Yes, there a pair of Ducks setting up housekeeping. Yes, I'm concerned about them building a nest in an area that will soon be a pile of wet leaves. I know what it means to move to a place only to find out you're going to be moving again.
But enough about moving, let me tell you what happened when we moved from subtropical Louisiana to snow storm threatened Wisconsin.
Someone has to explain to me how you can move twice in less than a year and, you throw away, give away and sell stuff you think you don't need and the same sized truck is still full when you pull away from the driveway. But I digress.
The crew dropped the moorings and the good ship, with its port o call, Miami Florida on the ships papers, pulled out of Mandeville, Louisiana, on Monday, March 14, 2016. Our destination was Effingham Ilinois. It was going to be a long haul and I don't drive anymore, so the burden fell to Maria. Doesn't always?
We quickly found out or Penske Rental that advertised cruise control was deficient in that area of operation. Maria's foot did the job despite the pain in induced. It obviously had some kind of governor system, because no matter how high the hill, we couldn't get the truck to do more than 70 mph.
It wasn't necessary to schedule stops for rest and refreshment, the fuel tank did that for us. It required four stops to get to Effingham. We paid from $1.71 to $2.39 per gallon for Low Sulfur Deisel fuel. The tank took 40 gallons, but we usually filled it when we got down to a quarter of a tank.
By 7:00 pm, our arrival in Effingham was within the tolerance for the three of us sharing the bench seat in our 28 ft.truck. Everything was fine until ur navigator missed the exit we needed to use to get to our reservation at the Baymont Inn. The next exit was ten miles down the road. Our navigator / fueling specialist was severely criticized for his failure. It was pointed out that it was one of the very few tasks he was asked to perform. His plea that the dog did it went unheard.
The next day was uneventful with the exception being the Illinois Tollway. For our minivan, we have an E-Pass. We didn't have it for this trip, so we had to stop and pay tolls as we progressed. If manually paying tolls are akin to highway robbery than the E-Pass is like getting your pocket picked. Either way, it's expensive.
We got to Appleton and the new digs in the early afternoon, parked the truck, mounted up in our minivan, dropped off the dog at our son's house and proceeded to our good friends Helen and Len Naglers for the night.
Tuesday night in Appleton is Pizza Night for the Toads. The Toads or formally known as The Royal Order of Toads (ROT) is a loose association of people who couldn't join any other citizen group if they wanted too. We convene, if we have nothing else to do, at Frank's Pizza on College Avenue. On any Tuesday night anywhere from two to twenty Toad's and Toadette's gathered to reinforce their belief's and gain confidence that they are not alone in their commitment to making the world a better place for amphibians.
Central to the Toad organization is the memorial to fallen members. The last Toad to pass on is given "The Croak Award". Currently, it's held by Bud Wittwer.
We basked in the renewed association with our brothers and sisters in the force to protect all Amphibians. Even when the waitress forgot to place our order and we didn't get our pizza, the evening did not feel like it was wasted. Let it be noted here that no one, despite the serving of really cheap wine, got wasted.
Our crew to unload arrived on time and had the truck unloaded in about two hours. What I learned, as I watched the truck being unloaded, is that the guys that loaded the truck in Mandeville did a good job until they were about halfway loaded, then they, effectively just pile stuff any way they could. fortunately, the worst that happened was a couple of scrapes that can be repainted.
We were required to return the truck with a full tank of fuel to a local dealer. Our son, Tom volunteered to drive with Maria to the dealer, help pump the fuel and bring her home. The problem was the truck wouldn't start. The local dealer had to order a tow truck to pick it up. We still haven't heard back from them.
There are so many stories to tell, why is Lucy's foot bleeding, was that body parts clogging our drain in our new home, and where did we put all of the crap we hauled up here from NOLA, (?) but I feel that I'm pressing your patience to stay with this as it is. So until next time...
This Poppa Jeff signing off from the new location of Camp Jeff on the shores of Lake Maria.
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