My Life's Itinerary.....So Far - Part 15

  On July 22, 1992, the family piled into our two cars, one towing a U-Haul trailer, we left Grantsville, Utah and headed to Boise, Idaho.  It just so happened today was my daughter's 14th birthday and I thought it would be fun to surprise her with a little birthday party put on by a McDonald's during the trip.  I called ahead to arrange it and under the guise of  making a pit stop to eat, we went into said McDonald's.  I have to say my daughter WAS NOT IMPRESSED.  In fact she was mortified that I did this ghastly thing.  We laugh about it now, but I think she will never forget it.
  One of the owners of the company that I worked for, graciously let us use their home while we found a place to live.  They were away so it was a great idea.  It was my hope to make a favorable impression with the home office and the owners but my boys had dashed those hopes.  They were horsing around in the home we were using and managed to make a large hole (10" diameter) in the wall.  Naturally, I was furious.  Fortunately, the owner was not upset, at least didn't appear to be.  I offered to get it fixed but was told not to worry and that they would take care of it.  So we survived that crisis.
  In a few days, we found a house to rent.  An irrigation canal ran behind it.  The cute part was having ducks wandering around the neighborhood.  The not cute part was dealing with rodents.
  One advantage of having most of our belongings back in Vermont in our unsold home, was not having to move it when we came to Boise.  The disadvantage was having to purchase items that were duplicates of things we already owned but not available.
  So we got down to a routine.  Eventually our Vermont home did sell.  I flew out to close the deal and supervise the moving company.  The family was happy to get the rest of our belongings and things return to normal or as close to it as possible with five teenagers in the house.