CHAPTER FOUR - LIVING THE DREAM

  

In the early 1980's my sister Donna began talking to me about moving to Florida and going to work for her husband Richard. He was part owner in a company called B&B Utilities that operated water and sewer plants around Ft. Pierce and the east coast from about Melbourne down to West Palm Beach Florida. She made several promises. They would pay me the same as I was making at the bakery and provide health insurance. Until I was able to get on my feet she would also give me her paper route. Donna claimed that she made good money off of the route. I thought that I was ready for a change. My union job was stressing me out and in March 1982 we took a vacation in Ft. Pierce along with the Travis family. I wanted to make this move but my gut was telling me no. It seemed like I was being pushed by an invisible hand, however. I knew that I shouldn't put my trust in her but I was determined to make the move anyway. Debbie felt the same way but she left the final decision up to me. I decided to take the job. Misty and I would go down to Florida the following month of April. Debbie and the rest of the kids would go down in June, after school was out. We also put our house up for sale. Because of the recession of the early 1980's the real estate market was virtually dead and that turned out to be a blessing in disguise for us. Interest rates were sky high. It soon became apparent that the house was not going to sale so we put it up for rent.

 Misty and I took a Greyhound bus to Ft. Pierce and it was a long trip by bus. After an all night ride I was having a nightmare as the bus pulled into the Ft. Pierce Greyhound station the next morning. As I stepped off the bus I knew from the moment I woke up that I had made a terrible mistake, and that feeling haunted me for the whole time that we were in Florida. For a while we lived with Donna and Richard. It wasn't long before we were fighting. From the very start it was apparent that Donna had no intention of honoring her promises to me. Every time I asked her when she was going to give me her paper route she always had an excuse why she couldn't give it to me. Over time it became obvious that she wasn't going to give it up. I had a number of accounts that I took care of for B&B Utilities. They were for the most part trailer parks, businesses and restaurants. There was one account in a gated community in Stuart Florida where we took care of the water and sewer plant. The homes were valued at one million dollars each. 

 I enjoyed driving my route in south Florida and not having a supervisor breathing down my neck but it was obvious that I wasn't cut out for this job. For now I was stuck in a job that I knew wasn't going to work out. In the meantime I was kicking myself in the butt everyday for leaving my job at Colonial. I would slam my fist into the dashboard of my truck and scream "you fool, how could you be so stupid"? For the sake of family harmony I don't want to rehash all of my grievances against Donna and Richard. That is all water under the bridge now and I have forgiven them. I have to take the lions share of the blame, however; because I made the decision to leave my job and move to Florida.

In June Misty and I traveled home to Tennessee on a Greyhound bus. If I had been smart I would have stayed there and started over from scratch. I would have saved a lot of money and pain but I wasn't ready to give up on Florida yet. We rented our house to a family that were gospel singers. I then rented a truck and loaded our furniture for the long trip to Ft. Pierce. In 1981 I bought a new Chevy Chevette because I was looking to save money on gas. This car, however; was a certified piece of junk. I began having starter problems and most of the time the car would start but occasionally I would have to raise the hood and start it with a screwdriver. Debbie followed me in the car with the rest of the kids and Jon rode with me. It was in the middle of the summer and steaming hot but things went pretty well until we reached Atlanta.

Normally I get my gas just north of Atlanta or south of it whenever I am passing through that area. On this occasion, however; I pulled into a gas station just off the interstate in downtown Atlanta which was a bad mistake. I tried to pull up to a pump but I couldn't get close enough. There was a gas station across the street so I drove over there hoping that I would have better luck. I was able to get close enough to pump gas this time but there was no sign of Debbie and the kids. They weren't behind me. From where I was I didn't have a good view of the gas station I had left from. A car load of unsavory looking characters drove up and tried to sell me jewelry. While the gas was pumping I positioned myself close to my gun on the front seat. This was well before gun carry laws were enacted. After filling up the truck I finally saw Debbie driving out of the first gas station and we were able to link up again. Because that she thought that I was getting gas, she turned off the car. When I crossed the street and she tried to start the car again it wouldn't start. She had to get out of the car and start it with the screwdriver. Debbie was mad as a hornet. This was before cell phones and she had no way to contact me. She was approached by a man trying to sell her a ring and I believe that she was even propositioned by someone. We drove a few miles on the interstate before I pulled over on the shoulder to ask what had happened back at the gas station and she came very close to cussing me out.

