I know it’s been awhile since the last post, but there hasn’t been much to report on. Leslie and I have enjoyed seeing family and friends, dining at favored old haunts and being back at Grace United Methodist Church in Naperville.
Once we decided on Ajijic, Mexico, as our new home, Leslie put the word out that we were looking for a place to rent, starting the first of November. It paid off in the form of a tip from our friend Anita about a two-bedroom house within budget that has a lot of amenities. It’s new construction in the heart of the village just a block from the shore of Lake Chapala. It’s easy walking distance to one of the weekly markets and many of our favorite restaurants. We should be signing a six-month lease within the week.
The rental agent says trees effectively block a view of the lake from the mirador, and that’s a downside. Also, it’s not in our preferred location, but the photos look great and we’ll be the first residents. The six-month lease gives us the flexibility to try out this spot while we look for something farther west that has a pool and maybe a lake view. If our “dream” location becomes available, we’ll move. If not, we’ll renew the lease and enjoy being in the village.
Leslie had her first cataract surgery Aug. 7. Everything went swimmingly and she’s back to normal activities. Dr. Lafayette will do the left eye Aug. 28, giving her a full two months recovery time before we head south. If all goes as planned, she won’t need contact lenses or glasses (except maybe reading glasses) anymore. She’s excited about that.
Finally, we have an appointment Friday, Aug. 24 to apply for our Residente Permanente Jubilado visas (Permanent Resident Retiree). That begins the process for the Mexican equivalent of a “green card.” We’ve heard good things about El Consulado General de México in Chicago. We’ve got all the required documents and we’re hoping the process will be simple and fast. More on that to come.
That’s all for now. I’ll post another update as needed!
This may be our new home. There are three condos and we like the middle one with the blue facade.
Will we be shopping for fresh fruits and vegetables at Ajijic’s weekly tianguis?
We’re back in the U.S.A. for the summer to see family and friends, get some routine medical procedures done and decide where we’re going to live as non-vagabonds. Just like last year, we are lodging at the Hyatt House in Warrenville, Ill. They must be glad to have us back. They even gave us the same suite we had last year!
Our two-year quest for a new home is over — or is it? Leslie and I have lived as locals (or as close as we can get) in Spain, Malta, Costa Rica, France and five cities in Mexico. And, of course, San Diego, which was always Plan B.
As I noted in an earlier post, our worst fears have come true — it’s a tie! We’re trying to decide between Ajijic, Mexico, and Montpellier, France. Two very different places with lots of pros and very few cons. We rejected Malta and Costa Rica, as well as Mérida and Playa del Carmen in Mexico. Also-rans are (not in any particular order) San Miguel de Allende and Puerto Vallarta, Mexico, and Spain’s southern coast: Alicante, Malaga and Cartagena (or maybe Valencia on the eastern coast). Any of those places would be just fine if the first choices don’t work out, or if we need some variety.
I think the most important thing we’ve learned over the last two years is that we don’t have to pick one place and live there forever. If we go to Ajijic, for example, and decide a year from now that we don’t like it, or if things change so much that it’s no longer good for us, then we can pack up and move. Our preference, of course, would be to assimilate into our new community — pick new doctors, volunteer in the community, make new friends, learn the language and generally immerse ourselves in our new home. But we’re retired, remember? We can go anywhere.
To do that, though, we need resident visas. Either a temporary or permanent visa that lets us live in another country indefinitely. It will take time to get visas, at either the Mexican or French consulate in Chicago, so we need to start that process soon. We hope to begin our relocation by Nov. 1.
Do you have an opinion on where we should live? If so, post a comment with your favorite — and why it’s your favorite. Then watch this space for the big decision!
Or will we shop for olives and cherries under Montpellier’s 18th-century aqueduct?
In the last post I said Leslie was tentatively scheduled for surgery on Saturday, Feb. 3. Didn’t happen. Her surgeon, Dr. Bench, didn’t like her test results, He preferred to wait until she recovered more fully from acute pancreatitis, which is what landed her in the hospital. And by the way, Dr. Bench was busy saving someone’s life in the ER for most of Saturday morning.
