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Fred and Carol Moore
© 2003-2011 by Author
It’s mid-morning and we’ve got no pressing engagements. As you know our move from Turkey was somewhat traumatic and we’re still not fully settled. We’re not sure why but this move has been our most tiring and frustrating; I mean aside from leaving Turkey, which was tough, this move has simply left us exhausted like no other in our 30 years of global moves. Even though everything has worked out nothing was easy and most of our settling in was quite wearisome.
The purchase of the Camry added to our challenges initially because even though we had cash for the car; 9/11 made it impossible to purchase it because we had no physical address! We finally settled on my office address to get the purchase taken care of. Then came the confounded confusion over our driver’s licenses; we had Tennessee licenses but had to get Georgia; we knew that and that was no problem. The office issuing the licenses became a problem as they gave us them with our PO Box address; from there we went to get plates for the Camry, good deal, no problem again. A few weeks later, Carol went to get plates for the Mazda but the PO Box address on her license was NOT acceptable! It seems when we got the Camry plates the gentleman was unaware of the requirement for a physical address. We had to return to the driver’s license office to get a renewed license with our physical address; we didn’t have one that first time and they didn’t say we needed one! It’s funny, but not Ha-ha funny, that both offices are county operations and they don’t know each other’s rules! Anyway, all got sorted and life was fine; all of this simply compounded our frustrations.
Our first shipment (by Air Force airlift from Turkey) of immediate needs arrived as we moved into our new home on 24 Aug. Then on 31 Aug we rode the local airport shuttle to the Atlanta Airport; got a taxi from there to where our car from Turkey was waiting for us at a transport warehouse. Our Mazda 626 had served us well in Turkey (you saw it several times in our photos) and now was about to become our second car here the US; it looks great! We watched the service attendant, at the carrier, drive it from its parking space in the yard and it disappeared around the back of the building; several minutes passed and we thought, “What’s happened?” Finally, it came around the other side of the building; it had been driven through a carwash before being delivered to us. We were given a form to complete, “check out the condition of your car”, the young man said; “write down anything you feel you need to on that form”. I walked around the car and found nothing that had not already been there; I completed the form, signed it and handed it back. We got in; oh wow, it’s far lower than the Camry and not as comfortable. The new car has made this old standby feel pretty old and foreign. We pull out onto the road and drive to the first petrol station we can find because the gas tank needs immediate attention; the car was shipped with less than a quarter tank of gas. After filling up, we drive it the 2 hours it takes us to get it home. It runs pretty rough, but it runs; it has been in transit for just over 60 days, so it’s dried up and stiff; we’ll have it serviced and have our second car.
Two shipments back in the states now with us and both welcome sights indeed. It always lifts my spirits when a shipment shows up and all is well. I always wonder to myself when a shipment leaves my home whether I will ever see any of it again; it never happened but then I tend to worry about everything and always have.
Next, we call and set up our storage shipment delivery; these things have been in a government contract storage facility for the last eight years because of our tour in Turkey. There are 71 boxes in all, some of books and other treasures we had no room for in our home in Turkey. We’ve gone into a few of the boxes so far; damage has been minimal, we’ve found only a couple small knick knacks broken. We had two small pieces of furniture in storage but only one was found for delivery; our antique record cabinet seems to have disappeared over the 8 years. That’s somewhat annoying because it can’t be replaced; it was an extremely rare cabinet. We’ll be able to make a claim on the storage company but replacing the piece will be impossible.
I’ve stacked the boxes along one wall in our garage (can’t get the cars in though) and we’ll not get into the book or record boxes until our entire household shipment arrives, if even then. Our household goods, like everything else, left Turkey in June; they were packed in nine crates (crates are 4x8x12 feet). We were contacted a couple weeks ago and told four had arrived but the other five were unaccounted for. That was somewhat depressing but we were told they would be traced; two weeks later we were told, “All is well”, the nine are now reunited and awaiting our call for delivery.
Delivery will be 11 Oct, sometime between 8 and 5 (there’s never a more defined window). Because our new home is being renovated; we’ve had all the carpet taken up and laminate floors laid down in its place, the delay in delivery is our doing. Our floor contractor has been slow (we signed a contract in August and we think the job will be complete the first week of October) but the job so far is ok so we tolerate the delay though somewhat annoyed. The gentleman doing it keeps apologizing but that doesn’t move it along, he only works nights and weekends; something we didn’t know when we started the project.
I’m working everyday and even doing some overtime. Carol is unemployed (looking for a job) but working harder than if she actually had a job! She has been coordinating all of the details of our shipments and our settlement here in Georgia. We lived in a hotel for six weeks while looking for a home, Carol did all the research on homes for sale and went with the realtor to view each one; she saved a few for me to visit and select from. I simply had two criteria, a flat drive and little yard! Finding a flat drive in the rolling hill community isn’t easy; that is, a house for sale, there are many flat drives but the houses aren’t for sale. She handled all of the house and utility set-ups: electric, gas, yard service, trash removal, mechanical service on HVAC, address changes, laundromat runs and financial transactions necessary to settle us. We eat out a great deal; fortunately we’ve found a number of really fine places in our new community.
It’s 20 miles round trip wherever we decide to go, whether it’s eating out or shopping. My office is just over that distance round trip and a pretty easy drive; a few miles of freeway and city streets. Carol is in pursuit of government employment so she can complete her 20 years of federal service but jobs are few and far between, as we all know. With our routine established now and Carol still has no job offers she decides to retire; once her paperwork is in we learn she has 20 years and 5 months service with the government so she HAS her 20 years.
We have managed to get out some on weekends and we’ll be highlighting some of those adventures in the coming months. We’ve visited several antique malls and enjoy spending the occasional afternoon browsing one after the other. We’re still in awe of finding the Ataturk bust in a small community antique mall in South Carolina, unbelievable! There are a great many historical sites within a few hours of here (Woodall Wilson’s boyhood home is here in Augusta) and we intend to visit as many as we can to get educated on this area where we now live. It won’t be nearly as old or exciting for us, as Turkey, but learning about new things keeps us young and culturally aware. Never underestimate the value of the active mind to keep old age at bay, HaHaHa.
One of the things that stands out for us initially here are all the churches built in the 1800s; the architecture and stain glass windows are exceptional. We’ve already visited a number of these buildings and plan to stop to see if we can be given internal excess; stay tuned for updates.
Our new home has already hosted some friends from Turkey and family passing through. We’ve had some alterations made to the house other than the floors and we’d had a deck built in the back yard, we’re getting settled and we feel nearly at home now, although Turkey is still in the not too distant recesses of our minds.
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