Yesterday was an adventure and kind of amazing.
I had a DMV appointment to get my CA "Real ID." I didn't have my original birth certificate so they said I would have to reschedule my appointment. While all the back and forth was going on because I told them TSA accepted the copy I had, I texted Mika and told her I needed my original birth certificate. Anyhow, the DMV went as far as giving me a "case number" so that I wouldn't have to fill out that paperwork again but they still wouldn't budge on the birth certificate so I went home to look for the certified copy.
When I got home I looked around and found more copies but I don't have my original. That's when I posted about the county clerk's office. Mika text me and said to head to city hall, and that she had filled out all the forms I needed online and to print them out and take them with me. James and I went to city hall, logged in and got a waiting number and took a couple of seats in a crowded room. We were up and out of there in about 40 minutes. Not the 2 or 3 hours I was expecting.
When I was at DMV the first time I overheard a worker tell another person to go to "Window 31" and speak to the manager and see if they would honor their missed appointment time. So I bravely headed back to the DMV to see if "Window 31" would help me out. I stood in the non-existent window (it goes from 30 and jumps to 40) for twenty minutes. Those people will look you dead in the eye while they ignore you standing there. After twenty minutes a lady, who had been parading around behind the counter doing absolutely nothing for those twenty minutes approached me asking "Can I help you? Have you been waiting long?" (I'm pretty sure she was trying to bait me into anger.) I smiled and thanked her profusely for helping me, explained what I needed and showed her my paperwork and documents. She gave me a waiting list number and I was off to purgatory. I only had to wait about 40 minutes before being helped only to find that they were going to invalidate my current ID and issue a temporary ID. I told them that I was flying soon and needed my ID for TSA and asked if TSA would accept an expired ID. The people there didn't know and said the person that did know wasn't working that day. I asked if they could call TSA for me and they did (to my surprise). They said TSA wouldn't accept the temporary ID and told me to keep my license and reschedule the appointment for after I got back as long as it was before my license expired.
So I left. No renewal. No real ID.
On my way home I stopped by TSA because it's near my house and they said I could fly with my invalidated ID and the temporary permit. :wallbash:
I don't know about you guys, but standing in lines all day left me exhausted . . . and a little miffed about the misinformation.
My next adventure will be August 2nd, the day after I get back from Hawaii and the day before my license expires. Hopefully that day will go smoothly.
It is pretty amazing what you can get accomplished online though. In the old days I would have had to drive down just to get the forms, fill them out, gather my documents required by the form and then head back to stand in line. Same with city hall. That was my bright side. It's not as bad as it used to be. That, and I'm fully prepared for August 2nd.
). Oregon won't have a Real ID option until mid-2020 at the earliest, so the passport cards were a good move anyway.
