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)
