The Law of Attraction in Action!

Jasper has been talking about having a quad ATV for quite some time. Just recently though for some reason he became infatuated with having a dirt bike. It is almost, literally, the only thing he has talked about for the last four weeks. He made up his mind that he was going to get one for the trip and that was that. He has been online looking at pictures of them. He signs on to ebay motors and craigslist and searches for them so he can sit there and fantasize about having one and riding it across America. He walks up to us and calls other family members and says things like, "Hey, Drew, want to come over and talk about dirt bikes?"

He was hanging out with his sister last night and by the end of the night she had to tell him as nicely as possible, "dirt bikes are not an interest of mine, could we stop talking about them?"

He has watched "The Secret' with us several times and believes as we do that it is possible to manifest what you want through the power of "The Law of Attraction". So he has learned very early on how to exercise that power for himself.

He saw a quad the other day outside of Mickey Finn's on the Berlin Turnpike and as we drove by he asked if we could stop there on the way back. So, on the way back we stopped and we happened to be talking on the cell phone at that time to one of his sisters, so he got out and went into the showroom by himself. He came out pretty quickly though, as he really wanted us to be in there with him. He waited somewhat (Jasper like, 9 year old) patiently while we finished the call. Then we all went in and looked around. We got a sales person over to answer some of our questions and we put Jasper on top of a bike that was his size and speed. He was like a 9 year old boy in a dirt bike shop. His face was glowing with the possibility that this could be his. He was also very excited to learn that it was within his budget regarding the money he has saved and he started doing the math (and continued all the way home) of how he could get it and how awesome it would be to have it for the trip just like he imagined.

I was still not having any idea where or how we would carry it, even if I tought it was an OK idea and could convince his MOM into thinking it would be OK for him to have it. But none of this had any effect on Jazz or his visualization of realizing his dream of riding that dirt bike where ever we were on our trip.

I started talking about maybe getting a used one instead as his first one and not spending so much money up front incase he didn't like it or broke it or got tired of it. This seemed OK to him and he started looking again on EBAY and talking to everyone about getting the used dirt bike.

One of those people was his brother Drew. Drew told us and him that his girlfriend's brother had two dirt bikes and one of them was not being used and hadn't been for quite a while. He told Jazz that he would talk to him about it and see if he could get it for him for a good price and take him over there so he could see if he actually fit on it and to make sure he could hold it up.

Well on Sunday, completely enthusiastic and with the patience of a puppy around a kid, Jasper went with his big brother to see the bike and get on it to see if it would work for him. His girlfriend's Dad was there and told Jazz the best news that he could probably have heard. He said that he thought it was not worth much beacause it was seven years old and hadn't been used for 6 of those years and would probably need work to get it back to running right again and that if we said it was OK, "He could just have it for free."

Jazz came home with his dream realized and he got it for no expense. Not only that, but they gave him all of the riding gear that the son had used that no longer fit him. Jasper walked through the door, back at home, with all of his gear on looking like a space invader. It turned out that it was a good thing he had the helmet on as he was floating so far off the ground that he bumped his head on our ceilings a couple of times.

If you ever wonder if the law of attraction works or not, just ask Jasper.

He made up a new diddy about how he's all about working it all out and doing it for free!

Realization Frenzy

We were supposed to leave for our trip TODAY - Monday!

We haven't even decided what clothes we're bringing on the trip or put any personal items in the RV yet to make it sort of ready to go.

We pushed the launch deadline to Friday the 30th to give us more time, but we didn't sense any relieve from the pressure, it seemed to just make us more busy. We had to ramp up yet again, trying to stay motivated to keep going and get all the chosen necessary and required tasks complete before we left.

