That's amazing - 15 miles per gallon.

Sam, go check moderately priced hotels. Many will charge cheaper rates for monthly renters. And you get free maid service to boot! I did that when I moved to Dallas. I rented a room at the Super 8 nearby and paid about $400 a month for three months until I got better accommodations.

Thanks, Brian. That would be great advise if this was the off season, but the tourists are starting to show up and rooms by the week or month are impossible to find. Durango is surrounded by Nat'l Forest Campgrounds. I'll just hit one of those and sleep under the camper shell of the truck.

As a random side note, you could also get paid to donate plasma. You can get as much as $300 per month if you go frequently.

if you don't work don't eat

I have this thing about selling blood. If there's a blood drive or something, I donate mine free. I'm just weird that way.

Plasma's different than plain blood. It takes a lot longer to donate, about an hour, it hurts a little more, and the donor screening is more rigorous. They prefer steady, routine donors, rather than a bunch of random volunteers. And, they test you for specific uncommon antibodies, and if you have those, you are even more desirable because they can extract those for certain immune therapies.

Sure that's what they use plasma for. Do you think we're stupid?

did this for years. apheresis donation

So, here's an update on my continuing quest to find gainful employment. Unfortunately, it's not good news.

Remember how I listed one possibility as working up in Telluride at the Mountain Village Resort as a gardener? Well, I applied, but never heard back from them. I figured they had hired an illegal alien in my place, since an obscene number of gardening/landscaping jobs in Colorado's resort towns are carried out by Juan and his amigos - none of whom can speak English.

I have been out of town for a few days and when I got back late Friday, there was a call from Mountain village wanting me to come interview for the gardening job. Alas, the time period they gave for the interviews is already past. :(

I'm going to call them Tuesday to see if the positions (they need several dedicated weed pullers and plant pruners) have all been filled yet. I'll explain that I didn't get the message until Friday and that I'd be happy to drive up and interview at their convenience - even if they would just consider me as a back-up in case someone doesn't show or quits.

I'm not very optimistic, though. This is typical of the luck I've been having in my quest for work. I also just got a job announcement written in Spanish for gardening work up in Aspen. WTF? Maybe I should head down to Juarez and cross back over to the States with all the illegals. Maybe THEN someone would give me work? :mad:

awwww....that sucks, Sam. Hopefully they'll see you anyways. And maybe you should get that job annoucement in Aspen translated. :D