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 3, 2006 at 8:23 am · Filed under Places to go
Brett and I drove over to Plattsburgh yesterday. Our route took us across Lake Champlain on the ferry, so we broke out the cameras and hunted for good foliage shots along the way. The pickings were slim, due to a persistent overcast (and a cold wind on the lake that kept us in the car most of the time). Still, here’s a picture of the quaint hamlet of Essex NY from the water.
Colin Hyde and Susanne Brown met us in Plattsburgh to discuss the Vintage Lightning project, a 1952 Airstream Cruiser. Colin is the project manager, and Susanne is the interior designer. Colin is also into a lot of other types of vehicles, including this old school bus that he plans to turn into a custom Airstream tow vehicle.
Colin works on a lot more than just Airstream trailers. Lately he’s picked up a few 1940s Vagabonds, and below is a Spartan trailer that a client brought in for a new frame and floor.
The interior of Project Vintage Lightning is being mocked up for the client right now. All of this is subject to change, of course, but the temporary structures inside gave us a good feel for the interior space. It’s excellent — plenty of room for living, lots of storage, and a comfortable bath and bedroom.
It is distinctly October weather now … gray, windy, cool. The last few days haven’t broken 60. I’m starting to feel ready to start heading south. Some areas around here have already had freezes overnight.
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 30, 2006 at 9:13 am · Filed under The scam
Just a quick entry today because we are heading out to … you-know-where … again today. This is the big day. We are going to consolidate the two storage units into one, except for the stuff that people are coming to buy tomorrow. We’ll also make the big final trash run, using a utility trailer. So the job will probably take all day.
Craigslist has proven helpful for selling the furniture. I posted a bunch of stuff yesterday and managed to find buyers for three large pieces. But I’m also getting a bunch of scams, including this one:
—-
RE: (4) cherry spindle-backed chairs – $240
Greetings,
I saw your advert posted on the internet for sale and am very much interested in buying it from you, I am a dealer in all kind of electronics and am currently based here in Canada I will be responsible for the the shippment from your location to my base, so I would want you to get back to me with your asking prize and recent pics and also I would want to know it’s present condition. I will await a reply from you.
JOHN
—-
Wow, what a bad scam. Can you see all the obvious tip-offs that this guy is a phony? And yet people fall for these all the time. I also got a phony notice that I have won a “Euro-Afriq lotto” for $800,000 this week. It’s rampant. Just be cautious if you are selling stuff on the Internet, and try to do business locally.
September 29, 2006 at 9:37 am · Filed under The scam
Yesterday the expected rain did not arrive and so Eleanor and I got a bonus afternoon at our storage units. (We spend so much time there, it’s like our second home now.) A friend came by and filled his pickup truck with an armoire, two dressers, and a chandelier, plus we’ve sorted out a lot more garbage.
Yesterday our Argosy-owning friends Lou and Larry tipped us off to “freecycling”, which is not about bicycling as you might guess. There’s a grass-roots organization called Freecycle.org which has local units in many communities. It’s simple: you list what you have to give away, and other people list what they want. This allows people to circulate good usable stuff to people who can use it, rather than having it end up in landfills.
Membership is free, and it’s all handled on Yahoo Groups for maximum convenience. From the activity on the group, it really seems to work. I only wish I’d known about it a couple of weeks ago, because it’s a great service for getting rid of stuff. At this point we have most of our free stuff allocated.
Our truck, loaded with recycling and rummage sale stuff again
So, for you future downsizers, where did all our stuff go? Here’s the list:
1) Small valuable items went on eBay, either listed by myself or a local service
2) Large inexpensive furniture went to friends and a local fellow who distributes such things to people to need it. Freecycle would have been good for this as well.
3) Old magazines and other paper went to the local recycling center
4) Personal papers were burned
5) Children’s clothes, toys, and basic housewares went to a local women’s shelter
6) Misc household stuff went to various church rummage sales
7) Most books went to two different book sales to benefit a local charity and a local library. A few went to friends.
8) The car went to someone who needed it. (He picked it up last night.)
9) Misc cash went into our pockets — we found Canadian dollars, US dollars, British pounds, Euros, and a $100 Savings Bond amongst our stuff! The obsolete French and Swiss francs are trash, replaced by the Euro.
10) Old boxsprings and dead mattresses, a rusted bike, broken lamps, and other such stuff went to the landfill
11) My desk and other office equipment is being distributed to various friends
12) Valuable furniture was sold through craigslist or directly to local friends
13) Old towels, blankets, garden hose, cleaning supplies, laundry supplies and pet supplies were donated to the local Humane Society
14) Two pieces of antique furniture were sold through a local auction house.