So Leslie was released from Sharp Memorial Hospital on Sunday, Feb. 4. We’re bunking with our daughter Stephanie temporarily. Leslie’s gall bladder removal is now set for Tuesday afternoon, Feb. 13. If there’s no further delay, we should be able to resume our travels in early March.
Another update post-surgery…
With Leslie out of the hospital, we were able to celebrate our 25th wedding anniversary Feb. 6 at Bluewater Boathouse Grill on Coronado Island. She looks great, doesn’t she?
“Mom, if you wanted to stay with me longer all you had to do was ask,” said our daughter Stephanie as she and I hovered over Leslie’s bed in the emergency room.
No, we’re not in Costa Rica. There’s been a slight delay and we’re still in San Diego. But while I’m staying in Stephanie’s guest room, Leslie is a patient at Sharp Memorial Hospital on the city’s north side. I’ll try to make a complicated story as concise as possible.
After suffering with abdominal pain all day Monday (Jan. 29), Leslie asked me to take her to Urgent Care on Tuesday morning (Jan. 30), just to make sure she was OK to get on an airplane to Costa Rica the following day. Urgent Care did some tests and sent her to the ER at Sharp Memorial, where she was admitted with acute pancreatitis — probably caused by passing a gallstone Monday (hence the pain) — as well as pneumonia.
Just one of the devices Leslie has been hooked up to. She would not agree to pose for a photo.
Since then they have pumped her full of antibiotics and other meds. As of Friday (Feb. 2) afternoon, her condition has improved to the point where a surgeon may be able to remove her gall bladder Saturday morning, tentatively at 9:30 a.m. The gastroenterologist who treated her in the ER said her gall bladder was “full of sludge” and she might have more stones in the future. We agreed that doing the surgery now will help avoid the possibility of throwing another gallstone while we’re on a cruise ship in the middle of the Atlantic Ocean!
There are some positives here. First, we’re in San Diego where Stephanie can be with her mom, and where doctors and nurses speak English. Second, Leslie’s room is on the seventh floor of the acute care wing with an amazing view of the Pacific Ocean. Well, it’s several miles away, but you can see it if you look closely. And the sunsets are super!
The view from Leslie’s hospital room. That’s California Highway 163 in the foreground. Across the freeway is the Kearney Mesa area of San Diego, and the ocean is in the distance.
We have cancelled the first part of our trip to Costa Rica, the house in Atenas, but everything else is unsettled. We hope to rearrange accommodations in the beach town of Jacó so we can arrive March 1 and leave April 10. That way we can still evaluate Costa Rica as a possible retirement location, but give Leslie plenty of time to heal and still take the cruise to Europe.
Happy New Year, everybody! May this be a great one for all of you. Leslie and I have been sharing a bad cold since right before Christmas, so we’ve been staying pretty close to home and doing very little of interest. Nothing to post about. We both feel much better now but we still have lingering coughs that sound worse than they are.
A new year brings new plans. We will be here in San Diego until the end of January (longest we’ve been anywhere since this project began). Unless our circumstances change significantly, San Diego is not on our list of possible retirement locations.
The cost of living is stunningly high here. For example, there is a one-bedroom, one-bath condo for sale on the first floor of the building we live in right now. It’s 717 square feet and is listed at $398,000. A two-bedroom, which is what we would need, is closer to $500,000+ in the downtown area. In nearby towns like La Mesa, one of our favorites, you can find two-bedroom places under $500K, but they’re generally quite small. And rents are high throughout the area. I’m not going into detail about real estate because everything depends on location. Prices are affordable if you don’t mind owning a double-wide in El Cajon. Want to see water from your house? Now you’re looking at seven figures.
Groceries cost a lot more here in Southern California. Ralphs is the biggest and best grocery store in the downtown area, and it’s an easy 10-block walk from our condo. (An aside here for my editor colleague John: It’s Ralphs, not Ralph’s. No apostrophe — checked their website to be sure.) The best thing about Ralphs is getting 30 percent off all wine (mix and match) if you buy a minimum of six bottles! That’s a great deal. These prices, though, not so much:
gluten-free penne pasta, $2.79.
