Chapter 1..The Move
As soon as we had the house sale in progress, we headed down to Lake Oconee to find a place to rent. The year before when we inquired about the availability of rentals, we were assured there were many houses and cottages for rent. However, the demand for rentals had increased and we only had two places to choose from. There was a house on the lake in The Landing, at a suspiciously low rental rate. This was our actual final destination, so we crossed our fingers and went to see it.
Oh dear...it was evidently built as a weekend fishing cottage in the 1980's and never updated. The windows were permanently fogged up, the kitchen was original, even to the microwave, the linoleum was curling, baseboards chewed up, teeny bathrooms, teeny closets. Each room had a (vintage) overerhead light fixture, AND a paddle fan installed next to it. We really wanted to make this work, it was so close to where we building. The deciding factor against it was that a wood stove installed into the stone fireplace had permeated everything with creosote smell and it was unbearable breathing in there. The only other available place was 20 minutes drive away, in the Great Waters Community, but it was a fairly new cluster home with big kitchen and a lovely sunroom and space for most of our furniture, and no smell. No contest. It was the cluster home.
Now that we knew where we would be living and how much we could use and what we had to store, we were ready to start packing. We wanted to self-pack. We lived through a couple of moves where the movers packed everything and we hated it. Packing up 28 years of accumulation was a daunting task, and we had limited time, but we made the deadline.
We hired All My Sons to actually move our filled boxes and furniture. On moving day, I looked out the window and thought I was on HGTV. A crew of tall, buff guys, all wearing matching tshirts came walking up the cul-de-sac, looking just like a staged entrance for tv. They each introduced themselves to us and then took over, moving like a synchronized swim team. In no time the truck was packed and we followed it to our new location.
The drive to Lake Oconee was not fun. I followed Larry in my own car and we hit some of those famous storms we all have experienced this summer. We arrived in Greensboro, GA in the evening and stayed at a hotel that needed some serious updating. (Marriott, where are you???) Shortly after we arrived, the moving trucks arrived and parked in the parking lot near our car, so we knew our stuff had made it through the pounding rains.
We found a Zaxby's for dinner. Remember, this place is out in the middle of nowhere and the population density is not attractive for chain stores. There is a proposed Holiday Inn Express coming soon, though. Rest assured that all the fast food chains are indeed represented, there are even two McDonald's, but in separate counties. We are not far from I-20, but the main highway is still a two lane farm to market road, with some added lanes here and there. Lake Oconee area spans two counties. We will be building in Green County, but are renting in Putnam County.
The next day would be moving in.....