Our final session of coaching was Friday the 23rd. We scheduled it to happen here at our house so that we would not lose time traveling to and from her office in Hartford and could continue to work on the house prep items to make it ready for us to leave. Chris had also graciously offered to stay on after our session that afternoon and help paint the upstairs as we got ready to rent out the house while we were gone (thanks Chris). Our coaching sessions culminated Friday with an extended 4 hour session (sorry Chris) where we realized that we still were not any where near finished with the tasks that we had planned to complete and kept finding more of, prior to our departure. 24 full weeks of intense personal coaching, constant reorganization and futzing with the details to try to make them fit into our self imposed, fabricated launch date, countless hours of frustration because they weren't fitting and we couldn't get them too no matter what we did, increasingly regular sessions of bickering about that and then there's the wondering about which one of us was the cause of both the bickering and the delay, led us all the way up to Friday's late night declaration that, we would just sell the f''in RV and be done with this whole crazy idea of taking a year off.

The crazy making (also self imposed) and the lack of enjoyment and the complete absence of personal freedom in the preceding months was enough to drive us over the edge and have us throw in the towel. We even talked about taking a break from each other. Like maybe we need to see if we are the problem and not all the details that we had decided were so ultimately important. We subscribe to this philosophy, that if you are doing what is in alignment for you/us, then that is when our life will work the best. So, if that is true how could it be that we were doing the right thing (the trip) and having such a miserable time in the process. There is that saying that the journey is really the trip not the somewhere you are trying to get. If we took that verbatim, to heart, then this journey was not working for us. Our interpretation of this made up truth was very discouraging and disheartening since we had put so much effort into making this boat float.

We spent a couple of hours sitting on and standing around the stairs to the second floor Friday night, beating this thing up and desperately and simultaneously giving up and trying to find out what we were doing wrong because we did not really want to give up (I guess). I talked about my chagrin and concern about not knowing the RV very well at all. And how I was not having much great luck driving it as I have now lightly grazed two different objects on two separate occasions and felt like an idiot both times. Then there was the fact that, at that moment, there was the outstanding issue of there being no power in the coach from the batteries that supply power when we are not plugged into electricity. No lights, no water pump, nothing. The little issue that arose after showing the unit to family and friends after eating the feast Thanksgiving day, that I could not seem to figure out. We talked even more about how we had spent so much of our physical and mental energy making ready that we had just exhausted ourselves in the spin and thus left nothing in the way of time, energy or desire to be with each other for even one more moment in the process. Somewhere in the conversation Megan adamantly stated that she didn't have any attachment to leaving on any particular date, she just wanted to stay until it was all done (all that we said and felt right to have done) before we left. I heard that and felt a twinge shock in my soul. I was not sure if I was mad at her for that or thinking that would be a relief. More likely, I was probably thinking that she was being weak and that we must stick the announced deadline or we would look and feel stupid. Why did I feel it was so important to pick a date a stick it? What was I afraid of or concerned about if we didn't hit the date anyway? At just about the moment when we were at the place of resigning to throw in the towel having been succumbed by the details and absorbed in heaviness, complaint and weariness, Sara and Jasper walked in from having been at the movies.

Although she has been doing great in college academically, Sara has been having her own share of trials and issues living in NYC this past semester. She had left the dorms at the beginning of the year to strike out on her own getting her own autonomy via a room in a shared apartment in Brooklyn in August. After two months that wasn't working for a couple of important reasons. So, she found another apartment where she would have an entire floor to herself and we moved her for the third time this year. Within a month this place wasn't working either due to landlord difficulties and the fact that getting to the city was a very long commute. She was also feeling lonely and disconnected there so she needed our assistance in figuring out how to handle all that she was trying to manage. This was appearing as just one more damn thing for us to attempt to deal with in the midst of an already compacted and screwed up schedule. We all sat down, with the best of attitudes (as you could imagine), very late Friday night in the living room and began listening and debating the best way to handle this. We were there till almost 1 AM.