Classico pasta sauce, $2.99.
zucchini, 1.29 lbs., $1.92.
grape tomatoes, $3.99.
Silk almond milk, 1/2 gal., $3.49.
Across the street from us is Grocery Outlet Bargain Market, a discount food store. Prices are lower and the walk is less than a block, but they don’t carry the range of stuff Ralphs or Whole Foods does:
5 limes, $1.00.
zucchini, 1.29 lbs., $1.02.
Quaker oats, 42 oz., $3.29.
Ritz crackers, $1.99.
pineapple, $1.99.
When we have a rental car, we go up to the hip Hillcrest neighborhood to Whole Foods. There are some things we can only get at Whole Paycheck, like our favorite Intelligensia House Blend coffee, which sets us back $13.99 for 12 ounces. It’s worth it. Some other stuff:
guacamole, .85 lb., $7.64.
romaine lettuce, $1.99.
coconut milk coffee creamer, $4.49
low-sodium bacon, $5.49.
People-watching is great at the year-round Little Italy farmers market.
Then there are the Little Italy (Saturday morning) and North Park (Thursday afternoon) farmer’s markets. I have no idea what we spend there, but it’s dramatically more than at the tianguis in Ajijic, or the mercado in Mérida. For example, you may recall me bragging about getting 13 limes at the Santiago mercado in Mérida for about 75 cents. At the Little Italy market, one vendor was selling limes at three for a dollar. Sometimes, though, you get what you pay for, like free-range eggs from Three Sons Farm in Ramona, Calif. — expensive at $7 a dozen, but by far the best eggs I’ve ever had.
I looked back at cost-of-living posts from Mexico, and you should feel free to do the same if you like. The Orowheat whole wheat bread I enjoy, for example, is $3.49 at Ralphs. We paid $2.30 for the same loaf at Wal-Mart in Ajijic, Mexico. At Ralphs, a dozen large eggs is just a penny shy of four bucks. In Ajijic, less than two dollars.
Mexico still seems to be in the lead in our home search, and cost of living is a big factor. But we’re giving Europe — France and maybe Italy — another chance in the spring. More on that when plans firm up.
Finally, some sad news. We had to say goodbye to our cat Sam last week. He was only 10 and suffered from episodes of poor health about once a year since he was a kitten. Dr. Berg, the best vet in the world, would give him a B12 shot and some other treatment and he would bounce back as if nothing had happened. She did that several times while we still lived in Westmont.
Sam
This time, after more than a year of excellent health, he didn’t respond to treatment as he had in the past. He stopped eating and his kidneys and liver were shutting down, so we consulted with Dr. Berg and with our dear friend Barbara, who was caring for Sam in our absence, and made the tough call to end his suffering. We deeply appreciate Barbara, who did all she could for him. She and Sam had bonded, and we know she feels the loss as we do. We bring these little creatures into our homes and into our lives knowing their life spans are shorter than ours, but it’s still hard to handle.
2018 started on a sad note as Leslie learned that her second cousin, Helen Thoman, died in New Jersey at the age of 99. She was a grand lady, and a lot of family history may have been lost with her death, especially information about Leslie’s Hungarian relatives.
And we were shocked just after Christmas to learn of the unexpected death of our former neighbor Dan Smith. Dan and Zdenka were the best neighbors we ever had. I remember Dan shoveling his own driveway, then shoveling ours, then shoveling Monica’s driveway across the street, after her husband Ed died. Dan was one of those really big men who was never without a smile. Except, maybe, when the Chicago Blackhawks lost a hockey game! He was truly a gentleman, and a gentle man. Z, you and Christopher are in our prayers.
We miss you, Dan. So glad we had this dinner together last summer.
San Diego sunset, looking from the Convention Center toward Coronado Island.
Leslie and I have settled into our new digs here in beautiful San Diego. We managed to score an East Village condo two blocks from daughter Stephanie’s building and only “slightly” over our budget. (If you know SD, we’re on 11th Avenue between Island and Market.) I’ve already gotten us public transit passes and we took the trolley to the famous Saturday morning Little Italy Farmer’s Market. The people-watching is incredible!
