For those that know us, you know we love to travel. We have tried to explore the world when we can to see what the world has to offer. Well this is the story of how just when you think that what world has to offer is too much to handle, you find what you have always been looking for amid the chaos. October 25, 2019 - Greve in Chianti, Italy This was day 4 of our Italian vacation. We got off the train from Rome and went to pick up the rental car. When we arrived at the rental agency, the doors were locked. There was a number to call but nobody answered. So we decided to walk to the actual car lot to see if somebody could help. While the gentleman working there was very sympathetic to our plight, he told us that there was nothing he could do, but if we walked back to the original location, he would try to call the man that worked at the rental agency to meet us there. After about 30 minutes of waiting, he finally arrived. He checked us in and took payment. After all this, he informed me that while I did not need an International Drivers License, that if I got pulled over on the trip I would receive a hefty fine and possible termination of the rental contract. Good times. After that, we had to walk back to the car pickup where my backpack somehow got clipped to my belt loops and pinned both my arms behind my back. After 10 minutes of fighting to get free, we were on our way. Picture me rollin' in a 93 standard station wagon. Now traveling at staggering speeds of 5 kmph in stop and go traffic, we made our way through the Tuscan country side all while Ryan is diligently working on his cell phone in the backseat to acquire me an International DL. A 15 km trip in 2 hours - all while riding the clutch. Now that my calf is properly on fire, we get to our village in the pitch black rain. Just a winding trip up a steep slope on a single lane, unlit dirt road to go. Wait. What's that? A bear?!

It was actually just a really big wild boar, but in our minds it will always be a bear. We have now made it to the house. It is a 2 story home on top a garage that is over 400 years old and still in original condition, but now with a hot tub outside. The owner is adamant that we not have any damages as it is considered a historical landmark. We take the skeleton key that is older than America and unpack our bags amid the vintage mortar shells and Louis Vuitton luggage. After a solid 5 minutes of rest, we build up the courage to venture into town for an authentic Tuscan feast, a Fiorentina porterhouse with plenty of wine. Delicious. Now all we could think of after that meal was getting back to the house to sit in the hot tub with a bottle of wine. Be careful what you wish for. Back at the house, everybody changes into their swimsuits - kind of. I am actually in a pair of bright red boxer briefs. Now you may be wondering why I choose to share this with you. Well, that's because it will be important later. Ryan and Dee are first out to the hot tub. Kateri and I are making sure we have enough wine. I step out onto the stairway and shout down to Ryan and Dee, "Hey, did you all grab the key?" They did not. Next thing I know, I hear the door slamming shut as Kateri runs down the stairs. My heart sinks. I look to Kateri and ask a question I already know the answer to, "Kateri, did you happen to grab the key?" She continues down the steps without looking back and replies, "No. But it is cold. I'm getting in the hot tub." We are now locked out of this ancient home. Did I mention that it was 45 degrees and raining? Oh, and because of the rain, we had no towels, no phones and no shoes. Dee and I frantically start searching for a way into the house. No luck. We notice there are several potted plants going up the stairs. Maybe they will have a spare key hidden. There was no key in these pots. But what we found instead was a nest of yellow jackets.

I am now running around barefoot in the freezing rain being chased by a swarm of killer hornets. I jump in the hot tub for safety. Crisis averted - for now. But we have now angered the swarm and any time any of us approach the house or the stairs, they attack. We wait. We now start searching for a way into the garage. I get in. And while the garage is dry, it is dark, covered in spiderwebs with no access to the main house. And I am pretty sure I heard voices telling me to get out. But I did find a ladder. That may be a generous description of what this was. It probably was a ladder, once. It was probably even used to build the house over 400 years ago. I try to climb it anyway and somehow make it to the windows. But they are all locked and barred. Ladder now put back in the abyss of the garage, Dee and I start heading down the caliche roads in the dark looking for any sign of life that can help us. No luck. Our feet are killing us and we can barely see our own hands in front of our face. It is now roughly 3 am. Just then, we hear a dog bark. Where there is a dog, there must be an owner. We head toward the bark. We find a hidden path that leads to a small two story cottage hidden behind some trees. We open the gate and bang - not knock - on this stranger’s door. Nothing. Just more barking. Defeated yet again, we start walking back out the gate when we see an upstairs light turn on. Victory. Back to banging on the door. A young lady opens a balcony window to see us standing in the rain. She looks startled to say the least, but she is nice enough to come down stairs and talk to us. As she is walking down, I realize the only thing I have on is those soaking wet, red boxer briefs. She did not deserve this. As the door opens, I do my best to cover up where I can. She is more than a little uncomfortable talking to me, but we do our best to explain the situation to her. She does not know English and we do not know Italian.