Right near the end of this conversation and I know this will be hard to believe, I became very frustrated with all of the things that just weren't working. Including the hour of this conversation and the fact that we have tenants moving in on Saturday and now we have to move her on Friday. How can more just keep coming? On top of my/our own, Sara's issues were the icing on the cake. Friday,the 30th, being our rescheduled leave CT date was also coincided with Sara's end of month, have to be out of her apartment date and subsequent have to move again date. I started blowing steam and yelling, "If it's not working then you should just stop. You can't keep trying to force it to work by doing the same thing and complaining over and over again. Change something! Pull out of school for the semester, retract yourself from the city, commute from CT, just do something different to give yourself a fresh perspective and time to deal clearly with what you really want and set it up so that you can be successful." Megan was looking at me like a little bobble head doll that some people put on the dashboard of their car, with her head rotating from side to side. I would find out later that she was listening and wondering if I was talking to myself, us or Sara. The prescription I was spouting to Sara seemed, to Megan, to be what I/we needed to hear and put into practice. Exhausted, we all headed to bed, but not before Sara had a moment of clarity and insight and told us that maybe she should take the semester off as she was not really feeling challenged at her school and look into applying to FIT for the Fall of 08' . We would work on these details in the morning.

When we awoke, we were all pretty beat and morose. Except Sara, who seemed to be on her way to altering her attitude and making changes that fit better. Megan and I had to hustle to get Jasper taken care of so that we could be on a job site by 8 AM. We made it by 9! On the way down though we had our own epiphany. This is when Megan told me that she wondered if I was talking to us or Sara when I said, "Stop what your doing and change something if its not working." Right then, we transported ourselves to the transformational moment of this part of the journey. We were determining that we were beating our heads against the rock that we kept dragging into the room for the express purpose of beating our heads on. I declared, in the next minute, that I would give up trying to force us out of here on any particular date and that I felt in agreement with Megan's previously stated desire of staying until we got it all finished and then we go. We would still have to hold the outside date of being in Florida on the December 29th to pick our kids up at the airport as they arrive to celebrate the holidays with us there. But, we knew that this was very doable since we had kicked our own asses so hard up to this point that we were literally only a week or so away from declaring completion and moving on in the adventure.

The air cleared and we looked at each other as if we were seeing each other anew from the past 6 months and it became very easy to breath again. All of a sudden and just like that, we went from panic about getting things done to seeing that each thing we did got us one step closer. The pressure had evaporated and we were light with each other again and started taking and laughing as we spoke.

The growth moment?
Maybe.
It looked like and felt like surrender to me right up to the very moment of my declaration of the release of the have to date.
Now it just felt like relief and the right move.
DUH!

Thanksgiving Day 07'

I really enjoy this day!

I like that people spend so much physical and mental energy to get back to family, to reconvene and spend time together. Maybe one reason we had so many children (by current standards) is so that we could have large family gatherings through out the year and not just on recognized celebration days.

I also enjoy celebrating the abundance and well being aspects of our world. Focusing on and sharing this vantage of abundance and well being and assisting in creating it for others wherever and whenever is a way of fulfilling one of my life long desires.

I hope that today serves as a fulfilling reminder of family and the abundance of all that it provides for you in your life.

Quixotic!

That's the word for the day that describes, for me, our adventure that we will fully engage in on Friday, November 30, 2007.

For the first time ever we will celebrate our anniversary in an RV traveling in the US somewhere "On The Road". However we will be writing our own personal story and traveling to our own "beat". - Jack Kerouac - (read the original scroll if you can and if you haven't.) http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jack_Kerouac

We will stop in Annapolis on the way down to be with our very most favorite Maryland family, then we're to be in Clemson, SC on the 5th. Then over to the North Carolina shore for a couple of weeks and probably Christmas before we head to Florida to be there on the 29th when all of our kids and their significant others will meet us for a week in Orlando and celebrate the beginning of 2008.

On Jan. 5th we will be heading to the Dominican Republic for one week and visiting with our friends in Puerto Rico while in transit to the DR. We will return to the Florida on the 12th and spend some time with family there before we head out to shores of Alabama. We will visit breifly with a new freind there, from Madision, Wisconsin, who I met online researching RV stuff. Then we are off to our 2nd home or is it 3rd at this point, Louisiana. Making longer stops in Lafayette and Lake Charles, we will join up with our two friends and executive directors of the local Rebuilding Together http://www.rebuildingtogether.org/ affiliates in both of those cities and lend our assistance in particular rebuilding projects there. (they are still in the rebuilding process of hurricane's Rita and Katrina) It is a blast to be with them and to be able to have immediate impact and make a difference there. If you have any interest let me know and I will be more than happy to assist in getting you connected to the right people.