It’s a bit cooler here than in Ajijic, 68° to 72° F. during the day and upper 50s to low 60s at night. Very pleasant, but we’re wearing sweaters and light jackets, especially in the evenings. Haven’t done that in awhile. Still, back in Chicagoland it’s already winter, so we’re smiling and enjoying life.
Our first trip to Ralphs Grocery for food was clear evidence we’re back in the States. For essentially the same stuff, we paid more than double (maybe close to triple) what we paid for groceries in any Mexican city we’ve lived in. That’s just anecdotal; I’ll do a “cost-of-living” post later on. But the significantly higher cost of food and dining out is undeniable. It’s one of the major reasons we’re leaning heavily toward Mexico as our retirement home.
But we have to do our due diligence, and that’s why we’re here. This is an experiment to see if we can live within our budget in Southern California, as an alternative to living in another country. We already see some upsides to San Diego. Leslie is thrilled, for example, that she can see Stephanie almost anytime she wants. She’s also excited that she can find her favorite coffee creamer at Whole Foods!
And it’s great that we can be here for Thanksgiving and Christmas.
I’t’s been awhile since the last post, I know. I’ve been sick for a week but I won’t bore you with details. Seems like this happens to one or both of us when we move. Not every time, but several times our progress has taken a back seat to illness immediately following a relocation. I’m better now and should be back to full strength in a day or two. If you’re ever in San Diego and you need a doctor, I strongly recommend you go to Sharp Rees-Stealy Downtown Urgent Care. Great nurses (thanks,Virgil!) and doctors (thanks, Dr. Taylor). You’ll think you’re in a hospital. These folks treated me very well.
More to come…
I am a thorn among roses at one of Stephanie’s favorite spots, Coasterra. We had lunch overlooking the harbor with Steph’s long-time L.A.-area friends Terry (far left) and Emina (far right), who were in town for the weekend.
Leaving Midway on a direct Volaris flight to Guadalajara. A little better prepared than a year ago, and still advertising for Jake’s Country Meats!
First, let me assure you we were completely unaffected by the earthquake that killed more than 230 people in five Mexican states, primarily in Mexico City. We are a little over 330 miles from Mexico City, so we did not feel the quake here in the Lake Chapala area.
And a correction: Last post had a pronunciation guide for Ajijic, but I got it wrong. Sort of. There is some debate. One source says “ah-he-HEEK,” but the locals often drop the hard “c” at the end, making it “ah-he-HEE.”
Ajijic is a 450-year-old village where the cost of living is relatively low and the climate is “the best in the world.” This town is at roughly the same latitude as Hawaii and the same elevation as Denver. Average temperature is 68 degrees F. It’s near the end of the rainy season right now, and daytime highs are in the high 70s to low 80s with overnight lows in the low 60s. The humidity seems to run from 50 percent up to near 80 percent after a storm.
Like San Miguel de Allende, Ajijic has narrow cobblestone streets and a central plaza. There are a number of colorful shops, art galleries and restaurants in the centro. Population numbers vary but 15,000 seems to be a good number, with at least a quarter of that being retired expats, mostly from the U.S. and Canada. Some live here year-round, many more stay through the winter before heading NOB (north of the border) for the rainy season. There are several other villages along Lake Chapala — Jocotepec, Chapala and San Antonio Tlayacapan just to name a few.
Lake Chapala is Mexico’s largest freshwater lake. It’s 50 miles long and 11 miles wide, at its extremes, with an average depth of about 15 feet. Ajijic’s “Malecon,” or boardwalk along the lakefront, is a great place to jog/walk in the mornings. I often see egrets, herons and pelicans on the shores.
Traditional house on a cobblestone street.
Leslie and I have settled into our new digs, a very nice home on Donato Guerra street in the central section of Ajijic. We have two bedrooms (family and friends can come visit!) and a patio with a pool. There’s a good bit of street noise and a few mosquitos, but the house is terrific. Some of that street noise is the clip-clop of horses’ hooves. Yes, you can see locals on horseback here almost any day of the week. The kitchen is probably the best-equipped we have seen in our travels.
Leslie has already whipped up some great meals here!
