First things first: Cindy is doing pretty well with PT even though it is slow and frustrating. The surgeon did a great job on the surgery and the wrist is healing well, so that just leaves the stress fracture in her foot as an area of concern! We are maintaining our plans for the next trip, flying to Lisbon on Nov. 2 and taking a cruise back to Ft. Lauderdale, and we figure the PT exercises are eminently portable. She just has to learn how to dance on one foot.
We have been housebound for six weeks and Cindy had five days between PT appointments, so we decided to visit our friends in Greensboro since we had cancelled the day Cindy was injured. We were eager to take Petite Rouge, our new ruby red Escape on a trip. We had received a note from the dealership indicating that their records showed that we must be ready for a five thousand mile checkup. We had driven only 250 miles!! So we packed and had everything in the car so that we could leave right after doctor and dentist appointments on Thursday.
We had decided to stop for the night in Roanoke since we couldn’t leave Charles Town until three and didn’t want to push it. From the minute we got into the car until we pulled into the Holiday Inn Express in Roanoke, it rained to beat the band and nothing is more fun that driving on I-81 in a pouring rain. We almost turned around but Cindy had recently “discovered” some neighbors from 42 years ago who live in Roanoke part of the year and they were going to meet us for drinks. While we drove they texted that due to flooding they probably wouldn’t make it downtown - and then once we arrived we checked with the restaurant and found out it was closing at 7 pm due to problems in their restrooms from the flooding. Too late to go back home! But lo and behold, the waters subsided and we found another restaurant and the friends made it downtown after all. It was a delightful evening - they’ve had a fascinating life and even lived in Germany for 3 years while we lived there.
So far, so good - but then we found out early Friday morning that most of Greensboro was without power due to a horrendous windstorm that was a part of hurricane Michael on Thursday. That included the houses of our friends, and since it was the weekend of the annual Furniture Market even the most basic hotel rooms were going for upwards of $400 per night, if you could find one. Again, we almost turned around.
But then one friend suggested we stay at his office - which is actually a house - and which thankfully has a very powerful generator. Let the good times roll ... the situation wasn’t ideal but we made it work and had dinner there both nights with all of our friends.
On Saturday we drove to visit a dear friend who had recently purchased a ten acre ‘hobby’ farm. She and I have very different ideas of ‘hobby’ ... mine is collecting and immediately drinking wine. Hers is to get up at the crack of dawn and take care of three horses, six chickens, one dog and multiple butterfly gardens, pastures and outbuildings. She is as happy as we have ever seen her and it is obviously a labor of love that she thoroughly enjoys.
The power came on in various neighborhoods while we were in town, but much of Greensboro was still without power when we left for Richmond on Sunday morning. The good folks of Greensboro seem to have difficulty understanding the concept of non-functional traffic lights. In most of the USA, you treat these intersections as though they were four-way stops. In Greensboro they treat them as if it were a game of chicken, i.e., he who hesitates is a goner!
The drive to Richmond was lovely with only intermittent showers but upon entering the downtown area we became painfully aware of the fact that it was the last day of a three-day folk festival and there were people everywhere and lots of closed streets. We finally got to our hotel and managed to park and get to our room. We had a lovely dinner in a lovely restaurant with a dear friend from our days at Boston University in the 1980s. It was a perfect ending to a grand four day weekend. I’m happy to say that Petite Rouge now has a respectable 1400 miles.
Best wishes to all, Cindy and Wm
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