Then we are going to Laredo and Brownsville, Texas for a while to help out there in some Mexican family communities. We are not sure exactly what we will be doing there but we will lend a hand and get to know some of the families and then head out for the rest of the winter season to New Mexico and Arizona.

Ahh! Warm!! I can hardly wait!!!

Enjoying The Countdown To The Beginning? Maybe

Road School

We have pushed back our leaving date to Nov. 30. Mainly because we have not finished some of the essential things we have declared essential and then there are the things we never thought about. Like making a cake in the shape of an RV (aptly named "Road School") for Jasper to bring into school tomorrow for his final 1/2 day with his classmates in the 4th grade.

He is very excited. We are caught in the middle some where as this has been a great year for him and he is progressing nicely with his studies. I am sad, a bit, as this is a very social year for kids this age and Jazz actually has his first girl friend. She is really cute. It feels kinda odd to be taking him away from all that experience and growth in spite of the experience and growth he will have on the trip over the next year. I am certain it will all be more than fine as soon as I stop being emotional about it!

His teacher Mr. G has been just great for him and for us and we are very appreciative for the exceptional support that Jasper and we have received as part of this school. We have loved being involved and enjoyed all of our interactions and all of the teachers, staff and administrators that we have been involved with.

Our other details, like renting our house out for the trip and completing on business projects, choosing what we are taking with us, finishing the house, setting up people to help and support the house and the people living here while we are gone, how they will park, how we will get our mail, how we will collect the rent and pay bills and many hundreds of other Blah, Blah, Blahs, have been consuming.

Although we have had some fun in this process... it has been more work than play. Most likely due to the way I envision how it should go and look for evidence of how its not going that way. Also, as Meg pointed out today, for me it has not lived up to some mental image of what I held it should be like when you are getting ready for something like this trip and from my perspective I actually look a lot to her to see how she is doing to gage if we are having fun yet. If she having a good go of it then we must be having fun. I find myself not bringing fun to the process and worrying about it simultaneously. Thus I have had some disappointing thoughts and some despair regarding our lack of ongoing joy and lightness. Lowering my expectations can often occur as giving in to me so it has been a challenge. Maybe It will get clearer as we get on the road and I can view it in the rear view mirror of my life. Perhaps you will get to read about it in a future short written dropping. I hope so, I could really use a fresh perspective on this issue, which seems to be part of my conditioned way of being, my hard wiring. It is so challenging to be an observer of your own ways. But this is one of those things that interests me the most.

One of the funnest bits!!

The set up and taking of these photo's today of Jasper,s class and him with this teacher was definitely one of the fun moments and touching too.

My Big Tow!

Monday night, Drew and I spent from 5:30 to 10:40 installing an electric brake controller and the 7 pin wiring harness and plug in on the RV. This will allow us to attach the tow dolly onto the back of the RV and pull our Prius on it with the added safety of electric brakes on the tow dolly.

It was cold but really warm to be able to spend time with him watching him do what he is an expert at. It was such a cool experience to see him take any of the worry and guess work out of this wiring situation. Which means that I knew nothing about installing the thing or auto DC wiring and he knows a lot. I spent hours in research trying to learn and figure out the process.

He told me last week that he thought I was just making it more difficult than it actually is. Of course he was right but that what we do when we don't know what the heck we are doing with something. This brings me to having the people who know what they are doing do the job or just have fun doing what ever you are up to.

I did both and I had fun being with Drew.

Thanks for your help and for taking the time to do the project with me and for getting us to the next step that will allow us to fulfill on our dream trip. Your the very best!


By the way, as I am sitting here writing the first snow fall (flurry) of the 2007-2008 season has begun falling from the sky. Wow, isn't it pretty!!

