Gettin' Legal!

This weekend was a journey of discovery for yours truly. Saturday I discovered what the CO2 detector sounds like when the batteries are low. I also discovered that there were no batteries left behind by the previous owner. Sunday I discovered that when business is slow at Lowes, at least one of the associates at the Coeur D'Alene store will volunteer to be your personal shopper at no extra charge.

Monday we discovered the Bonner County DMV. We rose bright and early in order to avoid the rush. Our GPS got us lost for a few minutes, but a bit more research on the new phones (thank you Verizon) brought us to our destination with a minimum of tears. Our haste to arrive early proved unnecessary; the line consisted of three people, only two of which were adults. We got the truck registered in five minutes for $59. About $300 less than it would have cost in California, and that's not including the smog cert. Yay for Idaho! Errand number one - check.

As it turns out, up here in Bonner County there is a separate office for the driver's license end of things. It's less than a mile away, but that didn't stop our GPS from getting us lost FOUR MORE TIMES before we got there. Thank God Jeff is not opposed to asking for directions when the need arises. But don't let that get out - it would ruin his reputation as a dude.

We finally arrived at the proper office, waited our turn (again, there was one person in line ahead of us) and filled out the appropriate paperwork. All was well until the lady helping us asked for proof of residency. Jeff handed her our official "change of address" paperwork, but she could not accept that. Jeff asked what WAS acceptable, and then things just got hilarious. She told us a mortgage statement, rent bill, or a utility bill would suffice. Sadly, when you paid in full for your solar-powered house, you sort of don't have any of those documents. Poor Marcy was trying so hard, but we were so new to the area we could barely understand her suggestions. "You need to go to 'Road and Bridge", she told us.
"Okay, where's that?"
"It's at 2 and Division".
"Okay, where's that?"
"Do you know where the Super One Foods is?"
"No."
"Do you know where Mountain West Bank is?"
"No."
"Do  you know..."
"We have never been to this town before today. We don't know where ANYTHING is."

Finally Aaron, the young man at the next desk, sensed our mounting frustration and stepped in. He took us just outside the door, and with a good deal of pointing, gesturing, and meticulous listing of landmarks provided us with the route to find the office that we needed to visit. We thanked him profusely and set out on our next quest.

Aaron's directions turned out to be impeccable. We found the Bonner County Admin/Hall of Records with no trouble at all. We were the first ones in line! Okay, we were the only ones in line. We got or permit for the use of the county dump while we were there, then got the form requested by Marcy. Before we left the counter, I noticed the names on the document were not ours, but those of the previous owner. I brought this to the clerk's attention, and after a quick phone call, he said everything was in order, the deed had been recorded, it just had not yet been updated in their system.

Fabulous.

Thank God this was not a busy office. The clerk called the DMV office, asked for Marcy specifically, and explained the situation. She said that in addition to the document that we now had, a letter from the Road & Bridge office stating that we were indeed the owners/residents of the property in question would work. By this time the entire staff at the admin building was following our saga. The clerk sat down and typed up the letter per Marcy's instructions, printed it out and sent us on our way. We left, with shouts of "Good luck!" following us out of the office and down the hall.

We returned to the DMV office, documents in hand. Aaron set us up at the testing stations. We both passed, and after paying the fees, surrendering our current licenses, and suffering the indignity of the dreaded DMV photo, we received our temporary Idaho licenses. During this process, we mentioned that our next two errands were to set up a bank account and get auto insurance. Aaron provided referrals for both, and we were soon on our way. Errand number two - check.

We grabbed lunch at a café that was located in a large antiques mall. When we were done with our meal, we wandered around the antiques until we stumbled upon their yarn section. It was the most glorious thing I have ever seen. Jeff had to pull me out before I suffered a complete sensory overload, but I vowed then and there that I would be back. Repeatedly. Because yarn.

We visited the bank that Aaron had recommended, and in short order had a brand new joint account. Errand number three - check.  Jeff made the executive decision to leave the auto insurance for later, as the first three tasks had eaten up so much of our day. I agreed, as we were both tired and cranky and no insurance agent in their right mind would want to deal with the likes of US at that point.

We arrived home to glorious late afternoon sunshine, and solar panels fully charged. YES! It more than made up for the "comedy" we endured earlier. But we were victorious in the day's endeavors, which is good enough for me.

And we know that all things work together for good to those who love God, for those who are called according to His purpose.  Romans 8:28