living arrangements

We’re currently in Arcata, California, which is the 4th city of our 12 Cities, 1 Year trek. One of the amazing things — other than the fact that Beth hasn’t gotten so sick of me as to resort to violence — is that we’re now in our 4th different type of living arrangement.

In Missoula, we rented a whole house, not counting a tiny mother-in-law apartment in the basement. We had our run of the place, with no neighbors sharing the space or even sharing a wall with us.

In Seattle, we rented a tiny apartment in a single-story apartment building. We had neighbors sharing one wall, but we never heard them. In fact, I don’t think we ever even met them. The apartments all shared a courtyard and a laundry/storage room, but I only met one of the neighbors, an elderly year-round resident of the place.

In Portland, we rented a basement apartment under a family of four. The house was a little over a hundred years old, and the basement was divided roughly in two; one half was storage and laundry for the family that owned the place, and the other half was our apartment. During the day, it was mostly peaceful, but when the family’s boys got home from school it got really noisy, as there was no insulation between the floor of the upstairs living room and our ceiling.

Here in Arcata, we rented a bedroom in a large house. Most of the house is shared living space: the kitchen, dining room, living room, and laundry room. Part of the check we wrote to the landlady is to pay for food, which she buys (and often cooks) every week and stores in two refrigerators for the household. There’s one other woman living here under the same arrangement (plus her visiting friend for part of the time). Also, there’s a separate basement apartment with one person there (and occasionally her friend), but we only met her once.

The only other type of living arrangements I can imagine us having during this trip are:

1. sharing a home with friends
2. sharing a home with family
3. staying in a hotel for the month
4. camping for the month

I really don’t think #3 and #4 will happen.  #3 would be too expensive and #4 would be too painful. But we’ve got plans for both #1 and #2 later in the journey.

What would it be like to live on a boat?