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.
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.
1 comment:
You are awesome. I know I'm late...but every time I read one of your blogs, tears come to my eyes. These blogs show me just where I get my determination, creativity and motivation to do new and different things, from you! I couldn't ask for a better family.
Love,
Sara
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