Progression of a Room – hot plate √ tables, chairs & bed √ ceramic ware and green tutu √ cows to visit bicycling between towns for WiFi √

Landed! in a good way. Absolutely love various features of ‘my’ new small room that I moved into today; the lack of a hint of a smoke smell, the lack of an air conditioner perched in the window blocking opening it for fresh air, the style of the second door with nice character and the fact that the glass lets in more light and is an entrance to sort of my own porch (presently cluttered). It only took half a day to clean and prepare for myself to move into, after cleaning the larger room for the last week while I couchsurfed (work-traded). 

Things are swinging into a good way. I may not be in a hip metropolitan area, but there is a lot of natural beauty in this state and the towns flanking this one of Annville and Hershey are perks. A big key is that I’m now paying $150/mo less in rent, which is what all of this zigzagging around the country was in search of. The town of Palmyra has streets that are super wide, I mean like, 4 military tanks side to side would fit on almost every street. Huh? This was a town built post car era. Yes, bicycles are stolen (when left unlocked) but the town feels really quite safe. No bicycle infrastructure. No public transportation (yes, buses exist). And last evening when I was checking out this one property’s gardens, I saw two deer scampering away from the grassy area I entered next to a wall of a corn. 

I’m de lighted that someone suggested on this ‘local’ FB group a place they knew of that offered ‘extended housing’, and that my sister Joan Keiter suggested posting there that I’m looking for a room. My place is $10 more a week, than one hotel I checked out is day, the cheaper one. Like I said, the over-all manager whom I met third time I went by there (both times one of the residents was there to point out who was the live-in manager and then again when I came back to talk to him, then fill out an application form. As I was leaving him, the off-site manager was driving up. Because I offered off the top of my head to assist in preparing the room becoming available – with boots, strength, detailed skills in cleaning etc, they took me up on it – right away. She called and said I could go there that evening in the room that needs to be cleaned. I laid my sleeping bag on plastic in the closit and for a week, stood on a ladder cleaning ceilings (of smoke residue), walls, cleaning overall. This unit had its own bathroom. …………………Now today I moved out of that room, first helping the man Puerto Rican guy to move his stuff out of the smaller ground-floor room (great, i have a bicycle that I no longer have to carry up a flight of stairs) and have sink in the room with much more character and functionality…and ironically found day after day, pieces of furniture and ‘what not’ placed saying FREE, less than a city block away. Now I have a couple wood and whicker chairs, a mirror, a low wood and whicker table, and the guy gave me the curtain rods stands on wheels. I purchased one pot (every morning boil water to put lemon in a glass and also for oatmeal), a few cups, a small plate, one set of silver ware, and just found two nice glasses also at the TAKE AWAY FOR FREE BICYCLE SHOP TURNED GUN SHOP. huh? I’m sitting at the public library, limited hours, and have to bike two several different towns to get WiFi. cool. I get my exercise for free. Just found a local Glacier vending machine (filtered water through several processes) outside a grocery store. I make stops at these places on the periphery of town and next to another one: library, storage unit, grocery store…and have to choose the routes and times of day to stay alive in a place with barely any bicycle infrastructure. Stoked to have found just exactly what I need and a place right in town with an accessible and efficient manager and a ridiculously low price. Now I can begin to work on my book again on a daily basis, now that the housing is stabilized. In this new place I share a bathroom with a claw foot bathtub / shower. I shared a bathroom in the previous ‘community house’ where I lived in Asheville, North Carolina. Here there are signs and strict rules about common sense cleanliness in a shared bathroom, so I’m stoked about that. 

It just so happens that a store within a city block that had been a bicycle shop, went out of business, to become a gun shop. Way to go Amerika. Anyway, there were a few pieces of furniture with a sign FREE. Because I bicycle to get around, and literally went by these on the sidewalk to grab shade, I saw the progression of items put out. I first grabbed and walked with a chair, cracked at its shoulder. Having just bought wood glue to repair my bass guitar where the ‘strap lock’ port is loose and the Guitar Witch of Asheville explained to me what tools I need and how to do it. So I can repair this simple crack in the handsome chair…..Well, once the initial stuff was removed, more items appeared on the sidewalk. The other matching chair that was not damaged (just worn) appeared. I walked with that. Then two coffee tables appeared that sort of matched the chairs, walked with that. When i was almost at my door a man pulled up across the street asking if I needed help. I said, not with this, but there’s another piece that is too heavy for me to carry. He he grabbed the car, I bicycled to the shop, helped him put it in his hatchback and bicycled home to help get it out of the car. It turned out that the boots sitting on one of the tables were size 7.5. I slipped my foot in, they fit. I had no ‘rain/snow’ boots but a pair of antiques. It occurred to me today to put this super heavy mirror on the table between the rolling garment racks. I already had the string of Christmas lights and plants. I had washed the mirror and chairs and table thoroughly. So now I have a kitchen, living room, dining room, bedroom and closet > all in one.

Re-use, recycle, reduce, right on!