Christmas Letter 2023

“If we had no winter, the spring would not be so pleasant: if we did not sometimes taste of adversity, prosperity would not be so welcome.”

~ Anne Bradstreet, 1612-1672

2023 comes to an end with a huge sigh of relief from deep within our home and hearts. When you end one year and look forward to the next, you just never really know what's in store, which holds true throughout the last 20 years of these annual Christmas Letters. This year was no different! Hold onto your seats as we welcome you to share in another year of the Downing Christmas Letter! 

Overall, 2023 wasn't terrible, it was simply unexpected. It could have been terrible, though. Yes, the possibility of terribleness seemed to be a very real edge to fall off of. However, getting through difficult times, for us, is set on pillars of prayer, preparation, and persistence. Three P’s to live by. 

Ironclad Marriages with hugs!

At the start of the year, Cheryl and I taught a 10-week marriage class through our church. We named the class Ironclad Marriages. We had an amazing experience working as a team to help couples, not only work through their own challenges, but to embrace new, healthy relationship skills. Using Cheryl's expression, it was FABULOUS! 

Here’s a fun fact: Scientifically, hugging your spouse for 30-seconds (without patting their back) releases neurochemicals, such as the hormone oxytocin, which plays an important role in social bonding, slows down heart rate, and reduces stress and anxiety levels. We all could use a little more oxytocin in our day, right? This is best with a spouse or significant other, rather than strangers who might resist. In my opinion, the one-armed, 1.22-second, shoulder-to-shoulder hug is a good gesture for everyone else. The manly, one-hand clasp, shoulder/chest bump is good as well, unless you’re significantly taller, then it’s awkward bumping belly against chest. 

During the class series, we made a switch to Sophia's educational experience from a traditional, albeit private, classroom-style setting to a homeschooling setting. It was interesting going through a transition to homeschooling while teaching a class about marriage, which includes parenting. It wasn't what we wanted to do, it's what we had to do. A number of reasons wove the fabric of our decision, but after much thought, it was the best for this season. Sophia ultimately finished 4th grade curriculum in six months, and she's on track to finish fifth grade by May, 2024. She is super smart, but it's her generous heart that carries her through life.

Gifts from a Girl

Her heart, by the way, helped her raise enough money to sponsor five children for Christmas through our church’s community assistance center! She sold a ton of cookies, and many people joined her passion and donated money to the cause. Sophia glowed when she realized her efforts brought in enough to sponsor the five kids when her original target was only two. 

I know I just broke away from the chronological events of 2023, but the subject seemed worthy of jumping around 2023 a bit. 

Let’s see… where was I…? All this jumping around threw off my story. Well, let’s go with this one next:

Impacts for All!

The summer afternoon of June 4th started like most in Florida - tall, dramatic clouds constantly changing shape as the thunderstorms gathered in the gulf. Those ominous clouds promised to deliver a healthy dose of rain for about 15 minutes before heading into the distance. This day, however, came with a twist. I was riding my Harley. Cheryl and Sophia were in the MINI Cooper. I was in the lead as we parted from our friend’s house, cruising through several communities heading home. Almost immediately, the wind turned monstrous, tearing limbs from the trees, and casting debris across the roads we traveled. Then came the rain. Not small rain, but insane volumes lashing sideways with the wind. The term “torrential” really doesn’t do justice to the rain. Within minutes, the streets began to flood. Heavy currents grew past the gutters and filled the streets. 

My motorcycle was doing fine as long as I didn’t go too fast, which caused the front end to shutter violently. Interestingly, I’ve ridden through floodwaters in the past. The Willamette River in Corvallis, Oregon spilled its banks, and I rode about 1,000 feet through the flooded highway. So, I’m a seasoned professional! Cheryl and I were talking on the phone via my Bluetooth helmet, and she suggested that the MINI could help clear a path for me and stay on the crown of the road, if one existed. She took the lead, and her idea worked well, dodging branches, blocking the wind and navigating along the highpoints on the roads.

We were a few miles from home still, when I heard Sophia proclaim, “I think it’s starting to hail!” I responded with doubt and a deep hope that it wasn’t so. Seconds later, I felt the hail against my arms. I did have a waterproof windbreaker over my biker vest, but I didn’t have a leather jacket to protect myself. At first, the hail popped off my arms, hands and helmet in small, fragile pellets. Then the hail got a little bigger, and I began to feel the impact. Cheryl asked how I was doing, riding through the violent wind, rain, flood, and now hail. I told her I was fine and to keep going. 

That lasted for another minute or so, and I found myself getting pummeled by hailstones the size of quarters. Yes, it hurt… It hurt a lot! I told Cheryl I’d had enough, and I spotted a long driveway to a public maintenance yard about 200 feet ahead on the left. I followed her into the turning lane with my hazards on behind her. The oncoming lane was clear of vehicles, and she began her left turn into the driveway. 