From the start Debbie and the kids seemed to love Florida. We lived in a nice ranch style house in a subdivision called the Highlands. There was a clubhouse available to the residents in the center of the subdivision with a nice pool. Debbie and the kids virtually lived there but while they were having a lot of fun I was miserable. I just couldn't get over the feeling that I had made a terrible mistake coming to Florida. By this time I gave up on the thought of ever getting Donna's paper route so I started delivering the Miami Herald. I would be up all night delivering papers and when I got off I would set out on my water and sewer route. While delivering papers one night the transmission went out on my Chevette. From that moment on I had to deliver papers in my work truck and the truck became my only means of transportation. I had no money to fix my car. The only bright spots about Florida was that I had my family with me now and we found a good church to attend.

We began attending the First Church of God of Anderson Indiana which was in Vero Beach. The preacher and the people there were fabulous. One thing that I liked about the church was that there was no formal membership. If you were a Christian and attended the church you were considered a member. Almost every Sunday after the evening services someone would invite the members over to their house to swim or to socialize. We felt like we belonged to a huge family. The amazing thing was that most of these people owned beautiful homes and by the looks of their houses you would think that they were doctors, lawyers or bankers. Most were small business owners or owned their own lawn care businesses. We loved that church experience in Vero Beach but over the years since we left Florida the church has gone through radical changes. After we left Florida our pastor, who we really liked, had an affair which caused a split in the church. Lincoln said that men were like the moon because we all have a dark side. The church overcame this and expanded to the point that they moved to another location in Vero Beach. This was a much larger church and it continued to expand. The First Church of God of Anderson Indiana is one of the largest churches in the area now. In my opinion, like too many churches, it has grown too big and too fast. From what I have heard it is nothing like it was when we were going there.

I loved the weather in Florida although it was extremely hot in the summer. The insects, however; were nearly overwhelming. Mosquitos, love bugs and fire ants were the worst. Twice a year the area would be infested with love bugs. For several days after mating the bugs will remain attached, even while in flight. Your car would be covered in smashed love bugs and there is nothing worse than fire ants. We didn't have them in Tennessee then and occasionally I was too careless about where I was standing. Without realizing it I would be standing in the middle of an ant hill and they would be halfway up my legs before they started biting. Sometimes I would have to take my pants off in order to brush them off. This happened once while I was working at a gated community called Pipers Landing in Stuart Florida where each house was worth over a million dollars apiece. I was flushing fire hydrants and after flushing my last hydrant I jumped in the truck and drove off. Not realizing it I had fire ants crawling up my legs. When they began biting and I jumped out of the truck and it was still rolling. I took my pants off right in the middle of the street. The bites looked like pimples on my skin and because I was bitten so many times I would get staph infections. When they bite, they clamp to your skin with their two strong pincers and because of this it takes a lot of vigorous brushing to get them off. After biting, they sting by swinging their tail to and fro and one biting fire ant can sting you up to six or eight times.

Snakes seemed to be as numerous as insects in Florida. I would see them everywhere. One day I was testing water at the water plant on Pipers Landing and out of the corner of my eye I noticed something moving. It was a huge water moccasin passing by the foot of the open doorway just a few feet from where I was standing. On another occasion at Pipers Landing my brother-in-law Richard and myself were checking the sewer plant. Richard got out of the truck and walked over to a sewer tank. In the rear view mirror I saw him jump and a snake slither out from under his feet. I grabbed my pistol and spotted the snake about 20 feet away. Thinking that it might be a water moccasin I took aim and fired. I am a pretty good shot but from that distance I never expected to even come close to hitting that snake. It wasn't moving as I cautiously approached to see if I had hit it. I was amazed when I discovered that the bullet had nearly cut the snake in half and it turned out to be a harmless garden snake. Debbie and the kids were crossing a dry canal from the Highlands into Lakewood Park, where my sister Donna lived. To hear them talk about it today there was a snake as big as a python crawling along the bank. Needless to say they didn't go to Donna's that day. There was an access road along the canal and we used this as a shortcut over to 27th Avenue. At night there were thousands of toads hopping across the road and you could hear them squish as we ran over them.