Places I've Called Home

This only includes places I've physically moved my possessions to for living purposes. It doesn't include quarterly pilgrimages to Tampa for 1-2 weeks, etc. It doesn't include the weeks in a motel in Augusta while we waited for the moving company to deliver a bicycle to another part of the country before they delivered all our belongings. It doesn't count extended stays with relatives, or anything else that wasn't an actual move.

Why All the Moving?

So You've Lived All Over?

What's with All the Stupid Zip Codes?

It's all about Roots...

Or something.

1. El Paso, TX (1955-1956)
   Despite being shown pictures, I have almost no memories of this house.
2. Some trailer park, El Paso, TX (1956-1957)
   I was very young. I had colic. I screamed a lot. Our next door neighbor thought Mom was horrid to let me scream, but Mom had realized nothing helped, and it was put me down or flush me down the toilet.

   One day, while I was screaming my head off in my crib, I suddenly got real quiet. Mom said a prayer of thanks and kept on cleaning. When the quiet kept up, she came to check on me - but I was gone! She ripped through the trailer looking for me, then ran hollering to the next door neighbor, "Call the police! My baby's been kidnapped!" The neighbor met her at the door, holding me. I don't think they ever talked again after that.

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3. Chamblee, GA (1958)
   I have only vague memories of this one. I don't remember waking my parents up in the middle of the night about a funny smell, which turned out to be a natural gas leak, thus saving all our lives, but I'm told I did just that. I was 2 or 3.

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4. El Paso, TX (1959)
   I have even less memories of this one. Must have been exciting. I only know about it from pictures.
5. Upper Valley, El Paso, TX (1959)
   This was a way cool, stone cottage my godparents owned. We were near a canal, and used water from that to irrigate the vegetable garden. Huge back yard shaded by giant trees (yes, in El Paso!), excellent corn & tomatoes, and a tire swing.
6. 9532 Blue Wing Drive, El Paso, TX, 79924-6302 (1960-1966)
   Brand new subdivision on the edge of the desert (east side). Watched the sun come up out of the ground over the back wall. First few months listened to the coyotes howl. Tumbleweeds. Roadrunners. Big, hairy, black tarantulas. Big, yellow scorpions. Box turtles. Snakes. Prairie dogs. Wind Storms. Flash floods. Sonic booms. A whole, great, glorious desert to play in (my sand box was bigger than your sand box!) Other science freak friends who thought at 6 they could build RC model rockets (Joe Don Manbeck, where are you?) Tobie Self (my first real girlfriend). Clifford Bossie, Randy, Freddy and lots more friends. What more could a kid ask for?

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7. 2571 Henry St, Augusta, GA, 30904-4653 (1966-1973)
   This was The Big Move. Hated Augusta, loved the house. 2 story 4/2 with attic & basement. Stucco with slate roof. Columns on front porch. Huge trees. No secret passages (we looked really hard).

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8. Techwood Dorm, Ga Tech, Atlanta, GA, 30332 (1973-1974)
   I occupied various rooms my first attempt at college. I first roomed with David Throop here.
9. 2571 Henry St, Augusta, GA, 30904-4653 (1974)
   Oops. Not doing very well. Move back home.
10. Techwood Dorm, Ga Tech, Atlanta, GA, 30332 (1974)
    Doing worse at home. Go off to make my own way in the world. Mooched off friends (Nick Pomponio, Lowell Primm) for 3 months, instead.
11. Some other dorm, Ga Tech, Atlanta, GA, 30332 (1974)
    Techwood dorm closes for Christmas break (1 month). Mooch off another friend (Rick Sachleben) for a month. Hey! A job! What a concept! Burger King? Maybe college isn't so bad after all.
12. Techwood Dorm, Ga Tech, Atlanta, GA, 30332 (1975)
    Re-enroll, get a dorm room I'm paying for. What a concept. By chance, end up with old friend Robin Poole.
13. St. Charles Ave, Atlanta, GA, 30308 (1975)
    Moved in with my girlfriend & her kid (Kathy & Eli).
14. Ferst St, Atlanta, GA, 30332 (1975)
    Kathi and I broke up. I needed someplace until I found something more permanent. Moved in with friends (David Throop, Helen Fairbrother).
15. Some Apartments that have gone away, Atlanta, GA (1975)
    (site of the infamous dog attack and knife incidents)
    I forget their name. Half of them were burned out. When winter hit there was no heat, so in the morning we all gathered around the steamy, heavily leaking, bathtub hot water faucet. Everyone in the building refused to pay rent until we got heat. The place was sold and demolished rather than fixed up. I found out several years later that I still had a record with the management company as a deadbeat because of this!
16. 952 Juniper St, Atlanta, GA, 30309-4153 (1975-1976)
    Moved in with some friends (David Throop, Kenneth Riviere) including new girlfriend (Liz Throop). Old shotgun (row) house. David got the management company to rent it cheap (5/2, in town, $200/month, but we did all repairs except major heating & roof repairs). Rick lived there, but was co-oping, so he let me use his room.
17. Glynn Spivey's house, near Linbergh Dr, Atlanta, GA, 30324 (1976)
    Moved in with a different set of friends (Glynn, Will Sumter, Glynn's brother Keith) after a pretty radical lifestyle change. Glynn owned this place.
18. 957 Myrtle St, Midtown Atlanta, GA, 30309-4145 (1976-1977)
    Glynn got married so we all had to move. I moved in with an old acquaintance (Walter) from college & his friend, a really nice guy whose name I forget. They left shortly thereafter, and Ken & Andre' Bolduc moved in. Ken flipped out & moved out.
19. East Point, GA (1977)
    We moved because our landlady's neighbors couldn't deal with us having a black friend over, and they were making her life miserable. She was close to 80, and we figured she didn't need the hassle. Andre' and I stayed at his parents' house until we found an apartment.
20. Bolton Place Apts, Atlanta, GA, 30318 (1977)
    Still one of the most amazing apartment finds ever. When most 2/1 apts were going for $400/month or more, we found this place for $99/month, water included. Tile floors, but very well kept up. Incredible. No A/C, but lots of shade & whole house fan kept it reasonable, if you didn't use the stove a lot.
21. Bolton Place Apts, Atlanta, GA, 30318 (1977-1978)
    I moved into a different apartment when I got married.
22. 952 Juniper St, Atlanta, GA, 30309-4153 (1978-1979)
    Sharon and I moved into the same house on Juniper St I'd lived in before, with one of the former occupants (David) and one new occupant (Dave Doreau).
23. River Forest Apts, Riverdale, GA (1980-1982)
    We moved closer to Sharon's family so she could be near them during some difficult times for them.
24. 3641 Silver Leaf Ln, Marietta, GA, 30060-5889 (1982-1991)
    Our very own home! OK, the bank's. An awesome buy almost in the sticks, on 3/4 acre. 3/2 with a full basement/garage.
25. Parkway Station, Marietta, GA (1991)
    Lived here 3 months while house was being repaired after the infamous Day of the Tornado. I had left my job, hadn't found another, so spent time every day playing with the kids in the pool, or just outside if it was raining - and it was the stormiest spring I can recall. When we couldn't swim, we played in the rain. When someone with a key robbed us during the move back to the house, the apartment management assembled the staff and explained that unless everything reappeared within 24 hours, they would all be fingerprinted (we had good prints from the scene). Everything reappeared except an old bathrobe, a cheap plastic end table, and Sharon's sewing scissors set. It was a while before we realized they were missing.
26. 3641 Silver Leaf Ln, Marietta, GA, 30060-5889 (1991-1993)
    Moved back in on Thursday. I flew out to a new job in Austin on Sunday. Sharon & the kids stayed with the house because "it will sell faster if it's lived in". Ha!

