Since Pam’s new job in Naples, Florida, started on Monday, we figured that we should start driving on the Thursday before. We still needed to sell the house in Michigan, so I was to fly back on Tuesday and leave the car with her.
Thursday – leaving
There was a shitton of snow on the night before we left, but the roads were clear when we started driving.
Pam also needed to wrap up a couple of things at her old job, so we didn’t actually start until 1:00pm or so.
We couldn’t even drive that far because Pam had an 8:30pm zoom meeting so we stopped in Sidney, Ohio (a smidgen north of Dayton) to get dinner and a hotel.
Throughout the drive, Pam was fielding calls from one realtor who was helping us sell our old house and another realtor who was helping us find a new house in Naples.
Friday – the middle states
We’d hoped that we would wake up to warmer weather, but that didn’t happen. It was 8 degrees Fahrenheit with a -18 wind chill.
A hundred miles later, the “low tire pressure” light came on. We found a gas station and checked the tires. Two of them were down a couple of pounds so I topped them off. I don’t recommend fiddling with tire valves and their caps in snowy, single digit weather.
As we approached Chattanooga, we saw the last of the snow covered landscapes. When we settled into Marietta for the night, it was a balmy 31 degrees. We could walk from the car to the restaurant without fear of immediate frostbite.
Saturday – the last couple of states
The Georgian day started in the middle 30s and soon warmed up to the 60s by lunchtime. By this time, my parka and flannel shirt were distant memories.
We probably could have driven all of the way to Naples but we hated to waste an opportunity to visit the grandkids and kids so we spent a night in Tampa.
Sunday – Naples
We arrived mid-afternoon and checked into a hotel.
Monday – Pam’s first day of her new job
I dropped Pam off at her new job. Reports are that she likes it.
On the following day, I flew back to Grand Rapids. The plan is that I’ll finish selling the house and either shipping or disposing the house’s contents.
Meanwhile, Pam will keep looking for a house in Naples. She’ll also be looking for a place for us to stay at until we can move into while we look for the house.
When we said goodbye this morning, we had no idea when we’d see each other again. Gotta say that was a pretty strange feeling.
Stephen Squire 