Thanksgiving

We arrived in Georgia the afternoon before Thanksgiving. Our destination was my cousin’s (Britt, Ruth and daughter Colbie) place in Ringgold, a small Georgia country town. They live in a large house previously owned by his parents (my aunt and uncle), brother of my mother. My aunt (Bobby) and other cousin (Lynn) live next door in small house also previously owned by their parents. Lynn has recently bought the house. The two properties back on to one another and are approximately five acres combined.

We were both greeted with loving hospitality and are staying with them until we move on to Florida Sunday morning, after joining them at their local church service. Thursday afternoon we drove to Atlanta to celebrate Thanksgiving together with my other cousin’s (Norman) family. The spread of food was amazing with plenty of leftovers, of course.

It’s been a great experience spending time getting to know my cousins after so many years of being so far away from them, but it’s been like we have known each other all of our lives. They all welcomes Ada with open arms and have been so hospitable opening their home to us.

Next week we will be looking for some accommodation in Jacksonville, whether it be temporary we do not know at this stage. We may find an apartment quickly otherwise we will stay in extended stay or a room is some kind of share accommodation. I any case I need to have an official address straight away so I can change my driver’s license from California to Florida. I am booked into a CDL course (Commercial Driver’s License) on December 6^th. The course is full-time and will run for 3-4 weeks. I will do some weekend serving at BJs Jacksonville while on the course.

Yes, I am going to move from hospitality to transport for a while. There is a massive shortage of drivers in the US with a shortfall of 80,000 nationally. There are trucking companies offering great pay to fill much needed positions. This is a great opportunity for me to bring some flexibility into lifestyle and travel as there will always be a demand for drivers. Depending on COVID and future lockdowns I hope to be able to share my time between the US and Australia, perhaps with a bit of time in Malaysia. My income will be significantly higher than it would have been as a restaurant manager.

I really miss everyone and hope that travel and visiting restrictions in Australia loosen up asap. I will be making the trip as soon as it can be arranged, but I feel there are still more restrictions coming once Australia opens up completely. The expectation that a high vaccination rate will result in a significant slowing of the virus is very quickly proving the opposite. While vaccinations are preventing a lot of hospitalization and deaths, which is great, its performance in slowing the spread seems to be nominal. When the opportunity comes I will be on a plane as soon as I can, I miss everyone and I am hanging out for an Aussie meat pie.

I will post another update from Florida…love you all!