Many changes

Well, since I wrote last a great many things have changed, obviously!

To wrap up our trip, we hung out in the Peach (sad about the Germany game, but fun watching it together), then the lake. After a few days of recovery after all that driving it was nice to leave the car for a few days of jet ski and pontoon boat fun! We returned to PTC on Sunday night, and Monday morning we headed down to Ocklawaha, FL. There we hung out with the Elliot/Fraser family. I played with the horses, including working on teaching Virgil and Dreamer to jump. Fun! We hung out there until Friday morning, with amazing dinners every night. Thanks for having us! Then it was back in the car, but this time a short trip to Altamonte Springs (near Orlando). We went out to sushi for my birthday (well, we would have gone out to sushi anyway, but it was fun to call it my birthday dinner). The next day we spent the morning swimming and generally hanging out with Matt, Kristi, James, Lori, and the associated children. What a blast we had! Then it was back in the car for one last leg--this time to Palm Beach Gardens. We got off the interstate and noticed the car making a funny noise. Good thing we made it! We kicked it into the driveway of the Peterson/Atkins home and retired the car. We spent a few days enjoying the garden, introducing Steve and Heather to the "VH game" and getting eaten by mosquitos. We flew out Wednesday, July 11th, from the Miami airport.

For those keeping track (like I did--my German obsessiveness kicking in), here are the trip totals:

Miles: 4949.3 (plus 225.2 for the trip from PTC to the lake)
Time: 81:47 (plus 3:37 for the trip to the lake)
Gallons of fuel (approximate): 173 gallons
States: 19+1 (OR, ID, WY, MT, SD, MN, IA, IL, IN, OH, KY, WV, PA, MD, VA, NC, SC, GA, FL + Alabama)
Places we slept: 13 (4 hotels, 5 single nights with family/friends, 2 nights each in PTC/Alabama, 4 nights each in Ocklawaha and Palm Beach Gardens)
Days on road: 22 (12 + 2 of them driving days)
License plates we saw: 46 states, DC, and 3 Canadian territories (missed AK, RI, VT, ND but got Hawaii--in Florida!)
Memories: countless

So that wraps up the road trip, but the adventure was just getting started! On to Germany!

We flew out of Miami on Air Berlin, and though the hand luggage weight limit was annoying, the service was surprisingly good. We realized at the airport that Gus didn't have his driver's license, so we spent the time before the trip trying (unsuccessfully) to track it down. The flight, other than a few initial bumps and one sudden and strong bump midway over the Atlantic, was smooth and quiet. I didn't sleep at all, though. Thank goodness for headphones and Hollywood. Anyway, after a 3 hour layover and a windy and wet change of planes in Duesseldorf, we landed safely (with all four checked bags and all four carryons) in Munich. We were picked up by a rep of the school and taken to a hotel, where we worked desperately to stay awake so as to get on our new time as quickly as possible.

Friday was some paperwork and some IKEA shopping (need a bed in the new place, after all), and Saturday we signed on our new house. Yay! Sunday and Monday involved more trips to IKEA in a rental car, Tuesday-Thursday were more paperwork and other assorted fun (notary, bank, insurance, cable/phone/internet, and would you believe we didn't have light fixtures in the house?) as well as adjustment, and Friday we rented another car and picked up John and Bernadine, our first guests (who brought with them the missing driver's license, much to our relief). More IKEA adventures and a trip to Neuschwanstein made their visit exciting, and Monday we got internet! Today was a play online day. Tomorrow it's into the city we go for a variety of errands, including getting a TV to go with our newly installed cable, a trip to the bank, and more. We've had some time to explore our new home, but more on that later. Suffice it to say we're settling in, have a great lead on a car, can't wait to get our dogs back (though we've hit some snags there), and are generally enjoying our life here so far. That's the rundown on what we've been doing, but expect a post from Gus soon--his first--on first impressions and other matters.

Here's our address so you can look us up on Google Earth or better yet, send us stuff:
Janice and Gus
Lindenstrasse 6
85406 Zolling
Germany

For the record, our guest room has been tested and approved as ready to go. In other words, get in touch and come see us! We are also a Skype-friendly household and welcome any and all contact from our friends. Please note that we are 9 hours ahead of Oregon and 6 hours ahead of the East Coast (9 am PST is 6 pm here), but we'll talk to you if you get it mixed up, too.

Look for a post from Gus!