While struggling to communicate, her dog runs down the stairs, out the door and through the gate. “No! My dog!” she yells. Apparently she knew some English. But now she is panicking about her dog that just ran into the wilderness. Rightfully so, I mean there are bears out there after all. But not to worry. Dee is on the case. Without missing a beat, she runs out the gate and darts down the caliche as fast as she can even though she is barefoot. As she is running down the path she yells at me to finish with the lady and she will be back with the dog. We have now managed to lose our only hope’s dog. Thankfully, the lady agrees to help. She manages to communicate to me that she will call the owner of our house. It takes a few tries before the owner answers. They have a long conversation I don’t understand, but when it is over she assures me the owner is on her way. A short calm of relief washes over me until I realize that Dee is out there somewhere. I rush out the gate and down the path screaming into the night, “DEE!!!! DEEE!!!! DEEEEEE!!!!” But there is no response. I start running faster and continue calling her name. Still nothing. I am getting worried. It is dark, it is raining, we are surrounded by wilderness and the dog and Dee could have gone in any direction. Just then I see the dog run back towards me. I grab it and then I see Dee, running barefoot in her bikini up this rocky road doing her best to keep it together. We get the dog back to the nice lady and make sure to close this gate this time. We are cold and exhausted, our feet are sore and bruised and our spirits are low. The owner may be on her way, but we remembered she mentioned that she lives almost 2 hours away. So we are not out of the woods yet. We walk back to the house, both emotionally spent. At least there will be wine and a hot tub. We crawl in and let the heat rush over us. Finally some peace. It is still cold and raining but at least we can stay warm in here.

But soon the water stops feeling warm. I get out of the water and walk around in the cold to compare. I get back in, but no, it’s not hot and getting cooler. Somehow, the heat pump has stopped working with at least another hour to go. Back to freezing. We huddle close to stay warm. We keep the mood light by joking how the owner is going to show up to 4 frozen dead bodies, but our spirits are dropping. We decide to say a Rosary. Soon after we finish we see car lights off in the distance. It was her! We were saved! We expect a good lecture and to be yelled at, but once she sees us half naked and shivering, she just felt really bad for us. Plus the sight of me in underwear was probably too funny for her to be mad. It is now 5 in the morning as she unlocks the door. We rush in for towels, showers and dry clothes. We have a whopping 2 hours to spare before our 7 hour cooking class in Florence (which was amazing by the way). Everything is going to be ok. After showering and putting on dry clothes, I head to the living room to check in with everybody. That’s when I hear Dee exclaim, “Don’t move! Stay very still.” Turns out one of the hornets followed me in the house and was now crawling up my spine onto my neck. This night just keeps on giving. After a stressful few minutes, Dee is able to remove the hornet and releases it outside. This has to be it, right? No more. Thankfully, nothing else bad happened before we went to sleep that night. Quite the opposite in fact. As I stared across the room at Dee, I thought about all that we had been through that night. How everything that could go wrong did. How we endured through so much torture that night and never broke. That’s when it hit me. No matter what the world threw at us, no matter how bad things may get, as long as we were together everything was going to be ok. There was never any doubt. She gives me the strength to endure and I only hope I can return to her a small portion of that favor.