Suddenly, from behind us, driving the wrong way, a car raced up, hitting the MINI in the rear driver's door. I watched my wife and daughter get hit! The driver attempted to go around her, but I blocked him with my motorcycle, to his great frustration. While Cheryl pulled the car up the driveway, I waved the driver to follow her, which he did. The man jumped out of his car, waving his arms around, yelling at Cheryl as she sat with her doors locked. He accused her of wrecking his car and that he couldn’t afford another accident. That’s right - another accident! Recognizing the man as a potential physical threat to my family, I engaged my drill sergeant/ Darth Vader persona, and said some things I’m not going to put in this Christmas Letter. They were not cheerful, to be sure. Fortunately, his demeanor transitioned to a more amicable state as he realized this rather large biker was the husband of the lady he just hit. 

The driver said the large hailstones started to shatter his windshield, and he panicked. He desperately needed to get under cover at the Shell station down the road, and couldn’t stay in the line of vehicles moving too slow for his panic-stricken mind. Fortunately, during our interaction, the hail stopped and the rain subsided enough to deal with the issue at hand. The girls were sore and needed chiropractic care, and the car was repaired without any challenge from the driver’s insurance. Everything is back to normal now. We’re thankful that I was not in the lane when the guy decided to lose his ever-loving-mind and smack right into the MINI. To be sure, my Harley wouldn’t have fared as well. 

Three P's in Action

While I’m bouncing around 2023, let’s back up to May. Again, during our Ironclad Marriage class, I had a quick transition from full-time employment to being an independent business consultant. For us, as it turns out, Cinco de Mayo was not a day to celebrate the 1862 victorious battle where the Mexican army handed the French a swift beating. It was a day that marked the beginning of a race to build a consulting business. Feliz Cinco de Mayo. 

What emerged was The North Star Advantage, LLC. As the summer seemed to fly by, I picked up some business start-up gigs, along with several projects focused on operational analysis and growth strategies, one of which was nearly a month long.  

Remember when I said our lives are set on the three P’s: prayer, preparation, and persistence? In the case of starting my consulting business, preparation wasn’t available, but prayer and persistence certainly were. Our preparation over the last five years or so, however, served us well, although not without a heightened persistence to pinch pennies along the way. 

To answer the question that may be on your mind: Yes, I did search for full-time, permanent employment. I searched A LOT! My resume is robust, but rather specialized, and cross-over skills are a challenge to communicate through the application process. Pressing forward to bring money into the home was a key priority, and the frustration of receiving a steady flow of rejection emails really weighed on us. Yes, it weighed on us, but did not break us. We pressed in and pushed through. Winston Churchill once said “It's not enough that we do our best; sometimes we have to do what's required.” This is how we lived for the remainder of 2023.

I think the opportunity to work through these tough seasons during the time we were teaching a marriage class gave us an opportunity to not only be open and real with the class, but to practice what we preach. We did not battle one-another, which would have been an easy trap to fall into. We sought God’s perspective and direction daily, and the testimonies that came from this season are amazing! It’s best summed up like this: Wow, simply wow!

Casting my net one more time

We had the three P’s fully engaged, doing what we could to keep pressing forward, and then we had a very concerning glimpse at the bottom of our reserve account. In October, God gave me specific direction to make another attempt to find a job in the field of my specialty, even though my previous attempts came up empty. I cast my request to a handful of folks I knew in the industry, and I immediately received a hot lead! I jumped on it, and over the following weeks I was interviewed several times, and negotiated a national manager’s position with a large construction company. God’s timing is impeccable, and is beyond coincidence when the moving parts that lead up to my hiring are explored. Pretty amazing!

2023 comes to a close with a renewed drive and purpose, a much deeper level of faith, and a host of amazing testimonies to share. If you take anything from our 2023 Christmas Letter, remember the three P’s for you and your family! Be well!

“In adversity remember to keep an even mind.” 

~ Horace, 65 BC-8BC

John and Cheryl Downing

Christmas Letter 2022

    We just finished our first full calendar year in the beautiful sunshine state of Florida, and we absolutely love it here. The warm, sandy beaches, amazing sunsets, lightning storms that are better than fireworks, and abundant wildlife makes our new state fantastic, or to use Cheryl’s favorite word “fabulous!” Yeah, it rains in the summer months and hurricane season is a real thing, but we’re okay with all of it. More on the hurricane topic in just a bit. 

“Courage is the price that Life exacts for granting peace.”