We really need to get out of the North East,

FAST!

Those College Neighbors!!

You can double click on the picture below to enlarge them and see the fillings in his teeth!

Yesterday, after laying in bed,
fooling around with my Blog, reading Caterwauled.blogspot.com and watching You Tube
(This Lap Top can paralyze me if I am not careful. Megan actually made breakfast and asked me if I wanted it in bed) (I knew right then and there that I was spending too much time on the computer) I got up and ate. I went in to take a shower and decided that we should go and help Steve and Monica put their IKEA kitchen together and get some installed. It only felt right after we had received so much assistance on Saturday from so many.


So, we sauntered over to the College House bearing sandwiches and drinks for lunch, ate for a while, assessed the situation and got to work. We did amazing things in the next 4-5 hours. All the cabinets got built, seven got installed (curse those pantry cabinets), the fridge was moved into place, problems got resolved and we enlisted the help of a local Doctor and his family for the really tricky stuff that us mere mortals were having trouble with.
Upon his review and assistance throughout the afternoon we were able to wrap it up knowing that we having given the day our best. (Thanks to Jen and Sonya)



We retired to the Court House for sustenance and then called it a Very Good Day!!!!
(We even got the kids to bed on time)

Saying GoodBye to School!

Last Friday afternoon we had the wonderful opportunity to go to Jazz'z classroom and share the story of our trip with his classmates and to give them an opportunity to go inside of and see the RV that Jasper will be living and learning in for the next year.

Jasper was great with his friends as he very excitedly showed off his new home on wheels. All of them were very excited to see it and it seemed like it was a first time experience for many of them. A lot of the kids said they wanted to come too and sat down in the seats and said they were not getting off because they wanted to come with us.

One little girl sat on the edge of the couch and was looking around checking it all out but you could tell she was thinking or formulating. Then she looked up at me and asked, "so, are you rich"? I was somewhat embarrassed by the question but I certainly got where she come up with that question. This a little unusual of a thing for them to see and experience. I mean as far as I know there are not any other families undertaking such an adventure as this. I guess I should have been more composed and told her that I am not Rich, I told you already my name is Bill, weren't you listening?

The day was done to give the kids an idea of what Jasper was going to be up to for the next year and so that Jazz could have some sense of formal closure to his school year, which has been the best to date. (We really do lament taking him out this year as it has been so good for him in both academic and social areas) But he will have an opportunity of a lifetime being on this trip with us. He will broaden his scope and perspective of the planet, particularly North America and possibly even Central America if we are fortunate.

"We Are Over The Edge"

The work party for Saturday is complete and we really kicked ASS and drew Blood!

(the second floor's ass and Ed's blood)

I should have known how it was going to be right from the get go, just by the militant way Megan started straightening up the first floor early on in the morning. She set the tone for the day.

(Notice the hardware in her shooting hand)

I love the way she forces those pillows into submission. So commanding!

All the good folks who came made such a huge impact

We would not have been able to complete the painting without the assistance of my protege' Sonya. I swear that her dad has her watching me and asking all those questions so that he won't have to pay me for working on his house anymore.

Just look at that gleam in her eye. She knows she knows!

And Jenifer encourages this sort of activity. I am shocked about this but I guess sometimes I just can't read people. Sonya even started wearing Lowes clothes while she was here. I knew it! She really did a fine job painting too. I may never have work again!

Then there's this Peter K, guy. He comes to the sight, dressed in his finest clothes and says he's ready to work. I don't think so, Buddy. Now we have all heard of these guys who can do anything without getting dirty, regardless of the job, but now we have met the real deal in person.

I had Steve throw some paint on Peter's shirt late in the day, without him knowing it, just to show him how it really feels to get into this work. Hah! - I guess you should have had shirt insurance for that shirt, pal. And I know you can afford it with all that money you make from the premiums on our huge term policies.

It must have pissed him off too. Just look at how mad he is as he continues to finish the job started.

