I quickly wrapped up my work in the office last Thursday afternoon and rushed home to help pack so that we could get on the road to Chicago. It was quite the scene when I walked in the door: the entire house was turned upside down with boxes and packing material all over the place and Kathy's belongings taken off bookshelves and out of storage units and closets and quickly put in boxes to be taped up and loaded in the van. In the middle of the frantic mess, the power went out for a few minutes and we lost internet. Thankfully I had just checked the weather in Duluth to see the arctic blast impacting the region, so that gave me a better idea of what to pack in my suitcase.
After several hours, we were both packed and the van loaded with the most important items Kathy wanted to take. It was around 8:30 p.m. when we gave good-bye hugs to Mom and Dad and set out for our destination that night: north Chicago.
It was dark and rainy, and I checked my phone frequently to see if we would encounter the predicted ice on our route. Amazingly we stayed just ahead of it the entire way! While driving the three hours, one topic of conversation that came up were all the things that Kathy failed to pack, such as pj's, thermal underwear, thick socks (all the things you'd want to wear in a frigid environment), and even a day's worth of clothes! Couldn't help but laugh - it's so typical of Kathy!
We awoke the next morning ready to complete the drive to Duluth.
The day was clear and beautiful, albeit very cold. We loved the winter landscape unfolding before our eyes as we made our way north through Wisconsin.
We noticed the reading on the van's outdoor temperature gauge continued to drop the closer we got to Duluth. -1, -2, and -3. Not necessarily what you want to see, but we were ready to endure it all!
Upon our arrival, we made our way to Nathan's house. Duluth had received 6 inches of snow the day before, so the roads were still quite snow covered and slick. We made a wrong turn which forced us to have to take a road on a steep incline. I wasn't sure if we were going to make it up, but amazingly we did. Needless to say, we were a little shaken up by the experience but also grateful for the Lord's provision and help the entire way.
Saturday morning, Kathy and I had a few errands to run before returning to Nathan's house to begin unpacking and organizing. It. was. cold. Even the slush on the roads and in the parking lots was frozen. I had never seen that before.
So here are some before and after pictures of progress at the house. Saturday was primarily spent placing furniture, unpacking and sorting boxes, rearranging the kitchen, and looking at the guest bedroom and master bedrooms. We washed and folded loads of new bath and kitchen linens and washed all her kitchen dishes and gadgets.
Before unpacking and sorting -
After unpacking and sorting -
And the kitchen -
We had planned to make a special dinner for Nathan Saturday night that would also provide leftovers for Sunday's meal. Since Kathy was busy with Nathan doing other things when dinner needed to be started, I cooked it myself - and thoroughly enjoyed it! I cut 6 lb. of chicken, 6 peppers, 1 whole onion, a bunch of fresh cilantro, and 4 tomatoes for our chicken fajitas. As the veggies and chicken were cooking on the stove, Nathan commented that his house had never smelled that good before!
The meal was a success, and Nathan said I could come for a visit and cook for them whenever I wanted. :) I didn't get a picture of the dessert. Kathy whipped up a cheesecake, but we didn't have a cheesecake pan or a pie plate big enough, and since we didn't start working on it until 3 p.m. that afternoon, it didn't have enough time to cool or set. So...the cheesecake tasted like cheesecake but had the consistency of banana pudding. We all still enjoyed it, and I assured Kathy that it would be better the next day. (And sure enough, it was like custard on Sunday and cheesecake perfect by Monday!)
Sunday marked the beginning of more winter adventures when we started the van to go to worship and the check engine light stayed on. Oh dear. My heart literally sank since we had to leave early the next morning so that I could be in the office on Tuesday. Maybe it was just too cold, or maybe it was just a fluky thing and would go away when we restarted it??? No, after looking at the manual and making calls to Dad, we realized we would have to take it to the dealership the next morning to have it checked. Thankfully a lady from Nathan's church picked us up at the hotel and took us to worship, and we spent the remainder of the afternoon/evening at Nathan's house.
So we awoke very early Monday morning to have the van at the dealership at 7:30 a.m. "We can't look at this until Thursday" were the words that greeted our ears, but after some firm (albeit gentle) pushing from Nathan, the mechanic agreed to at least see if something was wrong and give us a call with an update. After talking with hotel staff about extending our stay an extra night, we headed to Nathan's house.
Had it been warmer, I would have loved to spend the extra free day outdoors. But as it was, the wind was strong making it utterly miserable to be outside. We decided to finish unpacking boxes for the kitchen, paint a portion of a wall, and hang pictures. We also ran a few errands to get supplies for the projects at hand. (And the report on the van came back fine, but given that it was snowing considerably in Wisconsin, Nathan advised us to stay the remainder of the day and plan to travel home on Tuesday.)
Before and after painting pictures -
It was another full day's work but also very rewarding to see the house somewhat transformed. We left that night very grateful for God's blessing on the fruit of our hands.
We were out the door and on the road the next morning at 5:30 a.m. It was pitch black dark. There were no cars ahead or behind us on the highway. We could literally only see the portion of the road that was in the path of the van's headlights. We were grateful when the sun finally came up a couple of hours later, though the bright sun reflecting on fresh snow was equally blinding!
The sunrise a couple of hours outside Duluth -
I have to say, by this time Kathy and I were very anxious to be home and also trying to make it to Chicago in good time before facing the headache of rush hour traffic. Things were going well when mid-morning we realized the van was out of windshield wiper fluid. We discovered this is a must for winter driving. So when a truck sprayed the front windshield again with dirty snow gunk and we had no way to clear it, an emergency stop was in order so that we could see the road again. Between the covered windshield and the blaring sun, we were literally blinded for several minutes. It was little scary to say the least...
We gave ourselves the thumbs up after raiding an auto parts store to find the needed item and then finding the appropriate place under the hood to pour the fluid. :)
The remainder of the drive was uneventful. We finally stopped for some food after crossing the Indiana border with only about 3 hours left. As the sun was setting on Indiana's cornfields, I thanked the Lord for everything he had done for us the last several days. Few sisters have the opportunity to help another sister set up their house. Not only had I been given that, but I had also been given more undivided time with my best friend - and the memories from this trip together will be ones I treasure in my heart forever.
