Where exactly is home, anyway?

My flight left Phoenix on time at 11:30 this morning . That’s much better than my last experience flying to/from Newark from Phoenix. At the end of June I flew from Arizona to New Jersey for a bunch of Yankee Games (pictures are from my June games). The day I was scheduled to fly back to Phoenix there was bad weather in New Jersey. I received the first notification that my flight would be delayed while in the Uber going to the airport. At the airport, well, let’s just say it’s never a good sign when you get to the airport and there are cots all over the terminal. I arrived at the airport at 2pm on Monday … at 6am Tuesday morning I got out of the Uber, back at my mothers house. After many delays, I finally flew out late Wednesday and arrived at my Airbnb in Scottsdale at 2am on Thursday. Needless to say, it was a long couple of days getting back there. When there are so many delays you get to talking to the people around you in the terminal. The typical question people ask each other is “are you going home or away?”. That’s usually an easy answer, right? In my case, it’s not that black and white. Which is ironic because I’m not very fond of grey areas.

Any time I catch up with family and friends on the east coast they usually ask, ‘When are you coming home?’ When I’m in or headed to New York, people in Arizona ask me “When are you coming home?’ or ‘How long are you going away for”. When headed back to the airport to fly to Phoenix or Dallas, or wherever my car is currently parked, I’ve been told “Have a safe trip home”. For the last year and a half that I’ve been living my hobo life that question always make me think, where exactly is home? So far this year I’ve flown to New Jersey from Dallas and Pheonix. Last year I flew to NJ from Phoenix and Denver. Every time I mention that I am headed to New York for Yankee Games and to visit my family & friends, I’m reluctant to say “I’m going home.” - even though my drivers license and license plate say New Jersey, I can’t really call it home. I moved to New Jersey in 2011 and any time I’m asked “where are you from” my answer is always the same “I’m from Brooklyn, New York but I live in New Jersey”. Throughout my travels when people ask me where I’m from, I always say New York…and then they comment, yes – I can hear the accent.

Being on the road all the time, I’ve had to figure out how to get stuff done that, most people, if they’re on a trip wait to do ‘at home’. For me, I don’t wait to go to a place called “home” for doctors’ appointments or to take care of any sort of personal business people wait to do after a vacation. It’s because I’m not on vacation. This constant being on the move is, simply, my life. I’ve had to be creative in managing things that may be easier if I stayed put. Anytime I needed something printed, I went to Staples or the UPS Store. Earlier this year my ex sold my old house while I was in Arizona. Since my name is still on the house they needed my signature for the closing. Being back in New Jersey for the closing wasn’t even something I considered. It’s 2023, I’m sure there’s a way to do this virtually or a local branch of the bank where I can sign. As it turned out, the way to do it was to have them printed and notarized. I’ve learned the UPS Store is one stop shopping for that type of thing. I was able to print the documents, have them notarized, and sent over-night back all in one shot. There was just one hiccup, one of the documents needed a witness as well as a notary. I panicked a little because I had no idea how I could get that done. Luckily, someone standing in line behind me said “I’ll sign it.” … a total stranger stepped up to help me out. That really touched me, there are good people in the world. As I write this that all sounds like it was very simple but it was stressful in the moment since, initially, I had no idea how I’d get it done.

There have been a few instances where I needed to figure shit out … but I’ve always found a way to make it work. At the beginning of the year, in Florida, my monitor (that I use for work) crapped out on me and I had to figure out how to dispose of it. It’s not exactly something I can just put in the kitchen trash can of my Airbnb or hotel. At first, I thought, Best Buy but after a little research I found out they charge to dispose of electronics. Staples, on the other hand, disposes of electronics for free. Then there’s the big stuff, like doctors’ appointments for routine checkups or emergencies. Sometime in June I was on the treadmill at the gym and my knee kinda gave out. I ignored it thinking that if I just rested a bit, it would get better on it’s own. No such luck. After a couple of weeks I gave in and found an orthopedist in Phoenix. Of course, it took three weeks to get in for an appointment and, unfortunately, I still had the pain by the time the appointment finally rolled around. Which, by the way, was only about a week before my summer vacation that would consist of hiking 30+ miles in California and Utah. The Xray didn’t show anything definitive but he thought it was a torn meniscus and I needed an MRI. We decided I’d go with a cortisone shot and postpone the MRI until after vacation. Which I did - there will have to be another blog post about that vacation – it was fantastic, lots to tell! – anyway, I do not have a torn meniscus. Thank God! What I do have is a deep bone bruise and the only way to heal it is to rest it, for six weeks. I’m on week two of low impact exercise … stay tuned for how it turns out.

Then there’s the routine stuff, the dentist, the general practitioner. I took care of those in Chattanooga – than Arizona, Tennessee is where I’ve spent the most time. In Arizona, I’ve also been to see an ear doctor and an eye doctor. It’s always an interesting conversation when I give the office my insurance and address information and it’s in New Jersey.

Figuring out the doctor situation has actually been easier than the logistics of these trips flying to NJ/NY for Yankee Games. When I fly or go on a short trip, like my summer vacation, I also have to figure out what to do with all my stuff and my car. I’ve had to get storage units in Colorado and Arizona because I can’t leave my stuff in the hot car while I’m away. After this current trip I’ll be able to close out the 5X5 unit I have at Extra Space storage. I’ve had it since mid-May, they usually have the best rates and also do the first month free without a commitment of a specified timeframe – so it works out pretty good for me if I only need it a month or so. If I’m getting on a plane, I also need to figure out what do I do with my car, so I go with the off-airport parking lots. I found a national chain, The Parking Spot, that has locations near the airports I’ve flown out of. An added bonus is I can earn points for future trips. With all my traveling my car is closing in on 100,000 miles. My brakes started squeaking recently so this week I made a trip to Pep Boys to get them fixed. For other stuff, Jiffy Lube has been my go too. Their system is nation-wide so they can see the last time I’d had a new filter or oil change, etc. Last year, in Texas, I went in for an oil change too soon and they let me know I had another couple of thousand miles to go before it needed to be changed again.

This post started out all about where home is. I guess what I’m trying to say here is, over the last year and a half of this hobo life I’ve learned how to make where I am in the world “home”. I’ve been able to figure out everything I need from wherever I happen to be. I travel relatively light, I have a kitchen bag, a clothing suitcase, a shoes/electronics/toiletries suitcase, a cooler and my (new) monitor – because working from ‘home’ I need it. But if were to make a ‘go bag’ my essentials would be my phone, eyeglasses, laptop, and medication. Most important is my car. Anything else – I can get if I need it. I usually find a way to make it all work. I guess it’s best to say that, for me, “Home” is fluid. Or, maybe it’s just wherever my Jeep is.