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27. Canyon Creek Apts, Austin, TX, 78746-2826 (1991)
    Dany Guindi put me up in his apartment until I found somewhere longer term. Since he convinced me to come to PSW Technologies (formerly Pencom Software) for a job, this was only fair.
28. Silver Spur, Round Rock, TX, 78681 (1991)
    Found a guy (Kent) in the paper looking for an apt-mate. Checked out his church. Still go there. Best friends from church lived right across the street.
29. 2313 Newfield Ln, Austin, TX, 78703-2438 (1991-1992)
    Kent moved to San Antonio to go into business with his brother hustling jewelry to high schoolers. Dany had bought a house, and needed someone there to watch it because he traveled a lot. In 10 months we were both in town at the same time less than 2 months.
    This was a really cool house, near U.T. & the drag, but in a quiet part of town, lots of greenery, enclosed front garden, lots of semi-tropical plants, and wooden pillars & beams in the dining room. When he sold, I wanted to buy, but Sharon couldn't stand the thought of living in town.
30. McNutt/Taylor house, Austin, TX (1992)
    Dany got married & got rid of the house, and I couldn't find a place fast enough, so I temporarily moved everything I had in Austin into a spare room at Dinah and Eric's house off Bee Caves Rd. This just left room for the bed & chest of drawers they had in the room (my waterbed went in pieces under this smaller bed). They had access to Barton Springs for swimming, and great views of the sunsets.
31. 1011-A Stobaugh Lane, Austin, TX, 78757-1529 (1992)
    Found another roomie in the paper. Turned out to be my long lost twin brother Jon (by different parents, in a different city, in a different year, but why be picky?). Stayed there til my family finally moved out here - and the house sold shortly thereafter (with no one living in it, of course).
32. I18N Residence Apts, Austin, TX (1993)
    Yet another amazing deal. Huge, 3/3 apartment with pool, etc. 20 minutes from work. $500/month, because nobody wanted 3BR apts in Austin at the time.
33. RR 1 Box 558, Leander, TX, 78641-9413 (1993-1999)
    (Later 11501 Johnson Rd, 78681-5843)
    Finally found a house out here (after tons of looking). 5 acres. Agreed on a price. Appraised at $10K less, so we had to pay that price, instead. Lost about $2K worth of improvements. Oh, well. Stone construction. New roof. Tile flooring. Well water. ISDN. Goat ranch down the road. .22 range out back. Just a few minutes from a public beach at the lake. Big steel barn (became the dogs' home). Chicken coop. Nearest neighbors a hundred yards away. It's not the desert, but I managed to survive!
34. 1705 Oak Forest / Round Rock, TX / 78681-1514 (1999-????)
    5 acres was nice, but with my back trouble I never got around to getting riid of all the cedar and juniper, so it wasn't very useable. The pollen and mold were killing us. And as we got more and more involved with folks near church, it was just too far. So we ended up just outside Round Rock on about 1.5 acres of pretty flat, clear land. We can see the sky almost as well, there are neighbors a bit closer but still not right on top of us. The house is huge compared to others we've been in, and we have enough closet space to use the garage as a garage (almost).