He must have been more mad than I thought because he put something really foul smelling and ugly in this bathroom paint to get back at me for the paint on the shirt thing. It smelled like rancid toasted oatmeal in there. Now, that's dedication or was it retribution?

Ed McK came over after attending the funeral of his friend/colleague George Michael Evica. He walked in and announced his arrival with, " Hi, I'm here, I don't know how to do anything and I'm unmotivated, how can I help? I could go get lunch for people!

So, after I stopped laughing, then panicking because I realized he was serious, we both went to the store and got a few more items for the lunch menu. We had great conversation about his colleague, the state of radio today, writing and various other topics of mutual interest. We came back to the house, no one ate what we bought except me and then we found a project that Ed was suddenly excited and motivated to do. Replace sash cords on the windows in the Purple room.

Things were going great, he was having huge success, then it happened

He was struggling to get the last cord cut with the utility knife blade that had become to dull to go thru it easily but evidently...

Not to dull to slice his finger open. Off to the emergency room he went. No stitches or permanent damage, thankfully and by the time he got out we were all at his house. Soon after he got home, we sent him out to pick up Indian from Haveli. Poor guy, all cut up and we send him out for food. He and Lucy generously provided the space and the food itself for our delicious evening community meal.

I also want to mention with deep appreciation, that Lucy watched all of the kids of all of the folks with kids, all day, so that everyone could work over here. Now, that is support extraordinaire!

We have these new friends that we help find the wonderful, spacious and romantic farm house they living in as I write. I think they love living there. They look very happy and content and I know this because they came to this house party and completely transformed an entire room of our house and they looked amazingly happy working together doing it. Paul and So, you guys made the Gold room shine. I never knew that So had so much painting talent. Thanks for being here despite the illness of your little girl. Your gift of friendship, time and assistance was very generous. We love you guys.

Of course no party of ours is ever complete without two of the women who make it all happen in Middletown. These are the movers and (paint) shakers and even cleaner-upers that hold it all together for those of us who just want to work and not be involved with all of the important details.

You guys are the best and we will miss you all and our times and laughs together for the next year but... were still going and bringing you with us in spirit. See you soon!

Work Party on Court!

Today, as we have done in the past, we have called in the reinforcements. We have sent out the call for much need assistance to push us over the top of the wall. We have spent the last 5 months planning and doing all that we thought was required for us to get out the door and begin the Oddessy. We have done tons but we are not yet ready to go. The house is not in order to be rented which is an essential element to having this year work for us financially. We are close and we will have all spaces rented by the end of the year.

Today in response to our conversations and posted email, a group of people will arrive and give us the company and energy boost that we need to get the 2nd floor ready for the new folks moving in to that space. Even the new folks, Melissa, Jenn and Mike are coming to help out and be a part of the resurrection and refreshment of their space.
I have enlisted the skilled assistance of Hilton to get the carpentry things completed. Peter Krause is coming to lend a hand and WISDOM to the tasks at hand. As always Steve and Monica will be here; for they are our forever support team and thankfully are always there or here at the drop of and most times prior to the drop of a request.

Tuesday, Megan and I started replacing glass in the windows of the house. We started in the RED room as one of the windows had no glass in the bottom sash at all. We replaced the two front ones and as I went to glaze the side one I broke it and had to run and get a replacement for it as well. Since we had them all out we cleaned all of the storms and remaining window glass. That was transformation in itself. Let the Sun Shine!

Megan and I started stripping the stair treads and risers of 150 years of paint on Thursday. Actually, Megan started and I joined in, and we got nearly 80% completed before the end of the day. Brother, Peter Paglia, came on Thursday afternoon. Just as he got there Meg and I had to leave to go to Jasper's school to do his final report card evaluation of the year before our exit. So, we ran over there and he got started prepping the front left bedroom (formerly known as Drew's room or the RED room) for painting. While we were at school Peter attempted to begin the priming of the room only to find that the primer had magically turned to sour cottage cheese in the pail. While making his first swipe with the roller on the wall, he quickly and astutely realized, with the keen observational powers that only an accomplished weekend painter could, that this was not supposed to be TEXTURED wall paint, he stopped painting until we arrived home. Back to Home Depot - Tinted Kilz 2 - We then completed the priming together. That tinted primer looked so good we almost decided not to put finish paint on.

