It’s the little things that matter!

Staying at a suite a the Palace Station for a couple of nights for $20 a night with all sorts of coupons (for room service, for example). Las Vegas is really hurting for tourists.

Fritz arrives in 4 days. I’m starting to get really excited.  Still a little congested, but I feel much more like myself again and most of the symptoms are gone.

Right now I am going to get dressed in lightweight clothes and prepare to enter my house. I need some documents for the lawyer and it would be nice to get some clothes out to launder. So, I purchased the following supplies to make a sort of hazmat suit:

- vinyl painter’s suit (with hood), L (the only available size - small people don’t work in toxic environments?)
- HEPA respirator
- vinyl gloves
- hospital booties
- swimmer’s goggles
- large rubber bands

It’s really going to be hilarious trying to get this thing on by myself. I’ll be wearing it every day until I leave, so at some point there will be pictures… I hope!

This morning I drove back from the Phoenix area (more specifically, a town called Surprise) to finish some business in Vegas. I have heard that a painter’s suit will be decent enough to protect me when I go to get my things. This should be hilarious. I can’t wait to see the faces on my neighbors when I emerge in the hazmat suit.

Random cellphone pictures from the drive

When I get my hands on a real camera, there will be more of this sort of thing on our…

drumroll…

new flickr account!

It’s great to see everyone involved and excited to take the journey with us.  We’re happy to share and have you along the way!

I can’t sleep. Yet. I’m looking forward to Fritz getting here.

Generally speaking, when a risk I’ve taken has provided me with problems I have overcome them (and often begun more) with taking even bigger risks. Arguably, this has a lot to do with being an adult. The fun in being an adult is having the free will and ability to jump really really high and fall flat on your face. When your nose bleeds from the crash, nobody is there to chastise you, and nobody is there to clean the wound. It’s glorious.

I’m just glad this dive is over. I’m thankful to have learned to not approach life with “who cares? what’s the worst that can happen?” Perhaps one should already care and know, and instead be wondering, “what’s the best that can happen?”

I’m excited to dive back into the mess tomorrow with longer plastic gloves and new masks.

There’s a bangar rally in the UK that makes the participants drive from England to Mongolia - it’s called the Mongol Rally - and that could be the ultimate road trip.

But we know that it isn’t.

It may be exotic, it may be exciting, and hey it’s transcontinental! But no trip can be compared to the iconic USA cross-country road trip. The mid-west Americana, the deserts of Nevada and Utah, the abandoned petrol stations… the classic scenery that everybody raised with a television set grew up with in so many movies. The hot babe in sunglasses - Gillian - and the underdog hero in denim and boots - well… me. From Sunset Boulevard to Wall Street, from Jane’s Addiction to Beastie Boys, from film land to tv city. Nothing… no Mongol Rally, no Paris Dakar, no Wall of China, nothing can be compared to the experience of crossing the USA by car.

Wanna make it more exciting? We’re on a mission!

We’ll rent a trailer and move all the things from Gillian’s condo in Las Vegas, infested by killing mold and take it all to New York. Also we’re very short on money and we’re going to CouchSurfing - not only to save money, but because we’re a cool couple who love to meet new people

So here’s the plan: February 9 I arrive in LA, I meet my beloved girlfriend and we spend the night in the city. Maybe the next day as well. Then we drive to Las Vegas and we pack all her things, we clean the house, try to get rid of the black mold and shut it down. That would take a couple of days. Then we’ll spend Valentine’s in Vegas and have a fabulous time together - alone. From that we’ll go to Utah, maybe see the Grand Canyon, then Denver, Omaha (or Kansas City in the event of a blizzard), Chicago (where we’ll spend a couple of days), Oklahoma Cleveland, and then splendid New York.

So if you wanna host us, those are the cities we’re looking for a couch: Denver, Omaha/Kansas City, Chicago, and Oklahoma Cleveland or anywhere in between! Check out our ROUGH map [anything can change ;)]

We’ll see you soon! x

Fritz and I are about to embark on an epic journey across country on short notice with little resources. There’s a little more about me and why I’m leaving in the “Who What Why When Where” section, and why I’m doing this. For now, I have other things to take care of in Las Vegas that require some attention.

* Saying goodbye to my boss and helping him finish up his records.
* Getting some more clothes out of the condo, safely, and washing them.
* Moving a few more things into storage.
* Posting my furniture for sale on Craigslist.
* Withdrawing from school
* Finding a place to cool my heels until Fritz arrives on February 9th.

I am so grateful that Fritz is coming to help. You never realize how vulnerable you are when you live alone until things like this happen. The health problems that the toxic mold in my condo caused are only really scary when you consider that if I had gone into anaphylactic shock in my home, nobody would have known. At this point, while I can surely run into my condo and grab some things to clean while wearing some sort of low-tech hazmat suit, it’s hard for me to justify taking the risk to do it alone.

If anyone is interested, there is more information on the nasty stuff here.

Articles on toxic mold in New Orleans with some information about mold:
http://www.nrdc.org/health/effects/katrinadata/mold.asp
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/9505817/

Interestingly, the NRDC article classifies indoor toxicity at above 1300 spores per cubic meter. My airborne test results came back at nearly 23,000 spores per cubic meter!

Official CDC Page on the subject is here.  Their current opinion is that the links between health problems and toxic mold are either rare or inconclusive.

Since I left and threw out my cosmetics and toiletries, my health has improved significantly (I was recontaminating myself). The swelling in my face and eyes has gone down, the headaches, nausea and numbness are gone and I have alot more energy. Homeowners out there, especially in the southwest, be aware that this problem is out there and get your house tested if you have any health problems or are feeling sluggish and dizzy whenever you’re in a certain area.

This will be an adventure, and I’m looking forward to sharing it with Fritz and with everyone. Hopefully it will be somewhere between a cautionary tale, a chance to vent, and a celebration of how life sometimes takes the reins from you and slaps you into paying attention!