~ Amelia Earhart (1897 - 1937), Courage, 1927

Soggy second story, an adventure in restoration, remodeling, and running water

    In November, 2021 we discovered our master bathroom shower pan failed and had been soaking into the subfloor for a couple months before finally making an appearance through the dining room ceiling, which is immediately below. We were faced with the difficult task of redesigning the entire master bathroom about two years ahead of our original schedule. 

    Cheryl and I negotiated the new design over a glass of wine and quickly agreed and had another glass to celebrate. It was magical! The last bathroom redesign discussion lasted more than a month. Fortunately, we filed an insurance claim and we had started contacting licensed contractors for quotes using the Downing-approved design. Unfortunately, there are a lot of contractors around here that are not licensed or say they are when in fact they are not. A business license and a contractors license, in fact, are two distinctly different things. Silly people, anyhow.

Finding a licensed contractor took a lot longer than anticipated, but the bathroom finally came together nicely. We ditched the old jetted tub and small shower for a JOHN SIZED walk-in shower nearly 8 ft tall! Beautiful, large tile and not a shower door in sight! The vanity has raised vessel sinks and a custom glass top with glass shards on display beneath.

    The final touch is my own handiwork: a water-wall! We can enjoy the sight and sound of non-stop flowing water with mood lighting that matches lights beneath the vanity. Nothing tugs at your romantic heart stings like a mood-lit water-wall. Also, nothing tugs at your bladder like constantly flowing water!

Marching over Manhattan

    In the spring, I made my first trip to Manhattan. Before leaving, I enjoyed the advice and counsel of my wife and several friends who lived or worked in Manhattan. Do this… don’t do this… don’t look like a tourist… do eat at a bodega… do eat pizza by the slice… don’t take the wrong subway… do ask transit police for directions… respect umbrella protocol on the streets… don’t smile at people or make eye contact EVER. I followed most of the advice, but I didn’t ask for directions from the transit police because I had Cheryl! The seasoned New Yorker with mad skills at navigating the public transit system kept me on track. 

    I did make it to the top of the Empire State Building with the help of a past work comrade with access. Unfortunately, the top viewing area on the 102nd floor was tucked high into a thick rain cloud, complete with strong winds to ward off any silly tourist thinking to venture outside at that height. Well, I was that silly tourist! Yes, indeed! I walked briskly around the 102nd floor observation deck pressing through stinging rain and torrential winds. Sure, I was drenched but I refused to pass up a chance like that!

Good grief the girl is golfing

Last Christmas I gave Cheryl a starter set of golf clubs. She’d been saying before Christmas that she wasn’t interested, so that clearly meant she needed a set of clubs, because I’m a good listener. Well, our friends were so gracious to give her tips that it didn’t take long for her to apply those tips and start playing pretty well! She’s so in-tune with her body mechanics, someone could say she needed to move her pinky toe to the left while swinging her driver, and she’d totally make it work. We’re golfing more, and now she looks forward to it! Listen to your lady, gentlemen! It pays off :-) 

Touristy things

This year we finally made it to SeaWorld, GatorLand, and Busch Gardens. GatorLand is the oldest theme park in Florida, and the gators, crocodiles, wildlife, etc. were awesome! The jumping gator demonstration was everything you might think of if dinosaurs suddenly launched up from the depths to grab whole chickens from some underpaid dude’s hand just for the crowd’s enjoyment.

    Sophia (9 years old) loved SeaWorld, although she was ¼” too short to ride the big roller coasters. Dolphins were her favorite, but the seal and sea otter show was a close second. I convinced her to go on the Atlantis water ride with me toward the end of the day, but it didn’t take long before she started yelling “I’M NEVER DOING THIS AGAIN!” and “THAT’S IT! I’M DONE! NEVER AGAIN!” Come to find out, the scary evil face about two minutes into the ride didn’t sit well with her, then the long blind drop only further exacerbated her trauma, and finally one last set of blind drops and a lot of tossing about proved to be the final straw. She ran to Cheryl who gave her a moment to vent and a few minutes of mom-hugs to make it all better. So, I’m going out on a limb here to say that she may not have enjoyed the Atlantis ride very much. 

Busch Gardens is a totally different story. Cheryl and Sophia hit several of the fast roller coasters, but the Cheetah Hunt shook them up the most. It’s one of the faster rides in Florida, and I just happened to capture a picture of their pure joy as they raced by. I’m not a huge fan of roller coasters, but what I really, really don’t like are the rides for little kids. Yes, I said it. Those little carts that are top-heavy, leaning hard as the cart does hairpin turns 40 feet above the hard earth below. One sharp turn after the next, over and over and over, The bolts are loose, I can feel it. I’m barely wedged into the cart like a gorilla in a shoebox, and I’m towering above the already unstable cart, which lurches well beyond the safety of the tracks, which I’m confident will break the angle of repose at any moment, sending me and my family down four stories to our horrible demise. I’ve decided I’d rather go on rides like Cheetah Hunt that may be seriously fast, but they aren’t designed to thin the population of people over 6 ft tall. 