And we have four female roommates: Audrey, Doris Day, Racer and Bean (photos below). They must think we’re okay, since they sleep in our laps and ask for belly rubs. Thanks, Anita and Ken, for letting us live in your home for the next few weeks!
We have become members (through the end of October, at least) of the Lake Chapala Society so we can take advantage of their many social and educational offerings, and meet more people here. They help expats with health and legal issues, offer personal enrichment classes, and sponsor bus trips to the shopping mall in Guadalajara. LCS has lots of things for expats, but they also sponsor ESL classes for local people who want to improve their English. Our friend Marlene, who has lived here almost two years now, is a volunteer ESL teacher.
I’ll leave you with pics of our four housemates.
Hasta luego!
Audrey has her own chair! Her name is on the heart-shaped medallion.Bean, short for “String Bean,” can open the patio door by herself, but never closes it.Racer, short for “Speed Racer,” loves belly rubs.Doris Day, a tiny kitty who loves to cat around outside at night, but is always at the patio door seeking entrance when I get back from my morning walk/jog.
Tomorrow afternoon (Thursday, Sept. 14), Leslie and I begin the second year of our two- or three-year plan to find a new home — a place to retire where the weather is always warm (or mild, at least). No more snow. No more sub-zero Chicago winters.
We’ve both gotten clean bills of health from our various physicians and we’re ready to go back on the road.
Over the past year we’ve been through eight countries, 12 airports, eight train stations and four bus stations. We’ve stayed in eight different homes or apartments we found through Airbnb or VRBO, and in nine hotels, including the one we’re in now. We’ve slept in 21 different beds.
Since returning to the States we have dined with old friends, attended our church and readjusted the storage locker at U-Stor-It in Lisle, Ill., containing all our worldly goods.
Leslie and I worked ALL DAY to move our stuff into this big storage unit.
We moved the contents of a large unit and a small unit into one huge unit, and (we think) more properly stored our king-sized memory-foam mattress. We also made two more trips to Goodwill and one to a consignment shop.
Many thanks to Bill and Linda for hosting us for two weeks at the end of July. Their lovely home offered a great re-entry into the U.S. for Leslie and me. We could only pay them back with a nice dinner of Fish Veracruzano style, and by introducing them to rum and tonic, our favorite tropical drink.
Then we moved into the Hyatt House here in Warrenville. Hyatt House has been our home since Aug. 1 and we have mostly enjoyed it. The part we didn’t enjoy is when the fire alarms went off and we had to leave the building. It happened much too often — and there was never a fire. We think it’s people cooking in their rooms without turning on the vent over the stove. The smoke detectors are very sensitive.
Hyatt House in Warrenville.
This hotel offers a two-room suite, so we have had a bedroom/bath separate from the living area and kitchen. The hotel has a good location, comfortable bed, well-equipped gym, nice patio with gas grills and an excellent breakfast. One of the best things about the Warrenville Hyatt House is Patricia, a cheerful Guatemalan woman who makes amazing omelets every weekday morning. She’s always got a smile for all the guests, even though her back is hurting from being on her feet for over two hours.
We had fun visiting our friend Judy in her new place at The Lakes at Waterford. We were so taken with her bright, spacious two-bedroom, two-bath duplex that we met with the sales director! It’s a place we might think about as a “Plan C” a few years from now (Plan “B” is living in San Diego, close to our daughter). It’s something to consider if the idea of living in other countries loses its luster or if we just feel we need to be back in our old stomping grounds. We think the costs are low enough that we could live there in spring, summer and fall, while getting to a warmer climate for winter.
I know what you’re thinking. When we told Bill and Linda we were considering Waterford, Linda was speechless. Slack-jawed, in fact! But we’ve gotta consider all the options, right?
Now we’re headed back to Mexico to spend about six weeks in Ajijic (ah-HEE-hick), on the shores of Lake Chapala just south of Guadalajara. More on that once we get there.
This time next year, we expect to either decide on our new home or at least narrow the choices down to two cities and spend six months in each. The way we make decisions, though, it could actually be three finalists and four months in each!
Thanks for following us! I hope you will enjoy reading about our exploits in places to come: Costa Rica, France, Italy and who knows where else!
