Homeless couple passes through Carson City

They rolled into Carson City, all of their possessions in a shopping cart. They came in search of a new life but left with nothing more than the tattered stuffed monkey and the broken illusions they carried in.

Taking five days, Michael and Eddie, along with another couple, walked from Reno to Carson City with their shopping carts in tow.

One night, they slept in an abandoned restaurant. Another night they slept under a bridge.

The Highway Patrol questioned them a couple of times but each time just told them to keep moving. And they did.

"We kept laughing and talking," Eddie said. "We were kind of having fun, right, Mike?"

"Yep," Michael said.

But the fun ended when they arrived in town. The other couple, Wally and Ardis, wanted to go on to Las Vegas but Michael and Eddie wanted to stay in Carson City.

Feelings were tense, and when an argument erupted over a sandwich, the two couples split ways.

Michael, 44, and Eddie, 55, were determined to establish a new life - another one.

Since they met 23 years ago in a club in Toledo, Ohio, the two have mixed living in abandoned homes and motels with living on the streets.

"Nobody wants to be homeless, but things happen," Michael said.

Eddie, the more vocal of the two, was also the most elaborately dressed. He wore a silver and purple silk scarf around his neck set off by a plastic purple ring. He accented his outfit with a rhinestone earring.

Michael wore a pair of large purple sunglasses.

Eddie said he has not been the same since he was hit by a car when he was 8.

It's because of that accident, he said, that he sometimes gets angry and "has fits when people call me names. Huh, Mike?"

He now collects disability for that accident. He takes anti-depressants and heart medication, paid for through Medicaid.

They also collect welfare, bringing in, they said, $638 every month, which they collect through a post office box in Reno.

For two years, they said, they have been on a waiting list for housing in Seattle. About four months ago, they heard news that a house was available.

They packed up their meager belongings and rode the bus to Seattle. But when they got there, there was no house.

So they spent the next three months living in a park until they panhandled enough money to pay for a half-price Greyhound special back to Reno for $58.

It was on that bus trip they met Wally and Ardis and the foursome decided to work together to find a place to stay.

"When we got to Reno, everything turned disastrous," Eddie said. "Nobody wanted to be bothered so we started our journey."

Along the way, they said, they were met mostly by "nice people."

"One girl gave us $10 and another girl gave us $8," Eddie said. "People gave us sandwiches and coffee."

Others weren't so nice.

"Some people yelled, 'Get off the road!' and 'Go home, hoboes.' Right, Mike?'" Eddie said.

"Right," Michael said.

Once in Carson City, the four headed to Friends In Service Helping, where they were given a meal and offerd a place to stay.

But Michael and Eddie didn't want to stay in the shelter, saying they didn't like "straight" shelters.

"They call you names like queers and fags," Eddie said. "They like to rape you if you're gay. Right, Mike?"

Michael just smiled.

Instead, they opted to brave the cold behind a grocery store.

It was there that Nevada Appeal photographer Brian Corley found them and invited them to stay in his apartment overnight.

The next day, the three of them set out to find a permanent place for Michael and Eddie to stay at least for the winter months.

"We just need to settle down some place," Eddie said. "It's no good to keep going. It makes you feel ashamed. It makes you feel depressed, embarrassed a little bit."

However, at the end of the day, they were headed back to Reno to find a motel for $450 a month.

"We don't like it here. Right, Mike?" Eddie said.

"Right."