Travel to Florida - Looking Back - Moving Stuff Out - Back to Illinois

 Auburndale, FL   (Hi  97      Lo 75)

O'Fallon, IL  (Hi 88  Lo 71)

Sunday June 13:  My sis picked me up at 8am on Sunday for our trip to Florida to get our stuff sorted for the movers on June 16. She comes to Florida every summer for a couple weeks to clean and have do things to her house in Okeechobee.  She's going to help me with the house then I'll go to her place for the night and leave to fly back on Saturday.  We didn't have much traffic. 

As we were traveling we talked about where did we notice changes in Jim. Our friend Lessie and Ed thought about it too. In December last year he was changing words.  He was also complaining a lot more about little things which is totally out of character. He slept more especially in March and April. So we figure subtle little things were going on that we missed. Then the slurring got worse fast. He also acted like he couldn't hear me or understand what I was trying to say. Would be do something different if would have known? It's hindsight that gets you thinking, it might not be just "old age". 

We stopped for the night just north of Montgomery.  We're in Clanton, AL and in motel called the INN at Clanton.  Shoney's next door had great dinner and breakfast is free. 

The second day was just as good, with very little traffic, even for a Monday.  The route she takes is all 4 lanes and good pavement. No semi's like the major highways. We had a great day, and less waiting but bad meals on the two days. No matter where you go the quality just isn't there anymore. We hit rain about the time we got to Haines City and missed our turn to come in by Polk City. We got to our place at 6:00. 

We hit the ground running on Tuesday morning. We're sorting what stays, what goes and take to Goodwill. Sis Doris, and Ed and Lessie when they got here took different areas. I would say what goes with me and we made piles. I have to think about what I want, I'm going into a smaller place. I'm going to miss the lake and the birds, but where we're going they have a smaller lake and birds that come in during the summer. In some ways I won't miss the Florida place, always a fear of hurricanes. 

We heard from the movers and verified what I was taking. I added a few things and they adjusted the price. I had several calls between the company I to get it right. Moving and Storage Squad have been super great so far.  (Click on the photos to enlarge). 

What goes what stays, just put stickers on the doors or item. 

                                            Ed worked on getting the mother boards out of old laptops. 

                                                Doris and I sorting bowls. 

                                            I have 35 puzzles to do. 

                                            Lessie is holding up our RV traveling map. 

I took time to get my haircut when we took stuff to the thrift store.  

We're getting the summer rains. Everyday it rains in the afternoon, and the humidity is high. I won't miss that at all. My sis and I aren't  sleeping at night. Our minds are running at top speed.  I got a text from Frank that is with his dad  in PT. He's walking better. He looks great. They're hoping to get his strength back before next week's chemo and radiation treatments. 

Thursday the movers were to come between 1 and 4:00, they arrived a few minutes after 3:00.  Great! At least they showed up. There was the driver and another guy that has been with them two weeks. He was learning. When the driver checked on what was going he raised the price $3,000. WHAT!  I didn't want to fight it a lot because I could see them going out the door and I'd be stuck. The office asked what is going that wasn't to be put in boxes and I gave her a list. She didn't mention anything about what was going in boxes or how much, also nothing was said that I was suppose to pack it. They just picked up everything and threw it in a box, the only thing wrapped was the wine glasses and a couple other things that were glass. So the worry now, will I even get my "stuff" and when. I had it scheduled for June 21, when the driver was done he said any day from 21 to 27. That's going to cause a problem if it's the 23rd. That's Jim's day in the first radiation and chemo. He's suppose to be released on the 24th. 

The packing was done about 9:00. We left quite a bit but this is what the place looks like. 

We left at 9:30 and headed to Okeechobee to my sisters house. It's a two hour trip and it was late, but we did quite well with no traffic. When we got to the house the repair guy had put in her new doors. They have new keys, we couldn't get in. It was midnight so we headed to a motel. We got woke up from neighbors so got up and went back to the house. She got the keys from manager so we got into the house. . We hadn't eaten since early afternoon yesterday so food was on the agenda, plus coffee. We relaxed and didn't do anything today. I worked mainly on cancelling the garbage and pest control. It took awhile for the garbage, they didn't have us listed (finally found us). We had a great dinner and just relaxed the rest of the night.  

Saturday:  We both slept really great all night. We got up, had some breakfast and took off to Punta Gorda, FL airport. It's a small airport which serves Allegiance airlines. We got there in plenty of time. The place was packed. I got thru the lines and waited for the plane about forty five minutes. I didn't have anyone sitting beside me in either seats and slept most of the way home. The tropical storm in Louisiana and the storms in the Midwest made for a bumpy ride. It felt like being on  a rough road. It could have been worse, but sure wasn't a smooth trip like a normal flight. It was good flying again. 

                            At the airport. It looked like this at all six gates. 

Frank picked me up and took me to my car and I went on to the rehab to be with Jim. He was at PT (physical Therapy) when I got there. I talked with the therapy gal and got caught up with the weeks activities. Jim is walking better but speech still needs some work. Overall he will be coming home on Thursday and still starting chemo and radiation on Wednesday. Now to get our household stuff here before all that starts. Jim was in good spirits and glad to see me. Now on to another very hectic week.