But, that would be too easy!!!

On Friday, Megan completed the final stair stripping and started getting her list together for the full out work party on Saturday. Later, in the evening, Steve and Monica came over and we prepared one of our infamous community meals together consisting of this really great chicken thigh recipe Mon found, I made some fresh cabbage slaw (Red and Green, YUM) and Meg peeled and prepared many fresh delectible beets. Simply wonderful!
In the middle of the prep, friend Mike Harris showed up to lend his personal support to our effort for the evening. He sat and broke bread with us and spurred on and informed our table conversations regarding solar and other alternative energy ideas. This was a good table, a really good meal and these are exquisite friends. These impromptu events will truly be missed as we travel but will remind us and call us forward to create these kinds of relationships wherever we are.

This love and connection is what actually feeds us and keeps us warm

Mike and I helped clean the table then hustled upstairs to the Gold Room to replace the ropes on all of the windows and reattach them to the weights and windows. (It's interesting how we do things to make the space ready for others when we were willing to tolerate the broken glass and propping up the windows with sticks for a few years) We shared some stories and talked about our love of writing and blogging and we talked about what we are specifically up to in our writing. Mike has completed a children's book and excitedly, it is ready for publishing. He is now looking for that publisher. He is also in the process of writing his second novel. I shared with him the premise for a story I believe I will turn into a novel as we begin our journey and a clearer space to write presents itself. It will look into the how people uncover their life passions in the midst of doing their lives and how the passion is always there regardless of the circumstances, waiting for the opportunity to be unfolded. We shall see what comes.

Friday came to a smooth and delicious end. We slid under the covers for an early winters rest in attempt to restore ourselves for that energetic push, over the Court Street Speedbump, from our friends on Saturday.

All is well in Michigan!

Yesterday, November 2nd, "we left" Middletown, via the very generous effort of Monica who drove us to Bradley Airport at 7 AM. Doing this on the day when she and her family would also be flying out of Bradley only eight hours later and only after I had called her the evening before on very short notice to ask her if she could make it happen for us.
She had to arrange for Steve to get driven to school at the same time she was taking us (thanks to Scott) so she could pick him up at 1 PM and only have one car to deal with later in the day. She had to also relocate a sleeping Nora, wrapped in a blanket, into the 30 something degree morning air, over to Scott and Rani's house and place her under cover into a sleeping Rani's bed.
All that and she was cheerful and excited to do it!
Mon, you are a great friend and did I mention you looked particularly beautiful in your cap and fleece in the dawning light?
Thanks very much, to all of you, for setting up the launch into this milestone of our journey for the next year!!!!

We, being, Megan, Jasper, granddaughter Michaela and myself. Left, meaning, flying to Michigan. First to Detroit Metro then onto the final airport destination for the day, Flint, arriving there at about 12:50 PM.
In Flint we were generously and graciously received by Richard and Linda Bedford of Grand Blanc. They are the sellers of our (new to us-yet to be named) motor coach and the reason why we left Connecticut yesterday.
On the way back to their house, where the motor coach has been patiently waiting our arrival for the last two months, we stopped for a quick lunch. Once at the house, we unloaded our luggage and a bin we had brought with us that included some down comforters and pillows from home to keep us warm and comfortable over the next few days.

We will be scooting through Michigan and across cool Canada (the reason for the comforters), over to Niagara, Ontario to see again for ourselves and to share with the kids, for the first time the natural wonder of Niagara Falls from the Canadian side.
Speaking of the falls, We had a very unique opportunity yesterday to have flown right along side of Lake Ontario and Lake Erie and actually got to see Niagara Falls and the Niagara River, as pointed out by our pilot, from seven miles high. It was very cool to see it from that perspective as we got to see how the lakes come together via the river to form the spot where the falls occur, but you certainly lose the on site, dramatic presentation from that height.
We will camp, on our own, for the first time in Niagara, ON, Canada on Saturday night then on Sunday we will head down back into the US and into and through upstate New York. We will stop in Ithaca to visit with Gracie, Gustavo and Tiaggo and hopefully the "EcoVillage of Ithaca" as well. We will then arrive back at our home (without wheels) sometime late Monday or Tuesday.

