Archive for Uncategorized
October 9, 2006 at 11:04 pm · Filed under Uncategorized
Sorry we’ve been out of touch for a few days. We’ve been attending a Youth Rally in Townshend, VT, and the campground was in a valley where cell phones don’t work and wi-fi doesn’t seem to exist. So, I took a few days off …
Kids awaiting judging of their pumpkins. Everybody won!
The rally was spectacular. Fabulous fall weather, colorful foliage, and real fun for the kids, who were numerous. We had kid-themed dinners, a hayride and ghost stories, bonfires every night, a pumpkin-carving contest, and just plain great fun with great people. I have to acknowledge the efforts of Doug and Jamie (a blog reader!) and Robin & Richard, who co-hosted the event. Nice job, guys!
Our three pumpkin judges: Pamela, Elaine, and Michelle
We saw a few old friends there, and made a few new ones. Donal and Amanda showed up in Vintage Thunder, the blue/green Argosy trailer that we used to own. I checked the trailer out and she seems to be in fine shape. Her new owners are very happy with their purchase. We’ll be courtesy-parking with them in a few days.
Gail Buck and her pink-themed Airstream
We also met J. Rick Cipot and his future bride, Sandi. Rick will be contributing to a future issue of the magazine. He’s a former photographer for National Geographic and a high-grade Airstream nut, like the rest of us.
J. Rick Cipot gets a kiss from Gail’s dogs
I’ve posted many more pictures on our photo album. By the way, our Google Earth location for this past weekend can be downloaded here.
Tonight we are in Bridgewater, MA, courtesy parked at Mike & Bonnie’s house. They’ve got a nice paved and flat driveway with plenty of room for our little traveling circus. We last stayed here two years ago, in the Argosy. We’ve got plenty to do in the area, so we may be here for three nights or more.
October 6, 2006 at 9:46 am · Filed under Uncategorized
Imagine six adults all piling in the minivan to drive 25 miles to go to a place called Pizza Putt, to play arcade games all evening. Bizarre? Yes, but when you add in just one grandchild, suddenly it all seems perfectly normal.
Last night Emma and her support team of six otherwise sane adults took in the action at that kid-oriented place — and of course, ate pizza. We played indoor mini-golf, whacked spiders, captured little flying bees, pulled the plungers and spun the wheels, all in pursuit of a bunch of orange tickets which Emma later traded in for a small stuffed leopard.
I have to say the pizza wasn’t bad and Steve and I liked the batting cages and Skee-ball. It was a decent way to spend the final evening with our family in Vermont. Today we have to finish packing and our goal is to be on the road by 2 pm.
At this point I doubt we’ll make it, but I would like to get to the rally as soon as we can, since there are many people who I would like to see there. We’ve got a lot of Airstream friends from the various northeast regions of the club, plus the new owners of Vintage Thunder, and a new contributor to the magazine who I haven’t met yet.
By the way, I added some foliage photos to our Flickr album.
October 5, 2006 at 9:01 am · Filed under Uncategorized
While scanning some old documents and photos that we found in storage, I came across this picture:
That’s me, circa 1993, when I was busy leading bicycle tours all over eastern Massachusetts for the Boston Ski and Sports Club. My friend Mary Halvey is posing with me. It’s funny the forgotten times that resurface when you dig through the old boxes.
Brett has returned home, reluctantly. I think he enjoyed his little leaf-peeping trip here. Eleanor and I are in the frantic final days of preparing to head out for another 6-8 months of life in the Airstream. Last night we went to storage and met people who wanted furniture. We sold two pieces, and gave two others away. That was enough for us to easily consolidate the remaining things in ONE unit — so we’ve finally accomplished our goal there. We’ll resume work on culling down our stuff next summer.
There are many things to do before we go, so we’ll both be working on our list all day today and tomorrow. Today we’ll be cleaning the trailer, packing the last few items we are leaving behind, re-organizing, getting a new driver’s license at the DMV, and checking all the trailer systems (since it has been parked for a month). I’ll try to list some of the trailer-specific things as we do them since I know many of you are interested in the checklist.
October 4, 2006 at 9:00 am · Filed under Uncategorized
I wanted Brett to get a chance to really see the Vermont foliage, since we are near peak in the valley now and a small amount past peak in the upper elevations. That’s where we drove, up through the town of Bristol, stopping at a bridge on Rt 116 to take some photos.