The best neighbors anybody could want! We had a ball catching up with Dan and Zdenka (we just call her “Z”).Leslie got to spend some time with both sisters, Laura (center) and Cathy, who flew in from Florida for a few days.
OK, I didn’t tell you the whole truth. I said Leslie and I would be in the Chicago area for several weeks this summer to see our doctors and visit friends and family. But I left out another big reason: The Chicago Air & Water Show.
Fran and Rick watch the Blue Angels.
Leslie’s sister Laura and our brother-in-law Paul have a condo on the 51st floor of a Chicago high-rise with stunning views of Lake Michigan. Since buying this place, they have hosted an annual party for a group of friends to watch the “air” portion of the Air & Water Show, and it’s a fantastic viewpoint. That’s where we were Saturday (Aug. 19), seeing old friends and enjoying a great Chicago event.
The U.S. Navy’s Blue Angels precision flying team was the headline act. They’re always exciting to watch. There were other precision flying teams and acrobatic pilot performances, some using biplanes and aircraft from World War II. The Army’s Golden Knights parachute team impressed the crowds, as did the Navy’s Leap Frogs. There were flybys from military aircraft like the KC-135 tanker and the F-22 Raptor, the U.S. Air Force’s top-of-the-line stealth fighter. One highlight of the day was watching the F-22 jet fly in formation with a P-51 Mustang, a piston-engine WWII-era fighter plane. It’s incredible how aircraft designed and built more than 60 years apart can fly together. (For more on the amazing F-22, see this article from Popular Mechanics.)
Ken (left), Fran, Tom and Peter watch the Heritage Flight. The tower on the right is Aqua, which houses condos and a hotel.
Here’s a You Tube video someone shot from Wrigleyville. It includes the Blue Angels and the F-22/P-51 Heritage Flight. It runs about eight minutes and the perspective is different than what we saw from just south of the Chicago River, but it gives you an idea of how exciting this show is. Next year, we’ll see the U.S. Air Force Thunderbirds perform.
Enjoying the balcony view are Kirsten and Peter (nearest camera), and Fran and Rick.
We go every year to see the show, but also to see friends and catch up. Laura had a great spread of food out, as usual, including a spiral-cut ham, potato salad, bean salad, watermelon salad and other nibbles. And wine, of course. There’s always wine. This year, Leslie and I were able to share our favorite wines from Malta, one red and one white, with our friends thanks to a shipment from Meridiana Wine Estate.
Ken liked both Maltese wines, but he really liked an expensive bottle of Spanish wine I laid in for about five years as a special treat for this group. “I don’t want to sound flowery,” he said, “but the bouquet is intoxicating.”
Most seemed to like the chardonnay “Isis” a little better than the merlot “Nexus.” (Meridiana names their wines after Phoenician gods because the Phoenicians were the first to settle on Malta.) Leslie and I think Isis is one of the best chardonnays we’ve tasted.
After the Air Show party, I joined Leslie and Laura for a concert in Millennium Park — part of the Grant Park Music Festival. We’ve enjoyed this festival for many years, and I was glad we got to this free concert. It was the last GPMF concert of the summer. The festival’s orchestra and chorus outdid themselves with a terrific rendition of Beethoven’s Ninth Symphony. Enjoy this brief clip, shot with my iPhone:
Some other thoughts on being in the States:
Last week, I took a train into downtown Chicago — as I did nearly every day for almost 15 years — to have lunch with a former co-worker. As I walked down Adams Street toward the restaurant, I noticed that I was walking on the shadier side of the street. Six months in sunny Mexico can change your perspective!
We have enjoyed seeing family and friends, and eating at old favorite establishments.
Leslie and I both have clean bills of health from our physicians so far. We have a few more to go, including some of those wonderful diagnostic tests doctors like to perform on people our age!
And we both look A LOT better now that we’ve gotten good haircuts. Thank you, Traci!
We leave for Ajijic, Mexico, on Sept. 14. I hope to post again before we leave.
