We are home -- in Green Bay, that is. For now, this still seems to hold the title of "home" more than Gladys does, although as time goes on and we begin to split our year into six months in each place, that may change.
Our second day of travel toward Wisconsin began with a planned later start. We were up at 5:00 a.m. (now in Central Time) and went down to the hotel lobby for breakfast. Unfortunately, this was not a breakfast that Julia Child would have raved about. The eggs were powdered, the formerly-frozen French toast sticks were reheated -- and now almost cold -- fossilized planks, and even the sweet rolls, according to Rick, were less than spectacular. Ah, well... at least no one forced us to try the grits!
We got off to a good start from Athens, AL, and soon crossed the border into Tennessee. We agreed that Rick would drive through Nashville, and I am so glad that he did. On the way down to Florida, we were blessed with sunshine all the way, and up to that point in our return trip, the sun had also been with us. Then Mother Nature remembered that she had not washed our truck in a while. Just as we got to the southern part of Nashville, the rain started. The more we got into the unfamiliar city, the harder the rain fell. We soon found ourselves in the middle of a good, old-fashioned cloud-burst, gully-washer of a storm. The windshield wipers could not keep up with the waterfall, so our visibility was approximately 2 feet in front of us. The rain beat on the truck so hard, I thought that it would wash the paint off. We could not hear the directions coming from the GPS system, and reading signs was impossible. Naturally, we were in very heavy traffic since this was in the very middle of Nashville.
How we managed to navigate through that city still amazes me, but somehow we made the right turns, and we did not hit anyone or have anyone hit us. Of course, once we were through the worst of it, the rain began to subside. Go figure. An hour north of Nashville, the sun came out and the day turned hot.
We changed roles driving every few hours, getting out to stretch and to use the restroom, so by noon we were through Tennessee and Kentucky, and we entered Illinois. Other than California, Illinois has to be the longest state in the nation to try to drive through. (OK, I admit that Texas is large, too, but Illinois seems to go on forever.) About mid-way through the state, our second "event" of the day happened. I was driving, the sun was beating on me, and I mentioned to Rick that I was really hot.
"You're just having a hot flash," the smart-aleck replied.
"I don't care, " I said. "Turn the %$#& air conditioner down."
He obliged, but the truck didn't. No matter what buttons he pushed, the air conditioner, which was NOT functioning, did not go on. He worked on the buttons and switches for about half an hour, checked the manual, and then began to fret about the fact that a new compressor could cost us a $1000 to fix. None of this was making me any cooler. We rolled down the windows and began to "enjoy" the 88 degree Illinois air.
When we reached Campaigne, we decided that since the GPS said we would be in Rockford -- our destination -- by 4:00 p.m. we might as well just push our limits a few more hours and drive home. The temperatures were not getting any cooler, and we did not want to face another day with a hot ride in the car. We cancelled our hotel reservation, and continued on with Green Bay as our destination. With sore muscles and flat butts, we arrived home before 9:00 p.m. after approximately 14 hours in the car.
I have no idea if the long drive left us so exhausted or if the bed really is that much more comfortable than the air mattress we have slept on for the past eight weeks, but when we hit the pillows a little over an hour later, that was all I remember. The bed felt SO good that I was out cold for the night. I am sure Rick snored, but even that did not keep me awake.
Side note: ironically, when Rick moved the truck in the driveway this morning, the air conditioning came on as if to apologize for its misbehavior the day before. We hope that indicates that we just had a switch go bad on us. We will find out when we take the truck in on Monday.
I beg Charles Dickens' forgiveness for altering the title of his famous work for the title of this last blog, but I now find myself trying to make a transition between two totally different worlds. We have lived in this home in Green Bay for the past 21 years, and we have done extensive remodeling in that time. I know every nook and cranny, I know where everything is stored, and we have worked very hard to make this home the best that it can be. This home is a modest ranch house, but it seems like a luxurious palace after living in Gladys. I have granite counter-tops in the kitchen and bathrooms, a dishwasher in which to place dirty dishes, Kohler fixtures everywhere, a Miele washer and drier in the basement, and beautiful tile in the newly remodeled bathrooms. And this place seems so BIG! We have a two car garage and a full basement that actually seems fairly empty since we took most of the furniture from there to Florida. The landscape is green and lush (although a bit overgrown), and we each have our own home office from which to use our computers.
Gladys is a work in progress. She shows great potential, but she also promises a tremendous amount of work. We have only known her a couple of months in somewhat adverse weather conditions, but we know the true opportunity she presents. We have made great strides in her infrastructure this year -- a new electrical panel and updated wiring in places, a new heat exchanger and air conditioner, all new insulation in the attic, removal of pests and termites, refinished terrazzo floors, and fresh paint in two rooms. We know that doors and windows will be expensive upgrades that face us yet, as well as walling in a laundry room and moving the master bathroom wall. All of those things must wait for a renewed budget and recovered energy. She will be a beauty in time, and only when we finally have time to spend six months of the year in her (three years from now) will we really know what it is like to live in Florida.
We hope that Gladys will become as much of a home to us as Green Bay is. Right now Green Bay also means family, work, and responsibilities. We have been blessed to have Lindsay and Christopher in town to watch over the Green Bay house, but since they just bought a home of their own, we know that we cannot keep imposing on them to care for our home next summer also. Green Bay also means the responsibilities of work and paychecks so that we can maintain two homes. This world is the familiar world of reality while Gladys still seems to be "playing house" without having to worry about the work side of life. Gladys is "vacation" yet (even though we worked our butts off!) while Green Bay is structure and reality.
We are caught between two cultures, so we will be interested to see how this will change as the years go on. Will we reach a point where Gladys will be as much "home" to us as our home in Green Bay the more we make her our own? Will both places become vacation homes after we both retire? Will we be able to afford both homes once we retire? All of those questions remain unanswered right now.
For now, Gladys is still an adventure with lots of unknowns. Green Bay is welcoming, familiar security. Eventually, I hope they both will become places that we can call "home".
I finish this blog with a bit of regret, but check on it again in June 2012 when we start Year 2 in our transformation of Gladys from a worn-out old lady into a grand old dame!
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