15) Wearable clean clothes and other personal/household items were donated to the local Goodwill
16) Leftover cherry and maple lumber was given to a friend who likes woodworking projects
You’ll notice we mostly donated things rather than trying to sell them. There are two primary reasons: Selling things takes a lot of time, and donating things gives you a warm feeling. Eleanor felt strongly that things should go to people who needed them. It made it much easier for her to part with certain “treasures”.
You might also notice we didn’t do the first thing that most people think of: a garage sale. I’ve had enough of garage sales that attract dozens of people who want to pay fifteen cents for a Ming dynasty vase. Too many times I’ve wasted a beautiful weekend to sell $90 worth of stuff — after having paid $35 for a classified ad in the newspaper. Giving things away was much more fun and a lot quicker!
It was also fun to discover a few long-lost items. Eleanor found her diploma from Johnson & Wales University, and I found my FAA pilot certificate. Of course we also found boxes of photos — at least half a dozen — and it was hard not to spend hours digging through them and walking down Memory Lane. Mostly we have consolidated the photos for a future session, next summer.
Today is for dropping off the latest truckload of stuff at various churches, friends, and recycling centers. It’s going to rain all day anyway. Tomorrow we hope for clearing and a big final session in which we haul off the remaining trash and consolidate the two storage units into one.
SCAM UPDATE
The latest message is as follows:
HELLO,
THIS IS TO INFORM YOU THAT THERE WAS A SLIGHT DELAY FROM THE COURIER SERVICE USED TO SEND THE CHECK AND YOU WILL RECEIVE THE CHECK HOPEFULLY BY NEXT WEEK.
PLS BEAR WITH ME.SORRY FOR THE DELAY.
DR.LILIAN WILLIAMS
My goal in baiting this scammer is to tie up her time and money so she can’t rip off someone else. So I sent this reply today:
“We have a lot of other people interested in this car. I took it off craigslist because you said you were willing to pay right away. My cousin is already expecting your check. If you can’t get the money to my cousin soon, he may sell it to someone else. Will you be able to provide me with a tracking number? That might help.”
That oughta get a reaction. After all, this scammer thinks there’s a bona fide sucker on the other end. She’s not going to let me slip away that easily! I wonder how long we can keep this little charade going?
September 28, 2006 at 9:11 am · Filed under The scam
We are definitely getting somewhere with the divestiture process. One of our storage units is now only about 1/3 full, and the other is running about half full. Today the director of the local Humane Society came by to buy our Cuisinart and we ended up donating a bunch of stuff that the Humane Society can use, like pillows, blankets, towels, and garden hoses. (No, the Cuisinart is not for work purposes …) After Saturday, when half of the bedroom furniture is scheduled to go away, we should be able to consolidate the two storage units.
Two weeks ago this was packed to the ceiling!
And just in time! We are scheduled to leave here on Friday October 6. It’s getting cold at night. Our first freezing nights will likely come in the next 10 days. This is approximately when we would harvest the pumpkins, back in the days when we had a big garden.
Last night we had what might be the last beach campfire of the season. I burned another box of personal papers — utility bills and closing documents from a house we bought in 1993. Eleanor and I had double Boca-burgers with cheddar cheese, while we all watched the sliver of an eerily red moon set over Essex NY, three miles across the open water of Lake Champlain. Spectacular!
Red crescent moon setting over Essex NY
A blog reader volunteered his business address for my Nigerian scammer, so I contacted the fake “Dr. Lilian Williams” and asked her to send the fake check for $2,500 to “my cousin in Virginia.” So that deal is still on. Here’s the latest:
THANKS FOR THE REPLY,YOU WILL GET THE CHECK SOON,AS SOON AS YOU GET TYHE CHECK,PLS LET ME KNOW SO THAT I CAN SEND THE INFORMATION ON WHERE TO SEND THE SHIPPING FEE TOO.
THANKS.
DR.LILIAN WILLIAMS
Uh-huh, sure … I won’t be depositing that check. Depositing a fake certified check can land you in handcuffs. Meanwhile, the guy we gave the car to is planning to come over Saturday to pick it up.
By the way, these Nigerian scammers are notorious for hijacking the names of respectable people. In this case, there is a real Dr Lillian Williams (slightly different spelling of her first name), who is a professor at the University of Buffalo. She obviously has no connection to this pathetic attempt to rob me of $2,500.
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