Some of the crowd in front of us on The Great Lawn at Millennium Park, with a view to the stage of the Jay Pritzer Pavilion. I staked out a spot early, so we got pretty close. Concert-goers pay for the seats but the Great Lawn is free. The rest of the crowd, behind us. The Grant Park Music Festival is very popular. It’s fun to check out the food other people bring. There are some great dinners out there.
Leslie and I have been back in the States for two weeks. We are officially halfway through our search for an overseas home in retirement. This time next year, we’ll be making a choice — or at least narrowing it down to two finalists, which we will then try out for at least six months each. There could be a third year of this escapade.
We’ve enjoyed seeing friends and family, going to our church and visiting some of our old haunts. We’ve already been to our favorite farmers market on Saturday morning in Downers Grove, and we’ve dined at a couple of our favorite restaurants. We’ve even gotten a few physician appointments done. Okay, Leslie has done that. I’ll get to it soon.
Met our friend Lini at the Tap House Grill in Des Plaines. We tried to catch up, but it’s going to take a few more long lunches!
One common question is whether we’re experiencing culture shock after being in Europe and Mexico for almost 10 months. Well, yeah! We’ve been living in places where we could walk or take public transportation (along with taxis and Ubers) for almost everything we needed. Here in the western suburbs of Chicago, things are spread out. We have to drive everywhere.
So we tried to rent an “intermediate” size car, thinking we would need a little more room than the smallest thing available. Imagine our surprise when they upgraded us to a Cadillac XTS! It’s got more bells and whistles than Leslie’s former car, an Acura RDX.
Leslie says the trunk is big enough to hold three bodies! We just need to haul a few boxes.
The last time either of us drove a car was back in September when we turned in the RDX. Seems we’re both still able to drive on U.S. streets and highways. I guess it’s just like falling off a bicycle.
And it’s nice to see green trees and green grass again. We’re also thoroughly enjoying cooler temperatures and lower humidities. Summer is great in Chicagoland. It’s just those winters that make us want to live somewhere else.
Finally, we traded in our worn Jake’s Country Meats bag for a new one. For many years, Leslie and I have bought pork from Nate and Lou Ann Robinson (owners of Jake’s Country Meats and seventh-generation pig farmers in Cassopolis, Mich.) at the Downers Grove farmers market and throughout the winter, too.
Remember this from October 2016? The Jake’s bag served us well in the past 10 months.
As we began our vagabond journey last October, Leslie used our insulated Jake’s bag — which we formerly used to take our farmers market produce home — as the carrier for prescription meds and medical supplies. The bag made it easy to keep some medications cool, and it kept all our meds in one place. That’s good organization, but it also helps in security lines at airports. Plus, we’ve advertised for Jake’s Country Meats in six different countries — seven if you count Scotland as a country, which it may be very soon.
But over the past 10 months, the Jake’s bag has suffered from over-use. It has been through 12 international airports and seven train stations as we made our way from O’Hare to Dublin to the U.K., through France to Spain, to Malta, to four cities in Mexico and back to Chicago. Leslie has repaired it with duct tape more than once and it has remained serviceable. But today, Nate presented us with a brand-new insulated Jake’s bag. Of course, we promptly used it for breakfast sausages, bratwurst and pork tenderloin! Nate raises pigs the way his grandfather, and his great-grandfather, did. We’ve been buying pork and other meats in grocery stores and meat markets, but have not found anything as good as what Nate sells.
Our friends Linda and Bill are putting us up for a few weeks at their beautiful home in Glen Ellyn, and last week Leslie introduced them to Nate and Lou Ann’s outstanding pork products. She cooked some smoked pork chops, which were a huge hit. This morning, Linda joined us at the farmers market to meet Nate, and once the bag replacement ceremony was over she decided she wanted our old bag, which Nate was just going to throw away. I always say recycling is better!
Nate presents a new Jake’s bag to Leslie while Linda signs up for the Jake’s newsletter as Nate’s newest customer. See the duct tape on the old bag?
We have a lot of work to do before Year Two begins in September, and we need to connect with lots of folks while we’re in Chicagoland. Some of you have already heard from us regarding when and where to meet for lunch, dinner or drinks. If we haven’t gotten in touch yet, we will soon!
Ex-pats in Mexico 