We actually are back in long pants, long sleeved shirts, sweatshirts, and leather jackets. Last night the weather service issued a freeze warning for the entire area, and this morning we awoke to 30 degree temperatures... which was warm compared to the 29 degrees that greeted us on Sunday morning! We heard that the temperature this morning tied a record for the coldest May 13; thankfully, temperatures back into the 70s are predicted for later on this week. Only in Wisconsin...
Before I go further, my friend Bonnie scolded me for not completing my saga of the stain across the Florida Room floor. So to finish that story, I can report that Rob did eventually come back to Gladys to bleach out the new stain he created on the floor and to polish out the dull section of the floor that was under the poultice. The results, sadly, were not a good as we had hoped for. The new stain that he promised would come out did, for the most part, but the joint between the two floors in that area is slightly darker and more noticeable. The overall large stain is lighter than it was before, but it has not totally disappeared. Rob filled in the patches that came out with the poultice, and we are happy with the job he did blending those spots into the rest of the floor.
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| The floor after the poultice is gone but before the floor was polished. After buffing, the stain is lighter but is not totally gone. |
I am not sorry that we tried to get the stain out because by coming back, Rob also buffed out some scratches on the floor, repaired a problem area in the master bath, and lightened the stain that was in the center of the kitchen floor. We both had hoped that the large stain would be erased, but I guess that stain will just be a reminder of the doors that used to grace the house. Like a birthmark, the stain is part of who Gladys was and is, so we will just put up with it. Ironically, the stain lightened the most on the area of the floor that is completely hidden by the couch. Figures, right?
The trip home was long, tedious, and exhaustive. For some reason, neither Rick nor I seem to be able to get our energy back. We did the trip in two days, and that probably was a big mistake. We started by getting up at 3:00 a.m. on Friday morning. I had not slept well at all on Thursday evening, finally moving to the guest room at midnight so my tossing and turning did not keep Rick awake all night. I finally dozed off a bit, but I do not think that either of us got the rest we truly needed.
At that time of the morning, our trip through Tampa was fast and uneventful. We ate muffins and drank orange juice from cartons at about 6:00 a.m while continuing to drive . Rick drove until northern Florida, and then I took over on Highway 10 across the panhandle. Lunch was compliments of Publix Grocery store: they make mean submarine sandwiches that we really enjoy, so we bought two on Thursday and packed them into our electric cooler. A wayside lunch of sandwiches, pretzels, grapes, and water did not delay us too much, and we were soon traveling the sunny highways of Alabama.
We reached a certain point in Alabama where Rick said, "Isn't this the place that we saw the genuine Alabama horse's ass?" (Note: Rick drives by landmarks, and apparently that episode in our ride down was stored in the mapping region of his brain.)
"I think so, " I said as I looked over the highway and surrounding fields. "All I see, though, are cows." At that point, as if on cue, a very broad cow turned her backside to the road, unceremoniously lifted her tail, and presented us with the gift of a large, steaming, freshly-produced genuine Alabama cow pie! Icky! You will be happy to know that I do not have a picture to include with this part of the narrative.
Traffic was good through Alabama, and we traveled through the two largest cities, Montgomery and Birmingham, with ease. After living for the last four months in the most populated county in Florida, I guess that even large city traffic seems not so bad. Actually, we have had very little trouble with those two cities in the past. The city that always gets us is Nashville, and that metropolis was not on our agenda the first day.
Rick drove through most of Alabama, with us switching off driving again in Tennessee. We noted on this trip that once a person gets north of Ocala, Florida, the palm trees disappear, being replaced by trees and evergreens that one could see in Wisconsin. Alabama is called the "Beautiful State," but if one looks through the beautiful trees, one is greeted by miles and miles of beat up shacks and unkept, grubby homesteads. Poverty and boiled peanuts seem to go hand-in-hand in the state. Tennessee and Kentucky both greeted us with lush greenery, blooming shrubs and trees, and definitely a higher standard of living. We drove as far as Columbia, Tennessee, the first night. Columbia is just south of Nashville, and we did not want to tackle that city at the end of an 11 hour drive.
We both beat the alarm awake on Saturday morning, so we were back on the road by 4:15 a.m. We had about a half-hour drive to get to Nashville, and I will admit that driving through the city before 5:00 a.m. on a weekend is the way to go. We encountered rain, as we generally do in Nashville, but traffic was light so we were able to get through the city without much tension. The last time we went through Nashville we were involved in a rainstorm so strong that we could not even hear directions on the Garmin, and traffic was high while visibility was low. This time we could hear the GPS directions, the rain was sprinkles, and the traffic was light. Compared to last time, this time was a breeze. We followed the rain all the way through Illinois without really catching up to any major storms.
Illinois is a never-ending state when all one wants to do is reach a destination. We switched drivers about every three hours because Illinois is flat and boring, and after abut three hours, highway hypnosis starts to take away that defensive driving edge. Once again, Rick ended up driving more than I did since I refused to drive around Chicago and Milwaukee. I told him once we got north of Milwaukee, I would take over, but he was stubborn, so he actually drove from one hour south of Chicago all the way to Green Bay.
The one thing that we noticed was that the minute we crossed into Illinois, the temperatures started to drop, and by the time we reached Chicago, we had crossed from summer to spring, then back into late winter. I honestly admit that if we did not have family and friends in Wisconsin, we would sell this "summer home" and live permanently in Florida -- and this is coming from a woman who spent the last two summers and hurricane seasons in the stormy, steamy south! We both hate cold weather that much. Yes, Wisconsin has many things like good education, good customer service, superior elderly care, and good healthcare services going for it, but it just cannot seem to get the weather right!
For now, though, we are home. Lindsay gave us both a big hug, so maybe she did miss us more than our truck. She and Christopher were sweethearts, thoughtfully turning on our refrigerator and stocking it with breakfast essentials so we did not have to eat out on Sunday morning. The house looks good, thanks to their watchful care this winter, and we now look forward to getting our spring and summer life into full swing. We have a badly neglected yard to attend to, a rummage sale to rid this house (which seems terribly dark and cluttered after Gladys) of the excess possessions we have accumulated over the years, and a few local trips to take to remind us why we will have a delightful time spending the summer and fall in Wisconsin.
Driving from Florida to Wisconsin in two days is an exhaustive task, but we now know that whether we are in Florida or Wisconsin, we can truly say, "It's good to be home."
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