Peace in Preparation

    This year we stared into the face of nature's fury, not once but twice. Sort of. For a moment, at least. Hurricanes Ian and Nicole targeted Florida this year, and for a few long hours, Ian was projected to plow right into us. The spaghetti mess of weather forecast lines suggested its eye was heading directly over our house. Fortunately, we’re not in an evacuation zone, even if it did smack right into us. Fortunately, we’re fully prepared for an extended stay without utilities. Fortunately, we were at peace and positioned to help others in need. Fortunately, we had a lot of toilet paper, just in case there was a run on the stores for that precious commodity. A great bartering tool, as the start of COVID taught us. Fortunately, Tampa hasn’t had a direct hit for over 102 years, and that record still holds to this day. Ian decided to suddenly side-step to the east and destroy a beautiful community a couple hours south of us. We had gray skies and mild winds, but nothing like it could have been. 

    Then… a late storm attacked the east side of the state and marched across the land directly toward us. Even after crossing the state, diminishing as it did, we had more wind and rain than Ian ever delivered to us. Even so, we fared exceptionally well, even though there were surrounding communities that did lose power and utilities. For us, it was like a typical weather front in Oregon, but with gators and palm trees. 

Tooth Trauma

    Let’s take a quick step back to the early years of the John & Cheryl dynasty when things were new and fresh, like the pizza we enjoyed one summer evening. The pizza was delicious, with artichoke hearts and an amazing white sauce. The artichoke hearts, as it turned out, had a very fresh piece of gravel that shattered my upper-right molar! The pizza shop owner paid for the tooth repair, which seemed Roman-built. Nothing was going to move that massive metal filling! That was back then…. This is now. 

    The tooth held up for nearly 15 years, but then slowly over the year, contact with anything other than lukewarm temperatures brought intense pain that finally grew unbearable. The dentist couldn’t help. He referred me to a specialist to do a root canal the next day. Well, that specialist couldn’t help either, although he showed great mercy on me and cored the root out just to ease the pain. Neither my dentist or root canal specialist could pull the tooth for some reason, although I certainly asked them to just yank it out and I’ll take it from there. Nope! Here comes yet another specialist into my life, but not for nearly three weeks! Sheesh, my DIY garage solutions were starting to look somewhat reasonable. Fortunately, Cheryl reminded me that self-performing medical procedures haven't worked well in the past, although I have been known to give it a try. The specialist pulled the tooth out in roughly 13.6 seconds and sent me on my way, toothless and happy on my Harley. Sure, it took about a week to work through the recovery, but I made it like a trooper. Sadly, they kept my tooth and the tooth fairy didn’t leave anything under my pillow. I guess there needs to be a physical exchange, tooth for coin, and she holds firm to that policy. Does the dental office staff stash freshly pulled teeth under their pillows at the end of each day? Is that why they all drive exotic vehicles? I want to know!!!

A "little" change

    For those that know Cheryl, she enjoys scooting around in her go-kart, I mean MINI Cooper. The little thing can corner like there isn’t a cop for miles around. And when it comes to style, the sporty, black custom stripes and pink license plate frame that says “Forget my driving, how’s my hair?”, there’s just no doubt this little thing belongs to Cheryl. However, the MINI serves as our family car, and I’m occasionally teased when people see me driving or crawling to get out from only inches off the ground. Yes, it only has 5.7 inches of ground clearance, and as I’m 6’4”, that’s pretty low. It’s not uncommon for some of my buddies to say I look like a gorilla in a shoebox or similar jab. The fact remains that it’s pretty close to the truth. 

    The MINI started showing signs of mechanical issues I was ill equipped to contend with, and any warranty was far in the rearview mirror. The saying in our family is “Dad fixes everything”, but that’s more of a generalization, although I do have a wide range of skills that keep things going. Rebuilding or swapping an engine of a European vehicle only slightly bigger than my favorite Hot Wheels car is what I potentially faced. So, what do we do? We go scouting around for a newer MINI. 

    As it turns out, after seriously considering a different brand of vehicle, which lasted a grueling 3.84 minutes, MINI Cooper remained as the front runner for our next vehicle. So off we went to hunt for our next MINI. Fun fact: BMW (maker of MINI) capitalizes the name MINI to differentiate from the old style, which is simply Mini. 

