Linda Newhouse:  

ine because I had stopped paying rent and I got food-stamps. When I had to move, I obviously couldn't afford rent anywhere. I had looked for a job after Social Services, but had not landed one. My solution was to buy an old U-haul truck that I could fit most of my stuff in, including my king size bed. I lived in the truck for about 6 months. The hardest part about being homeless is finding a place to park overnight. Both Eureka and Arcata have ordinances against that. It is interesting that there is really kind of a homeless community. I met some really nice people. The guys always kept an eye out for the women, to help us out if needed. My advice for anyone who becomes homeless is get rid of your stuff and find as small of a vehicle as you can fit in. Paying for gas and driving around and trying to park at the post office is very difficult in a big truck. The other interesting thing about being homeless is that the post office won't rent you a PO Box unless you have an address - so. I lied and used my old address. Finding a place to shower was the other problem with being homeless. In a larger area, there might be truck-stops with showers, but here the only truck stop didn't have showers. The homeless agency couldn't afford the water bill if they offered showers. I finally applied for disability and was granted it almost immediately - a very unusual occurrence. This enabled me to rent a room again. I am still living there. I live in a large 4 bedroom apartment in a small room. The primary renters, sub-rent 3 of the bedrooms. I have 5 housemates that are good people. There has been quite a flow of people through here. A couple of them we had to call the cops on. The best one was a guy who was never here, because he always stayed at his girl friend's. I am enjoying my retirement. I spend almost all my time on my computer. I read a lot and work on my family-tree. My mom's father's family goes back to 1662 when they arrived in America. That part of the tree is pretty easy to trace as there are only two men that came over and took that last name (van Meter(en)). There are a few more that have come here since then. My dad's family is much more difficult. He was adopted. His adoptive family is fairly easy to trace, However, his birth parents are much more difficult. About 10 years ago, Canada finally opened their adoption records. His father denied paternity. My father was named after him (his adoptive parents changed his name). His father went as far as to name his first son, from a later marriage, the same name. My dad was finally able to get in contact with his step-siblings. My father looks almost exactly like his father, more-so than his two other son's that don't really look like him. His birth mother was married a few times and I haven't been able to determine her maiden name. I've rattled on enough about that. I can bore you with this subject for a very long time. I was able to do some traveling in my younger days. I spent about a month backpacking around Austria with my sister - that was a couple of years after High School. I went to Hawaii with a friend from college, whose parents live there. It was a great trip and the weather was wonderful at Christmas time. The ocean water is lukewarm. I had fun snorkeling and swimming at the beach. I spent 6 weeks driving alone to Alaska and back. Unfortunately I hit a wet gray summer and I missed a college friend who was working away from home while I was there. I have been to Canada a few times to visit relatives in Saskatchewan (where my parents were born). Other than that my trips have been closer to home. I've been to Arizona a few times to visit one of my sisters. I've also been to Nevada to visit my other sister. I learned to cross-country ski with a couple of friends who convinced me to ski 4 miles into a cabin near Sequoia National Park. It took us forever because I hadn't learned to glide yet. I more or less was walking on my skis. We did that a couple of years. As you can tell from this, like most people, I've had some bad times and some good times. Now, I am very much enjoying not working.