The Diva Flies South

Georgia and Beyond!

2010-06-18T21:08:00.001-07:00

Tom hates driving thru Georgia. I hate driving thru Georgia. Aside from the fact that every time we have been on I-75 in Georgia, we have ended up in a hours long traffic jam, the mere mention that I will be a stone's throw away from my younger brother sends my mom's guilt factory into overdrive. I love my brother, I do. But my brother is a severe alcoholic, and chronic redneck. The only time I hear from him is at Christmas when I receive a drunken phone call wishing me a "Happy Jesus's Birthday." Fortunately, we have severe time constraints, the Chilluns and the rental car, so Mom at least pretends to understand. But, no 20 miles into Georgia, we find ourselves in a what? You guessed it! A traffic jam.

We'd like to be angry, but since we pretty much expected it, we just laugh the laugh of the carefree, or the deranged, I am not sure. Our destination for our overnight stay is the Motel 6 in Cartersville Jaw-jah. Frugalla, the tiny Jewish woman who lives inside me, is ecstatic because I have a coupon for a free night's stay! I am not expecting much since the last M6 I stayed at was such a rat hole, that I got the free coupon to assuage me. It came with a really nice letter of apology and everything! We get to the Cartersville M6 about 6-ish. My mind keeps thinking about the sitcom Carter Country. "Handle it Roy, Handle it! Handle it!"

The outside of the motel looks nice enough.

The manager Brenda, is working since "everbuddy" called off because the snow was "a-comin." Her big hair, and sheer Loh-retta Lynn style made me warm to her immediately. That and the fact she kept calling me Ma'am even after seeing my ID.

That reminds me a joke. This Georgia Highway Patrolmen stops a pickup speeding across the Tenn/Ga border. As he walks up to the driver's side, he asks the Hillbilly

"You got any ID?"

the Hillbilly replies "Bout whut?"

If you say it out loud in your best redneck accent, it is really funny...I swear!

We get to the room which is nice and clean btw, and release the Chilluns. They take up their normal motel positions. Toodles hides under the bed, Tigoofy runs around crying for food to calm his frayed nerves, and Opie sprawls across the bed and tries to order room service.

I was too tired to eat anything substantial, which is good because the only actual restarant is already closed and the 24 hour McDonalds is all that's left. We both take a LOVELY hot bath and fall asleep by 8.
We woke at 4 am and were so excited to get on the road. We fed the Chilluns, showered, clean the Chilluns' toilette and packed up. Tom said there was no way he was entering the state of Florida in long pants so we both donned shorts and tees and he dashed outside to get the car. We were greeted with the following scenes. Of course it was much darker when we left the hotel.

So we drove slowly into the dark morning, keeping an eye out for black ice and listening to weather reports for Atlanta. There was a 21 car pile up on the interstate. The bad news was the 21 car pile p on the interstate. The good news was it was Not on I-75 South. Despite all ice, sludge, and snow. we made it past Atlanta in good time and by noon we saw the Promised Land!

Tennessee Anyone? Anyone?

2010-06-18T00:59:00.000-07:00

I really have nothing to say about Tennessee. We weren't in it long enough. The snowstorm was right behind us all the way. If we stopped for food. The snow would start falling. If we stopped to pee, the snow would start falling. It was annoying! The cats had finally quieted to an occasional complaint. I talked my head off trying to keep Tom entertained. We went thru a Burger King drive-thru in Chattanooga. The boy that was at the window was just a banjo away from a starring role in Deliverance II. I asked about how far we had to go to hit and got this response:
"Yer pertnear perty close!"
That about sums up Tennessee.

Picture it...

2010-06-10T10:45:00.000-07:00

January 7th 2010, Newport Ky

It was cold morning in the tiny hamlet. An aging Diva packs the final box for the trek to warmer climes. Her erstwhile companion has gone to get the deluxe chariot they have rented for themselves and the 3 Chilluns. The sound of Heart, Barracuda, fills the empty apartment. Seems the rental company does not have the size car we reserved. The Diva says take what they have. A snowstorm is on the horizon and she is eager to be gone. When the erstwhile Companion returns, he is seated in a pretty, red, Ford...FOCUS? How the Frik am I s'posed to fit my life, your life and 3 freakin' yowling cats in a Freakin' FORD FOCUS!? But we managed after leaving several boxes for the neighbors to fight over. And off we went into the snowy morning.

I'd like to say that everything after that went as planned. But then, it would not be my life! The snows stalked us all the way past Lexington. The cats yowled all the way past Willaimsburg. By the time we reached the Tennessee border we were frazzled. But that's a story for a different day!

The Chilluns

2010-05-21T12:04:00.000-07:00

Toodles Kate

Tigoofi-San

Opium Ann

The 3 reasons we spent almost 1000 dollars driving down as opposed to flying down for 500.
Things are quieting down and getting on an even keel so I will have time to catch up on my Many months of blogging!