    Anyhow, back to the story. We found a dealer across Tampa with a nice inventory, but the slightly used vehicles always had something missing. We would be stepping backward in style and features just to have a newer vehicle. Not cool for my family! So I pointed across the car lot and said, “let’s take a look at that one.” Cheryl’s face spoke volumes with concern, dismay, curiosity and some excitement. The sales lady said it was loaded and brand new. Others looked at it but couldn’t pass the finance requirements. So, it sat there all dressed up but nowhere to go. So we looked. Then we drove. Then we negotiated. Then we traded in our older MINI and drove it home. During the negotiations, we noticed something a bit off with the sales lady and the sales manager. They didn’t seem to know how to negotiate very well. When the deal was finished and we were getting prepared to leave, the sales lady said they hadn’t experienced anyone negotiate like that for over two years, and they weren’t really prepared for it. I can say with great confidence that we got an AMAZING deal on the purchase and the trade in, and Sophia even gets a free MINI t-shirt as part of my final bargaining I tossed in at the last minute. That took them by surprise as they agreed to everything I asked for, and it lightened the mood, bringing some humor back into the room. So there you have it, Cheryl’s fully loaded, top-of-the-line MINI Cooper that fits her and Sophia’s size and style, and my need for a great car at a fantastic price. Yeah, it could be a bit bigger, but my wife and daughter love the car, and that makes it the perfect car for our family. 

Hope you all have a fantastic Christmas and an amazing 2023!

"Every day you may make progress. Every step may be fruitful. Yet there will stretch out before you an ever-lengthening, ever-ascending, ever-improving path. You know you will never get to the end of the journey. But this, so far from discouraging, only adds to the joy and glory of the climb.”

~ Sir Winston Churchill (1874 - 1965)

Christmas Letter 2021

 

“Look with favour upon a bold beginning.”

Virgil (70 BC - 19 BC)

This year is unlike anything we’ve experienced, and I’ve pondered the best way to write the 2021 Christmas letter without making it too long. I thought about releasing the stories in 12 chapters, like the 12 days of Christmas because there’s just SO much to tell!” There’s just SO much to tell! Let’s start with the end… we’re very happy living in Tampa, Florida. Boom! Just like that, we went from Oregon to Florida. Well, it wasn’t “just like that,” but we are very happy. Let’s start with some of our shorter stories before diving into the whirlwind of change.

Cheryl's recovery

If you read the last Christmas letter, you’ll recall that Cheryl suffered a traumatic head injury that left her unable to drive, along with some other challenges. You’ll be happy to hear she’s doing amazingly well! She had incredible improvement through acupuncture early in the year. While we were driving across the country, she started experiencing healing with her vision! When we made it to Tampa, she experienced sudden improvements that actually happened during church worship service! It’s a fantastic testimony, which was foretold by a friend in June. There are only a few things she’s still working through, but the improvements are nothing short of a miracle.

Home Group

Before leaving Oregon, we finished hosting nearly a full year of a home church fellowship group. We missed only one of the weekly gatherings across an entire year! Big deal? Yes, I believe it was a very big deal. With the state closing everything down, churches going virtual, and the crazy yo-yo policies around controlling citizens to lessen the curve of the Coronavirus, we continually held a closed-group of folks that very quickly became family. Even though we’re now in Florida, the group successfully transferred to others hosts and continues even to this day.
 

Questions and More Questions 

We knew in our hearts that we were supposed to leave Oregon at some point. So we prayed and asked and prayed and asked, and then it happened. We asked and God said “Go”. So, of course, we asked again… and again… and again. Tampa was very clearly the answer. You know the saying, if you do something over and over expecting different results, that’s insanity. Neither of us enjoy the idea of being labeled as insane, so we finally said okay. The fun part was when we asked Sophia to see if God told her anything about something called “Tampa”. We knew for a fact she didn’t have a clue what Tampa was. Within 30-seconds of her silent inquiry, she rattled off alarming specifics about Tampa that she would have NEVER known! This included the buildings, airport, lizards, beaches, and hay. We were a bit confused by the fields of hay, but it turns out there’s a significant agricultural region about 20 minutes north.
 
Crazy, huh? We knew we were supposed to move out of Oregon at some point, but after repeatedly asking God for direction and opportunity, it didn’t start to take shape until June, 2021. 

SOLD!

We lived in our house in Salem for six years and one month. We updated most of the house, and even created a master bathroom suite some noted as “sexy,” an assessment I wholeheartedly agree with! Super sexy, really! While other homes in the area had bid wars, ours was SO sexy that there was a delay before the bidders stepped up to play. Before we knew it, everything fell into line and I gave a 3.25-week notice at my job. The good thing about selling at the top of a market is that debt can be erased in a blink of an eye, especially after working our tails off. Good reward, I’d say!

