After a 22 hour drive with frequent stops to feed, walk, and water the dogs and one 40 minute stop to take a nap we finally arrived in
Cookeville, TN yesterday morning at 11 AM. We met Dad for a much needed lunch at Cracker Barrel since all we had had to eat was some left over County Line ribs and chicken on the side of the highway out of a plastic baggy. Otherwise we had lots of coffee - we started with Starbucks then settled for gas station coffee. I am not sure if it helped me to stay awake because of the caffeine or because of how disgusting it was!
On our way in we had already talked to the owner of the rent house and were informed that it wasn't ready yet. When we got there around 1 PM the owner, Cliff,
happened to be there. He said that his wife would come by later that day to clean the house and the repair man who was installing a sliding glass shower door would be done as well. Bob wanted to give him a check for the rent but he said not to worry about it right then and that we should go get some rest. I was wondering where he expected us to get some rest considering the house wasn't ready. Did I mention that he has known for roughly 2 months now that we were planning to arrive the morning of 12/20?
We decided to get a hotel that night and move in the next day. So we started to look around the house. It's actually sort of a 4 bedroom house and really cute....except for the closets. One of them is fairly decent and the others are all dirty, moldy, smelly, and kind of disgusting. The linen closet has a big hole to the basement right below the bottom shelf. The walls are pretty nasty with wall paper that has partially come off and it's pretty moist in there to say the least. Not a place where I would want to store linens.
Maybe if we hadn't been up for so many hours and if the last few weeks hadn't been so stressful it wouldn't have been a big deal, but I was pretty frustrated. At that point I was ready to cry but held it back because I didn't want Bob to worry or feel bad. In addition to the 26 ft truck both of our vehicles were filled with suitcases and boxes we were unable to fit anywhere else. We decided to get the huge cooler out of the Honda and distribute some of the stuff in it to the big truck which we had parked on the property. Cliff said it was
OK to leave it there. Bob took one end of the cooler (have I mentioned it's huge?) and started pulling it out. I grabbed the other end and just as I was thinking that I might not be able to hold it once gravity suddenly takes over the whole thing came out and pulled me down with it. Unfortunately the car door was in the way and I slammed into it with my lip. Ouch! That gave me the rest and I burst into tears. My lip swelled up immediately but luckily went back down later that night.
Next we went to our property and let the dogs out of their crates. They ran and ran and ran, happy to be out of "prison". They also finally drank some water. Although we tried to feed them and give them water about every 2 hours during the drive up here, neither one of them wanted anything at all. I guess that makes them smarter than us (think about it!).
That night we stayed at the Comfort Hearth Inn & Suites in
Cookeville. Initially Pepper felt like she had to bark at EVERY person, car door, car, etc. she heard out in the parking lot but she eventually stopped and we got some much needed rest. Actually, I can't remember the last time I slept 10 hours in one night.
We went back to the rent house this morning and nothing but the bathtub had been cleaned. The microwave has about 5 years worth of food caked on the inside, the oven is not much better, and the refrigerator, aside from spilled food on the inside, has a thick, black layer of mildew along the top of the door. I looked at the closets again and suddenly the thought of living in a house with mildew and mold just
wasn't appealing. I told Bob and he agreed to look for another house to rent. We drove around, asked people, looked at bulletin boards, and called real estate agents and found nothing. Anything that was available was either too small or the owners didn't want dogs.
Finally we went back to the rent house to take some measurements in the kitchen, put ice in the cooler, and make some decisions but we came back to a locked house. We drove by Bishop's Drugs which Cliff owns to find out that today is his day off. Bob called Cliff's cell and house phone but both were forwarded to the pharmacy. Needless to say we were pretty frustrated. All in all it has been very discouraging and all I can say is that I have a lot to learn about being a missionary!
Later this evening we finally reached Cliff's assistant who told us that he is in Knoxville today. She said she would call him and let him know that we can't get into the house. We picked out a refrigerator at Lowe's which they can deliver within a day. Once we get back to the house and know the measurements we will purchase it over the phone and get rid of the old one. We also got some cleaning supplies and will give the house a good cleaning tomorrow. In addition, we bought a mold test kit. If there is any mold I guess we can have it treated and do the best we can to keep it from coming back. Hopefully we can get it to a point where we can at least put our mattress down tomorrow night and sleep in the house. There is a little in between room between the utility room, master bedroom, and another small room. We figured this in between room could be our extended utility room/walk in closet. That would solve the closet issue. And if all goes well we can move all our stuff in on Saturday.
From Left to right...
