As you already know the adoption was rushed by the courts and finalized and I passed the recruiting school training and did very well and we are now in Iowa. The trip back was accomplished in our 1962 Plymouth Belvedere station wagon and our 1962 Fireball camper. We were accompanied by two dogs, a cat, and a bird. The rest of our earthly belongings would follow in a moving van.
Upon our arrival we set up the camper in my folks backyard and set about getting Tammy in school, starting my new job, and finding a home for us. Between living in the camper and my folks house, and work and the house hunting life was hectic to say the least. The house hunt took us to Cedar Rapids, Marion, Anamosa, Springville and many surrounding communities. We finally found our dream house at 1175 18th St in Marion and it is now Christmas 1971. Carol received word that her sister in Texas was not doing well and we took our down payment for her to go and see her. Our real estate agent, Chet Bullis let us pay $1.00 to hold the house. Carol's sister Kay passed away and times were very hard for her. Finally by March we got loan approval for the house and the down payment money and it was time for the final papers. Both Carol and I were so sick with the flu we didn't care if we signed or know what we signed. Finally the day was here and the moving van arrived and brought all our junk.
OUR FIRST REAL HOME
The move in is complete and we are feeling better but we slept on the floor some and at my folks getting ready for this day. My work has started and we have met some of the neighbors and have started the process of settling in. It is really different to be back in Iowa after California. Life goes on. The time here found us working on the house to get it the way we want it and spending as much time as possible with the kids since I was away so much in GEEIA. I set up my ham set and did many things I had been missing. The old wagon gave up on the transmission and we bought a 69 Plymouth convertible and it was really nice. later on we got an old 64 Dodge van to use for work and it served us many years and miles. Carol got a job with the newspaper as a journalist for a column she had and she also did some Avon sales. The family gatherings were many and the time was flying by.
Time was spent with family and friends and was very enjoyable and my work was very fun. In just a short time I became the #1 recruiter for our area and held that honor for most of my stay in recruiting in Marion.
Tammy became involved with scouts and mom became a scout leader and life got very busy and it seemed we had less time than we did before we came here. There was school talks and away time for me, scout meetings, lock-ins, Avon meetings and on and on and time became more valuable as the years passed and we seemed to have less and less of it. We did much work in the basement at home to use for parties and started the kitchen remodel we wanted to do when we moved in. We closed and redid the breezeway and turned it into a den office area and built a small deck on the back. We hauled 13 pickup loads of deadwood out of the back yard and put up a fence. Elzo and Mary Soden next door became our good friends and they were wonderful people and great friends. I remodeled the one bedroom upstairs for both the kids as it only had two up.
Carol took the Girls Scouts on many outings and her time was very busy and we seen less and less of each other. Dad and mom retired and moved back to Minnesota so made many trips there to visit. They bought the house mom lived in with grandma Elgin and dad did some custodian work at the school and mom worked at the local nursing home. They both got to relax some after many years of hard work and dad was able to get in fishing with old friends and all. Mom got reacquainted with family and friends and it was a great time for them. We did some camping there and some fishing on some quick trips.
One very memorable trip we took the convertible for a Christmas trip there and it was black ice all the way and took us 13 hours and they were closing the road behind us as we went. Carol needed out to stretch once and after stopping the car just started to move sideways on a curved bank so just put it back in gear and slowly kept going. Wow what a trip that was and one we will never forget. We went camping close to Cedar rapids every chance we got and took the kids on some bike rides as we got all of us bicycles and rode out to the folks and all over. One trip we went out to watch Halley's comet go through and it was amazing. We took Dave and Elaine's boat and ran ran up and down the Cedar river and had to ferry it over sand bars. We found two campgrounds we like, one is Poison creek and the other is Pinicon ridge and there were other ones we tried.
I purchased and old 1956 Dodge and did some work on it and used it in my job and some shows and such. I did some TV interviews for the Air Force and as the time passed we decided we were so busy with no time for each other we decided I should leave recruiting and head back to Radar Maintenance and a normal life. I put in for a transfer and started preparing to leave our home here. I finally got orders for Blaine Washington and we put the house up for sale, got it sold and the truck came for our household goods so we headed off with the Convertible driven by Carol and the old van and camper and headed for Washington. We left the old Dodge with Carol's folks. During this trip Carol was sick lots of the time and the trip was not very fun driving in separate vehicles. Our arrival there found us exhausted looking for a place to live and a house to buy what with my getting back into Radar. After looking all around the area we finally found a house right in Blaine that was just amazing.
It was a very old house from before Washington was a state owned by a person the street was named after. The inside was very old fashioned with flowered wallpaper and very unique. We just fell in love with it. As the move in and the settling in progressed Carol got sicker so we headed for a doctor in Bellingham. When he told us the rabbit died we were in complete shock since we were told we would never have any more because Carol could not get pregnant because of the collapsed tubes so we adopted our Matt if you all remember. Wow it sure set us back and had to be a miracle since it could not happen according to medicine. The house had been turned into a 2 apartment rental so we began the removal of the paneling that divided the rooms and staircase and found they just put up divider stuff but did not change the decor. I put a library into the open stair area up stairs and it sure was fun. Had a skylight and all. We fenced in the yard and had a huge pear tree just out of Tammy's bedroom window and she got busy with track there and was growing so fast. We spent much time at the beach and mountains and just had a very relaxing time and it was great to get reconnected. Time just flew and before we knew it our last child Bradley arrived.
We were at Bingo and the water broke and Carol would not leave as it was a jackpot and she was close. She finally called bingo on 0-66 and off we went. Everyone thought we would name him Bingo. We went to Bingo a lot and had much fun and ate fresh seafood there down on the dam and wow was that good. Made many trips to mount Baker and toured there so our life was full but it was together. Went to the beach claming and they sure taste really good fresh. About this same time I got orders for Germany and we would only be here for one year. We made several trips to visit carols dad and Tammy finished her confirmation here.
I had to go to school in Biloxi for a new radar again for 3 months so headed out for that. It was a long three months but finally was over and I headed to Germany to get settled in and then bring Carol and the kids over. My trip there was very scary as I knew none of the language and we were billeted down town. I requested to stay on the base in the barracks and after several days moved there and got to work on getting us a house to get the whole family over with me.
Carols Mom & Dad came out to help Carol while I was those 30 days in Germany and I found a house on the economy but it was hard. Everyone wanted me in housing but I felt we would not get this chance again so wanted to experience Germany not the American community in Germany. All in all it took me 30 days to get the house set up and the car picked up along with starting the work and everything ready for the family to come and that day finally came and the trip started for them.
The plane ride over was long at 13 hours and the arrival with the German police all over with their machine guns on the landing did not help the stress level. We finally got through the customs and the passports and headed out for our new home for the next 3 years.
We arrived in Schwirzheim at our new house and Carol really liked my choice so was happy with that. It was a rustic German house and old style but was a very nice house. The landlord Nicholas Meyer was a really great man and became a very good friend of ours, so started another adventure in our life and the good Lord sure has blessed us with so much good it makes us wonder how we deserve it all.
Continue on for our Life In Deutschland