Scooby, the Alpha Male

In July, Sophia and I jumped in my car and went on a three-day, two-night camping adventure into southern and western Oregon. We weren’t able to get passes into the Oregon Caves, because the government restricted tours to very small groups. Instead, we found ourselves at a Great Cats World Park. We toured the park with the group, guided by a knowledgeable hostess, and everything was fine until Scooby came to meet us. Scooby is a massive male white tiger that is the alpha of his world. Scooby noticed that I stood taller than the rest of the group, and immediately viewed me as a threat to his empire. He lowered his head, opened his massive jaws and announced a growl that made my soul shiver! The guide, alarmed at Scooby’s aggression, turned to find me nearby. “Sir, you need to back away a few steps,” she said with concerned authority. I certainly did not hesitate, and Scooby retained his rightful place as king of the park.

We made it to the Oregon Coast for a windy and cold night in a campground, and the next day made it to a sandy beach where we said goodbye to the Pacific Ocean as the ice-cold surf splashed around our ankles. We called out in shock as the water washed ashore, and promptly went back to the car to warm up. We made a video of our reaction as the surf assaulted our nerve endings so we wouldn’t forget to appreciate the warmth of the Florida waters. 

Pack 'em up, move 'em out

The end of July brought the voluntary end of my job and the end of our time in Salem, Oregon. After several unpleasant attempts to find a moving company to do the 3,096 mile trek for us, we found a 26-foot Budget rental truck with a trailer to haul the Mini Cooper. I sold my car, used professional and voluntary help to pack the truck like a Tetris Masterclass, and launched away from our home of six years onto the nation’s wild roads.

The long haul - My wallet out the window in Wyoming, a true tale.

The drive started off easy enough. The truck had a governor that held it to 63 MPH, which is similar to the governor of Oregon (think about it). That derailed my scheduled travel, especially when the truck couldn’t do much more than 40 MPH uphill. In the most rigorous mountain passes, we could only hope to reach a stunning 35 MPH. When the heavy-haul trucks blasted past us going uphill with a strong headwind, we knew our travel schedule faced a serious setback. We anticipated six days of travel… but as you’ll see in a moment, that was derailed even further. 

August in Wyoming isn’t terribly hot, so we danced between open windows and air conditioning. We stayed the night at Little America, Wyoming, and when we started off the next morning, I unwisely placed my wallet against the wing-window for “safe keeping.” I hung my water bottle from the lever of that same wing-window for ease of access, but the bottle blocked my view of the wallet… which flew out the window when I opened it. Yes, I lost my wallet in Wyoming, ten miles east of Little America. It has all the makings of a country song! You might imagine the shock and grieving process that I had to work through before I got my wits about me, thanks to Cheryl’s logic and bank cards. So, with no license or bank access, we managed to cancel everything and determined that the wallet and all the precious contents would promptly and repeatedly get ground into the asphalt by the non-stop truck traffic, then baked in the sun and eventually face the deep freeze of Wyoming winters. If you ever get to cruise past Little America, Wyoming, you’ll note the absence of pretty much everything. Seriously, there’s nothing but wide, open plains of sagebrush and dirt… and now there’s a wallet. 

The great breakdown 

We continued our trek across the great plains, into corn country, and as we passed into Missouri, an alert appeared on the dashboard. A strange, orange upside-down triangle, to be exact. Thanks to technology, our quick-fingered research about International Truck warning indicators said the transmission was failing and it could be a serious issue. We found ourselves at a tiny gas station on the outskirts of a place called St. Joseph, Missouri with a broken truck, waiting for a return call from Budget Truck roadside assistance. After a couple hours, they said they would have us stay at a Holiday Inn Express in St. Joseph, and there was actually a repair shop in town that could help. I don’t recall them saying to NOT drive to the hotel, so I did just that. They really should be specific about these things. About 20 minutes later, we found the hotel we’d call home for the next three nights. The truck and all our belongings were towed to a repair shop, leaving the Mini Cooper on the trailer in the hotel parking lot. 

Budget didn’t do well for us in this circumstance, although the people on the phone were very nice. The authorization needed by the repair shop was delayed. The diagnosis was delayed as well, which ultimately concluded that the transmission was completely dry and needed to be replaced. Budget said they would find us a replacement truck when one came available within 200 miles of our location. Sadly, the only major city within that range was Kansas City, which didn’t have any trucks. To our dismay, Budget Truck Rental said it could be days or weeks to find us a replacement, and to just enjoy our stay at the hotel, which they would reimburse us for eventually. In light of this unfortunate position we found ourselves in, we were together, healthy, happy, and near restaurants and a shopping center.

 

We faced a time crunch to get Sophia to a mandatory in-person orientation for her new school, though. We needed a solution and Budget Rental wasn’t willing to go outside of their 200-mile policy for us. So, we came up with an answer: Cheryl and Sophia would fly from Kansas City to Tampa just in time to make the school orientation, and I would get our stuff moved into a local storage, abandon Budget completely and drive the Mini the rest of the way. I explained this to Budget representatives, and as remarkable as it sounds, they found a truck for us within a couple hours.

