I left Minot on the fourth of January 2018 after having lived there for a year. My car was packed full of everything I could manage to fit into it. I then made my way to Southfield (MI) with the intention of staying with a cousin for a week or two. That didn’t work out as madam went rogue, so I checked into an AirBnB with a young couple. They had a couple of cats who mostly lived in their room. The bigger one was several years and wouldn’t give you the time of day. The young one was about 6 months or so and would make a dash for the couple’s room if you so much as looked at it. The apartment had two rooms and the room I stayed in was the AirBnB room and the single bathroom was shared. They gave me the run of the whole place which was nice. The only thing that was of concern (for their health) was that they smoked way too much – fortunately not inside the apartment – but even in the January “freeze” they made the trip to the balcony several times to go smoke when they were home.

After 10 days, I packed up once again and headed south to Indianapolis where I stayed with another cousin and his family. I slept on the couch in the living room throughout which suited me perfectly as it meant I could watch TV as much as I wanted. Of course I paid for my late nights when the kids boisterously get ready for school in the mornings. All these while, I kept churning out job applications like a mill. I finally got an invite for a job at HPE in Aplharetta (GA). After another 10 days or so I was back on the road. Checked into an AirBnB that had a curious set up. It was a fairly large house with three rooms upstairs. Two rooms including the one I stayed in shared a bath and the master had a bath en-suite. The ground floor had a kitchen and a fairly open area which was the living room. This had about 4 beds as it seems they were also had low-paying short staying tenants. There was a very young couple (late teens or so) that had sectioned off a part of the living room with a hanging sheet, and a couple of other guys also staying on the ground floor. I guess the AirBnB guests stayed upstairs. There was a lady as well as the person running the place on behalf of the actual host listed on the AirBnB website – he lived in the master bedroom. The house was in a quiet middle-upper class area and I understand people actually lease some of these vacant homes and then run them as AirBnB guest houses.

I thought the interview went well and after not getting any feedback from HPE after another week or so, I was back on the road to my big cousin’s place in North Carolina. It was while I was staying with my uncle that I got the invite for a video interview for the job with Oracle. I was interviewed by the lady (Ericka) who would be my manager and a colleague (John). The interview possibly lasted 15 to 20 mins but the questions were not particularly difficult. I got a job offer some days afterwards. Most days I drove to my aunt’s place in Charlotte (about 20 miles away) and spent the day with her.

After a couple of weeks, I set out across the country to Corona (CA) where I stayed another couple of weeks with another cousin. It was one of those new luxurious housing complexes with a swimming pool in the center of the courtyard. I never did make it into the swimming pool – I mostly watched TV all day with the intention of getting into the pool at least once before I left California – didn’t happen. Finally it was time for the last leg of my journey to Lehi (UT) where I resumed work. Excluding the local journey within each city where I had stayed, I had covered at least 5,300 miles and possibly closer to 6,000 miles all side trips factored in.

I have since then gone by air to New York (passport renewal) and Florida (on the job training), but to truly “cover” the country I need to (at least) get to Seattle or Portland at one end and maybe Maine at the other.