Week starting 18th August – A Little Cabin in the Woods
After our weekend in Villa Rica, time to get going again. First task was to drop off the giant Toyota hire car. Later on Monday, one of our two cars was delivered. We loaded up (including four boxes of wine sent from selected vineyards on our travels – I need to start rebuilding my empty cellar), and we drove back to the mountains, for the last night in a hotel for a long time, we hope.
On Tuesday, we moved into our rented cabin for a month (until our possessions arrive from England at the unfurnished rental house). The cabin in the woods is close to the Unicoi State Park – no swings there, this is the home of bears, deer, squirrels and millions of trees. It’s a simple wooden structure but it does run to air conditioning, two bedrooms each with en-suite and a living/eating/cooking room. The trees nestle up close, making it all rather dark. The nearest restaurant is a mile down the road (and its website proudly displays a photo of one recent discerning client – a black bear clambering into the garbage cans).
Over the next couple of days we were travelling up and down the region on all sorts of errands. We picked up mail, finally managed to get mobile phones arranged (thank you Dieter), changed Lisa’s driving licence to show the address of the house to be (see Contact Us for details) – more evidence of residence when required, shopped for the basics needed for the cabin (a proper coffee pot, a better frying pan and lots of food), applied for a Social Security number for me (a vital piece of information in USA – without having this magic number you are a non-person), arranging health insurance – so much to be done. Oh, yes, we also found time to visit two local wineries.
The weather this week (until Thursday) has been very very wet, so planned work on the site has been a bit delayed. At least the damp has softened the ground, making the driveway preparation a little easier when the diggers can start working.
Over the weekend we had a relaxed slob-out time in the cabin. I was cooking a barbeque supper on the back porch on Sunday evening, when I received proof that we are not alone in the wilderness – cries of “Praise the Lord” came drifting up the hillside. In Georgia, you are never far from a Baptist church!