 

Cheryl and Sophia made it to Tampa on time for school, and to tour the home we made an offer on. Oh, did I forget to mention we were trying to buy a home this entire time? Yes indeed! Our real estate agent was actively giving us video tours of prospective homes as we made our way across the US, and while we were in St. Joseph struggling with our abandonment issues, we had our offer accepted and home inspections were underway. More about that later… back to our story.

Busted leftovers

The new truck arrived and was beautiful--with low miles--promising smooth roads ahead. I waited patiently as a local company swapped our belongings from the old truck to the new truck. They parked the back ends of the trucks together and went to work shuffling things around. The swap crew, sadly, wasn't skilled at the art of Tetris like the guys that packed our truck in Oregon.

 

Finally, they asked me to look at the collection of furniture that didn’t make it into the new truck. “These won’t fit,” their leader stated. “What do you want to do?” The darkening sky threatened rain and lightning was a strange reflection of my mood at that moment. I told them to pull everything out and start over, which didn’t sit well with their leader. He promptly called his boss and exploded into a tirade of expletives that should have gotten him fired on the spot. Somehow, the boss got him to agree to remove and repack some of the items, but not all. On a positive note, their second attempt was 99% successful, leaving only our ottoman behind with a promise to ship it, which never happened. Unfortunately, they broke apart several pieces of furniture and damaged others just to make it all fit. We found out later that they set aside all our packing blankets and bubble wrap instead of using it as it had been originally. A lot of our belongings were damaged or outright destroyed by these guys. Even after all that, I was able to get a few hours on the road in a nice new truck that actually was capable of freeway speeds. It was like having a renewed burst of wind beneath my wings!

Flying to paradise,  driving through storms 

Cheryl and Sophia flew from Kansas City to Tampa just in time to attend the mandatory meeting at Sophia’s new school and visit the new home just as the final inspections were done. Sophia’s school is a private school with only seven kids in her class. She’d never been exposed to cursive penmanship in Oregon, but in Florida they start before learning to print! She caught on exceptionally fast and enjoys “fancy writing.”

 

While Cheryl and Sophia had a few days in Tampa without me, getting to stay at our friends’ condo within a block from the beautiful beaches of St. Pete’s Beach community, I hit the road with a new truck towing the Mini Cooper on a trailer. The drive started off with perfect weather and easy traffic. As it turns out, the perfect weather was suddenly under assault by an enormous weather front that raged across the plains from my left. I looked into the storm and realized that it held so much water that the chaos immediately following it had a beautiful blue haze swirling in the madness of charcoal clouds. So much water that the clouds were blue! In pure amazement I watched this storm move with incredible ferocity along a path that perfectly intersected with mine. Then it hit.

 

The initial hit from the storm drove the 18-wheeler ahead of me almost off the road! I slowed down and braced for impact. The large Budget truck was pushed hard to the right, but I was prepared after witnessing the big rig in front me get blasted. I slowed to trail the lead truck and could barely see him through the torrential downpour. Within minutes, I felt my left leg soaked with rainwater pouring through the truck windshield. It wasn’t cold, but for a moment I thought I’d lost bladder control, which would have been a whole different story to tell.

 

About an hour passed before the storm pushed by, and I was exhausted from the continual fight to stay on the road and behind the trucker ahead of me. That was storm number one. Before I made it to Florida, I hit three equally ferocious storms. Each time my left leg was entirely soaked.

 

We found out later that the new Budget truck had several holes in the roof of the cargo area. You can imagine the frustration when we found our belongings damaged or destroyed from the swap crew in St. Joseph and further damaged by the water that poured in during the three storms. 

New home, New beginnings

Just as we prepared to leave Oregon, I found myself with a great offer to join a construction material supply company as the National Business Development Director. It started off as the eastern US, but soon transitioned into a full national role. The excitement of working with a company as it expands across the nation is pretty awesome. Unlike my previous job, this one has no glass walls or glass ceilings... Only upward momentum with the nation as my playground.

 

Remember that we were purchasing our next home while we were stuck in St. Joseph? Cheryl and Sophia toured the home at the end of the inspection period, and we got everything finalized in short order. We stayed at an extended stay Marriott for nearly two weeks near Sophia’s school, which worked out amazingly well because I’d accumulated enough travel rewards from my years with my old job that it didn’t cost us a dime! The people were great, and we finally moved into the new house near the end of August. 