11 Days and Counting

2009-12-27T11:28:00.000-08:00

Time is fairly flying by now. In 11 days at 10 am, we will be heading for new lives in Florida. Cincinnati seems to be making it a lot easier for me to leave and not look back. My doctors could not give me the time of day. I have several "friends" who just refuse to talk to me for moving. I had some "friends" make plans to get together before I go, only to be no call/no shows. A couple of my closest friends make me feel so guilty if i even mention moving. Some of it is understandable. A lot of it is heartbreaking. I could see if it was halfway around the world, or in ancient days and a 2 day trip by stagecoach. It is a 2 hour flight from St Petersburg to Cincinnati and the cost is no longer prohibitive. And planes fly both ways!
Despite all that, I cannot help but feel excited by this adventure. I just have so much left to do in 10 days! Some things will be left undone because it involved some of the "friends" mentioned above. The most important thing left to do is getting comfortable carriers for the "kids". I must say that driving 1000 miles with 3 cats is causing me a bit of worry. I spoke to the vet and he gave me the name of an effective herbal calming spray. Each one has a favorite blanky, in Toodles' case it is Tom's hoody. Those will go in the carriers and we plan to rotate letting each one out for a duration after we see how the spray works. I hope to test it before we go and I have my test subject picked out...Tigoofy. He was raised badly and thankfully was still an adolescent when we got him. He still has issues which cause him to go running thru the house yowling. If the food bowls are empty, he just knows we are not going to feed him anymore. If the food bowls are full he eats all of them because he may not eat for a while. If we go to sleep he is afraid we don't love him. He is a bit of a bully during play with the girls because he has always had to be. We will see how this stuff works on him.
I would write more but I have to go sort clothes. Yay!

Gonna Be Busy Packing So...

2009-12-19T06:33:00.001-08:00

We're In It Now!

2009-12-15T11:09:00.000-08:00

We are now to a point where it would cost us more money to stay that to move to Florida, which is a good place to be. The temporary lodgings have been acquired. The one way plane tickt for Tom has been bought. The rental car reservation has been made. In three weeks from Thursday we will start the glorious trek to Florida.

Personally, it's not soon enough! I am freezing!

The Florida Suite by Frederick Delius

2009-12-09T14:56:00.000-08:00

Lull

2009-11-29T06:02:00.000-08:00

No new info to report so why not look at some lovely shots of St Petersburg taken by local residents. So pretty!

Rainbow over the Gulf of Mexico

Our new neighbors

Night Skyline

Downtown with boats

46 days to go!

The Digs

2009-11-16T20:39:00.000-08:00

I am not one to buy something sight unseen. so I have been researching apartments in St Pete. Tom already has a job lined up but will not start getting paid for probably 3 weeks once he starts. We agreed that a residential hotel would be the best bet. So many of them do not take pets so it really limited the options. Then I came across a lady who is from KY and we really hit it off over the phone. she has apartments that she rents by the week (all utilities included inc wi-fi). She said to call her when we start done and she will find us someplace nice. If it is not exactly what we want, we can move when one comes available.
Google maps is amazing. I love being able to get a street view. Sometimes when I am down I pick a point in Saint Petersburg and "go for a drive." Anyway. I have searched out some of the buildings and their locations downtown. I must say that I am not horrified by any of them.

this one is my favorite.

very close to Mirror Lake

pretty and very cheap but sadly next door to a Halfway House. Ummm..only as a last resort.

Like this one a lot too!

These are all in the main downtown area and within walking distance to many wonderful things such as The Pier, The Salvador Dali Museum, the Aquarium and several interesting looking eateries. I am getting very excited!

Drop Off Fee? We Don't Need No Stinkin' Drop Off Fee!

2009-11-14T05:49:00.000-08:00

I am discovering that car rental companies have quite the scam going. Let's say you are moving to...Oh let's say...Florida. You only need a rental car for the one way trip. You research the companies and find the one with the best rates and go to make the tentative reservations. As you select the car, a seriously great rate of 148.00 for 4 days, when a screen pops up saying that a drop off fee may be charged. Oh well what could it be really? Enough to cover the drive back to the orignal pick up point right? 389 dollars! WTF?!? After checking other companies, they all seem to charge about the same thing for one way rentals. Out-freaking-rageous! So we look at other possibilities and none seem feasible. Finally it dawns on me. How much would it be for a round trip rental? and how much for a one way plane ticket back to Tampa/St Pete? Let's revue

one way car rental with drop off fee - 620.00

round trip car rental- 227.00
one way flight- 181.00
total 408.00

Frugalla was ecstatic!

So the plan is pack up the cats and various necessities. Store the rest in a friends basement(good reason to come visiting when it's warm!) Drive down, unload the car at our new digs. Tom will drive back and take the flight home while I guard the chilluns. So now we just have to find the new digs!
Oh yeah, I forgot to add in the price of the Valiums we are going to have to purchase for Tom's flight back. He really hates flying!

A Germ Of An Idea

2009-11-13T07:00:00.001-08:00

Back in August, we were discussing how much we hate this area. Cincinnati may be good for some but if you have lung problems, it is hell. Tom has terrible allergies and is allergic to 37 of the 39 indigenous trees in the Ohio Valley. I am suffering from liver falure on my 2nd liver and have no immune system so I am also constantly getting lung infections in the winter. Jokingly, I said that the last time I remeber Tom being able to breathe was when we had gone to St Petersburg for my birthday one year. The ocean breezes seem to keep his allergies at bay.
"So let's think about moving down there." He said.
And that's how the idea began. Things started falling into place. The transplnt center lost several more doctors and was no longer on the Top 10 list. They told me that it was highly unlike;y that I would be placed on the transplant list this year since I was fairly stable. I started researching the are and found the cost of living in the St pete area fairly comparable to here if not a little cheaper. And one of Tom's sons lives there. And then there's the beach. Tom is a sun baby. He is completely happy baking in the hot sun. Me, not so much. I always pictured myself as one of those chi-chi old ladies that wear gauzy caftans, big sun hats, and oversized sun glasses. I love the ocean, I love people watching, and I love seafood!
So it was decided, Florida bound we shall be. Now to make all this feasible. That takes some know-how and money. So far we have the know how and the little old Jewish woman the lives inside of me has found deals and ways around added charges and fees! Sometime Frugalla can cause me some angst but when she's on the trail of a deal, she's relentless!
This blog is about how I get to Florida and the adventures along the way! I hope you have as much fun as I have had looking things up!