As we stood together for the first time, in a Chevy Chase "Vacation" like moment, outside our new rolling home, we held a small yet significant ritual and photo op. moment (no not the draining of the gaseous sewage into the storm drain moment) but a moment for the ceremonious , celebratory, installation of the new Montana License Plate!!**
We parentally (foolishly) thought the kids were also going to participate in the big goings on, but it seems they were just as happy to be off the plane, on the ground, participating in running around and riding a bicycle that the Bedford's had saved to see if Jasper could use. And he did and Michaela happily ran along side of her treasured uncle.

Richard very generously spent the rest of the afternoon, 4+ hours, showing me around the motor home and offering expert tutorials on all of the systems and operation procedures, as per my earlier request of him. I could not have found a better, more patient instructor for the job. I hope he, at least, got some pleasure out of our possible male bonding (mutually agonizing/complaining) moment that centered around showing and allowing me to change the sadistically placed potable water filter for the RV. I certainly enjoyed it. Once completed and significantly whined about by me, we moved to filling the tank, 1/2 way, with fresh water, wrapping up the hoses and locking up the coach to make ready for heading out to supper.

While we were going over the RV, Meg had taken the kids on a walk through the hood. She met a neighbor up the street. She told me later on our night time stroll that as she was walking up the street, the woman came directly out of her house, walking fast and straight towards her while looking directly at her, with the seeming intention of walking right up to Megan.
What Meg didn't know, as the woman fast approached, was that her main intention was to get to the school bus located behind Megan, where her 5 year old child was about to get off. But as she got closer to Megan she smiled, said Hi and asked if Megan was new here or just visiting. Megan had the opportunity to talk with her at length and tell our journey story and hear one of the woman's as well.

She shared with Meg how exciting she thought the idea of our trip was and then told her that her husband works for General Motors here in Grand Blanc (a suburb of the Motor City) and told her one of the exciting things that just recently happened in their lives. It seems that if you work for GM you get the opportunity to TAG a car that has been being used "out there", in the in house system by one of the plant managers or some such ranking person. Tagging seems to mean that you say that it is a car you would like to own and then you get to purchase that car at a relatively near future time at a significant discount and pick it up and drive it home. Well it just so happened that the car they tagged was being driven by a person in San Francisco. So she and her husband got the opportunity to go out to CA and pick up the car and make a trip of it. They seemed to have had a blast and truly enjoyed the excitement of their travels and receiving their new auto.
I love how our minds can link into particular threads of someones experience and bring relevance and more specifically joy or happiness to theirs and our own lives ongoningly (re-lived or calling it forth) by relating to an aspect of someones story. A good reminder to look for the Gold in a shared experience and find the gold in my own life.
The woman also introduced Jasper to her 11 year old son, Brandon, a very nice and well mannered boy, that got on great with Jazz. They then spent the next 2 hours riding bikes, playing, showing Brandon the motor home, setting up there next visit scheduled for after supper and having a great time being boys with each other. We couldn't have planned it better than it worked out.

Soon after, we were all packed back into their car and heading down the road to a local restaurant, Damons, where we had ribs, barbecued chicken and pulled pork sandwiches (and a couple of pretty good "Golden Margaritas". We also enjoyed some really nice conversation with our new friends and learned more about their lives and shared (Shy as I am!!!) some our own stories as well.
Then it was back to our homestead upon their homestead. We said our good nights and then Megan, the kids and I, took a short stroll down through the neighborhood block and then it was back to the RV and getting a DVD set up for the kids to watch for a short while while I crawled into my new bed for the first time quickly starting to drift off, reveling in the day and checking in with myself to see if I held it like we had done the right thing.
All is Well in Michigan.