The house is rather large with a bonus room so big that Cheryl is teaching ballroom classes during the week! We found the benefit of a massive lanai, which is a metal-framed structure in the back of the house that has screens to keep bugs and creatures out. Well, for the most part, anyhow. Sophia loved chasing and catching the little gecko lizards that frequented the lanai for a while. We fixed most of the little holes they squeezed through, but occasionally one will come hang out with us. She did find out that the little bodies don’t hold up well to human handling, and that when they’re stiff they aren’t sleeping. Now she directs them into a bowl to catch them, and gently releases them into the yard to go live a long, exciting life outside of the lanai. 

About three weeks after we moved in, my Harley finally arrived. The shipping company treated it exceptionally well, although the schedule they promised had no basis in reality. The delivery truck had a lift gate that barely fit the motorcycle’s long wheelbase, and after some very tense moments of jockeying it around on the liftgate, they finally managed to lower it to the ground without dumping it over the side. The tires barely held onto the edges of the platform, and the guy was as stressed as I was but didn’t say anything until after he rolled it off the street.

 As we determined to customize the home, Cheryl jumped on the interior painting almost immediately, and I swapped the overly ornate chandeliers with contemporary styles. I built a TV feature wall with LED lights that looks pretty awesome. We love outdoor living in the lanai and outfitted the space with plenty of seating. In fact, the annual Christmas tree trimming party ended up playing games in the lanai, because that’s what you do in Florida. Cheryl had to settle with a 9-foot tree this year, which is considerably smaller than the 14-foot trees she’d typically select over the last six years. Frankly, I’m pretty happy that we didn’t need a dozen or more adults to move a tree from farm to home. 

As of writing this final part, Sophia just celebrated her 9th birthday at the local community pool with 84-degree temperatures and clear skies! December birthday parties outside by the pool are fantastic! She and her friends swam and played, and ate cake, and swam some more…

Living in Florida has been great! We live on the fourth hole of a golf course, and every pond and small lake throughout the golf course has at least one alligator, some of which are stunningly large! We had very tall sand cranes dance for us outside of our lanai and there’s no shortage of lizards, frogs and beautiful birds of all types. We even have a large hawk that frequents our backyard.

Trigger Time

As you read this next section, some of you might not like my perspective and may outright disagree with what I have to say. You might get triggered, and I might get “canceled”, which I found out is all too easy for some to do. I’m okay if that happens. The fun part of living in America is that we all get a voice. Well, that’s the way it’s supposed to be, anyway. I’m happy to have a conversation with level minds, so feel free to reach out for a health chat. To some, these thoughts might come as a surprise. You see, I’m not one to assert my position without knowing that the persons I’m talking with have a mature consideration for alternate positions. So, let’s see how this works, shall we?

 

We found out rather quickly that the differences between the Oregon and Florida state governments are like night and day. The ongoing, increasing overreach and control grabbed by the Oregon governor at the expense of the citizens in the name of medical necessity is nothing less than a socialist regime jockeying into position with little opposition. The ever-changing rules issued almost weekly by the governor was exhausting! In the middle of all the chaos, the super-majority legislative body announced that the nation's most strict gun control laws were decided on without public input and made law-abiding citizens subject to greater consequences than the worst hard-core drug dealers, pedophiles and felons. Regarding COVID, you weren’t supposed to have more than six people together in one house, but you could stand in line at a big box store with hundreds of people you didn’t know. Children suffered with unprepared online attempts at “education” while the political elites flaunted the fact the rules they set did not apply to them.

 

The rise of Antifa had been downplayed by the media and the government, while I personally watched the black & red clothed thugs assault peaceful assemblies at the state capitol too many times. I worked downtown Portland and walked by the blocks that were torched and trashed by the violent “protests” that were clearly intent on burning down police stations or federal buildings in the name of…. Well, nobody had a clear answer to that, actually. Racial injustice? Government overreach? Police reform? Police abuse? Did anyone get prosecuted for this? For the most part, no. Catch and release until the next night, then simply repeat.

 

It didn’t take long to see that the Oregon governor and state legislative body not only abandoned their duties to represent and protect the people of Oregon, but they worked collectively to impose controls and restrict rights of the citizens. The oppression is real, and when we moved to Florida, the release was almost tangible. Florida’s governor and legislative body serve and protect the rights and freedoms of their citizens, the way America is supposed to be. The people treat each other with a healthy respect for individual choices, like masks or the experimental COVID-19 vaccine & boosters. Interestingly, Florida has the nation’s lowest illness and death rate while being the most open and free of government restrictions.

It’s great to be in a state that loves and respects freedom! Our fellow Floridians have enjoyed their freedoms since early into the COVID-19 pandemic, and most can’t really relate to what is to live under such oppression as Oregonians have been faced with since early 2020. We feel like refugees in a new land! Again, we’re grateful to be in Florida!

“For to be free is not merely to cast off one's chains, but to live in a way that respects and enhances the freedom of others.”

Nelson Mandela (1918 - 2013)