecting a pleasant, mid-thirties with children, average person, but instead I get the amazing, incredibly enthusiastic, high-spirited, friendly Kari on the other end of the line.  Not only does she live and work in California in the field that I am interested in going into, not only does she have tons of great advice and connections, but she also live in ARCATA with her boyfriend Brent and is going to let us shower and cook at her house for the time we are homeless in Humboldt County.  They are really fun, amazing people, and we spent all Wednesday night having some excellent chow at a local brewery and checking out the downtown Arcata scene, complete with a bar that makes me feel very much at home with 80% country music for offer on the jukebox located directly beneath their largest trophy, and elk mount...)

Anyway... Tuesday we tried a new angle and went to the university for help.  After messing around with Pat's laptop for an hour while I thumbed through the paper ads, Drew, the res-net genius, let us into a password-free computer lab.  Unfortunately, we found similar slim pickin's online, including one lady who used her email instead of phone number in the add.  I emailed her with my number and let her know that telephone was our only real means of contact.  Twenty minutes later, when we were trying to convince Melissa and Maya to let us be their 3rd bedroom roommates, the email woman, Carolyn, called.  She wanted to set up a showing for her 2bd. Victorian apartment.  I was less enthusiastic.  So far, we had cancelled all showings once we drove by for a preview.  I told her we'd drive by today, and if we liked it, we'd set up the showing like she wanted on the following day.  Meanwhile Melissa and Maya were hinting that they weren't that interested in getting two roommates for the price of one, but Maya needed a ride downtown.  We had planned to go uptown first, but rearranged our schedule for her.  Miracle of miracles!  When we drove by to assess whether or not we'd want a showing, Carolyn was there checking in with the tenants who were on their way out!  She showed us around our dream apartment; an incredibly spacious two bedroom with a cute living room, large bedrooms, a huge kitchen complete with hardwood floors, beautiful new wooden cupboards, and new appliances, washer/dryer, huge bathroom, new carpet, an amazing landscaped yard full of blackberries, raspberries, apple trees and more, all for $300 under market value!  I offered her our references on the spot, she wrote out a make-shift application, and we dropped them off later that night.  She called us in the morning to offer us tenency!!

When we went to sign papers Wednesday morning, the only hiccup was that instead of getting to move in over the weekend before school started, we'd have to wait until the following Wednesday.  Eeek!  We were really hoping to be out of Kari and Brent's hair before Kari's five person family rolled into town on Thursday, but no luck.  Fortunately, we could off-load the Uhaul in the house's storage space.  We packed it all in the room and then spent three nights sleeping in the Uhaul and three more nights in our tent pitched in Brent and Kari's backyard, bless their hearts.

Friday was a riot.  After orientation, we met the fam (Kari's) and headed to the deserted, amazing, Samoa beach where the ocean raged against the sandy beach while we huddled around our mini bon-fire, shared beers, and toasted marshmellows.  We got to meet two of Kari's good friends, Michelle and Vicki, and Michelle's dog.  We told stories until the first round of sleepiness set in, and then headed home!