This photo was taken here (requires Google Earth to view).
From Bristol we drove up through the tiny town of Lincoln to the Lincoln Gap (elev 2400 ft). The gap is
here, right before the road begins to descend steeply to Route 100. The Lincoln Gap road is most definitely not a road for RVs of any type! The grades often exceed 12% and much of the road is bumpy dirt. It is closed in the winter.
Rt 100, on the other hand, is a good drive for anyone. It is known as probably the best scenic drive in Vermont, running north to south through almost then entire state. We drove about 10 miles of it, and stopped in at our local Mac store in Waitsfield to get some equipment for Brett.
Last night it turned balmy (for Vermont in October, which means upper 60s) and so we had a few people over for another cookout on the beach. We’ve got to grab every opportunity now, since the season is really over. I also had another box and a half of paper to burn. At 10 pm Brett & I were the only ones left, stoking the fire and talking. I doubt we’ll get another chance to do this until next summer.
October 2, 2006 at 9:28 am · Filed under Uncategorized
We’re in the home stretch now … only a few days before we have to hit the road again, and the list of things to be done is still daunting. I’ve got three things to do at the DMV, which is half a day shot right there. We’ve still got boxes to sort through, things to retrieve from our eBay agents, final cleanup at the storage unit, trailer prep, and much more.
But today Brett and I are going to head up to Plattsburgh NY for a few hours with Colin Hyde. We’ll take some photos of Project Vintage Lightning, the 1952 Cruiser we’re remaking for Matthew McConaughey. With luck the skies will clear enough to see some foliage along the way too, since our drive will take us through the Adirondack Mountains.
October 1, 2006 at 3:18 pm · Filed under Uncategorized
The downsizing ordeal is almost over. Yesterday Eleanor and I combined the two units into one and found that we have successfully reduced our volume of stuff by more than half. But we’ve still got a few things to sell, so I posted a list on the local Freecycle bulletin board and added a few things to craiglist. Both of those are great ways to get rid of stuff locally.
While we were working, Chris and Ruth Koehn popped by. They are fellow full-time Airstreamers, traveling and working with their two sons and occasionally blogging the experience. Yes, it really can be done — we’re not the only ones!
Right now the Koehns are housesitting in the Burlington area for a little while, but they’ll be back on the road again soon. We are hoping to cross paths in Mississippi in December. Chris wants some shrimp, and I want a softshelled crab po-boy. He owes me lunch, because I gave his son Ansel my unicycle when they came back today.
Brett flew in last night for a visit. He’ll be with us a few days, and I plan to get him out for some foliage viewing. Today he went over to storage with me and helped hand out stuff to people who came by, while Eleanor stayed home to sort through a few more boxes. Brett also took the above photo of me riding my unicycle one last time, in the rain today!
September 24, 2006 at 10:29 am · Filed under Uncategorized
OK, I’ve been told that my little joke of yesterday was too subtle and went right over peoples’ heads, so I’ll confess. The “mystery mounds of Addison County” are in fact septic system leach fields. See, it was a joke … there’s a lot of clay soil in Addison County and so most people have to put in a “mound” type leach field to compensate.
But I really am thinking about doing the tongue-in-cheek guidebook for “flatlander” tourists who come to Vermont. Seems like a fun idea, and it will give people a reason to visit Addison County and take pictures of something besides foliage.
Bert called yesterday from Cape Breton, Nova Scotia. He and Janie are anticipating being back in the northeast US in about two weeks. They’ll catch the high-speed Cat Ferry from Yarmouth, NS to Maine, and then rendezvous with us in Massachusetts or Pennsylvania.
Adam called yesterday as well. He and Susan are flying west to pick up their Airstream Class C and drive US Rt 50 through Nevada, Colorado, and Kansas. We’ve driven a lot of that route and it is a terrific (if occasionally lonely) trip.
Rich C called from Florida — he’s stuck there for at least a month, probably more, but at least he’s feeling better. And we’re still here, watching the Fall weather and frantically trying to get our stored stuff under control before it really turns cold and windy. Eleanor and I are heading up to storage again today to pull a few Adirondack chairs out and donate them to friends and family.
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