We have departed Vermont after our two month stay, much to the relief (I think) of many blog readers who were getting tired of me ranting about yogurt and wakeboards to fill the days when we didn't go anywhere. But believe it or not, most full-timers settle into a place for weeks at a time. It's fairly typical and even an essential part of full-timing. It's part of the balancing act that makes this lifestyle work.

Not that it was easy to go. Not only did we have to leave family and friends behind, but we had one big task left on Friday: loading the moving truck. Eleanor and I arrived at our storage unit at 10 a.m., but the driver was late and ended up arriving at 4 p.m. Not only that, but the temperature soared well into the upper 80s (a strange occurrence this late in the season in northern Vermont) and the humidity rose too.

So it was not a cheery event for us, loading a late truck on a sweaty Friday afternoon when we had many other things to do. But Eleanor and I managed to do the job in about two hours and still get back to the beach by 7:30 to attend a small gathering of friends and family who had come to say goodbye. We picked up the newly-cleaned and detailed Armada at 9:30 and crashed into bed with lists of preparations still to be done first thing in the morning.

We are, finally, completely free of the storage units we had in Vermont. That's a financial and mental relief. (Of course our house in Arizona could be considered a very expensive storage unit since we don't yet live in it.) Our personal possessions have been culled down to a manageable pile, and should become even fewer after we take another look at them this winter. Now the challenge will be to keep the pile from overtaking us again in the next house.

Our first night "on the road" in a while is in a state campground not far from Albany NY. Fellow Airstreamers Rick and Sandi are here as well, to join us tomorrow morning on a caving expedition. Right now thunder is rumbling overhead and there is some rain, but earlier it was a nice -- if humid -- late summer day. Thompson Lake State Campground has a sandy beach and a roped-off swimming area, where we spent most of the afternoon standing in the water while catching up with Rick and Sandi.

Rick made us a hearty stew for dinner and Sandi broke out a toy ball made of glow sticks for after-dinner entertainment. This was a huge hit with Emma. I was playing with a new wide angle lens of Rick's (Nikkor 12-24 zoom) which is ideal for interior photography of Airstreams, and with a steady hand I managed to capture some time exposures of the ball bouncing around.