Leaving the Pumpkin

Our blog post the first time we hit the road on a nippy fall day was called “Frost on the Pumpkin”.  As we pull away today, leaving the pumpkin behind for the next set of campers to enjoy at Shelburne Campground, its beautiful  and sunny and we’re noticing some of the trees are still filled with golden leaves. 

It’s been a hectic and emotional few days as we approached todays Departure Day.  Hectic because I have taken on more and more responsibility at our annual edtech Fall Conference and this year was in charge of two dozen exhibits in the INNOVATION Lounge along with leading 4 sessions.  

It’s been  emotional because once again I was gearing up to leave behind some of the people I love and  lots of the ‘stuff’ that makes up Lucie - stuff like some favorite clothes, some favorite dishes and glasses,  some favorite books and basically just anything I like to keep near me to create, make, read, or just look at. 

When you take your home with you,  you are very limited as to what you can take.  Three years ago, I found myself trying to pair down my shoes to what would fit in a small basket, and my clothes to what would  fit in a small closet, 3 drawers, and the overhead bins above the bed.   I stuffed books, my computer, tablets, projector and other work supplies in the limited compartments in our living area.

Predicting what you will need on the road when you LIVE, LEARN, and Make a living from the road is not easy.  This year, I found some things easier.  Lots less clothes,  (especially summer clothes), a few more warm clothes, and even a few less pairs of shoes.  I realized that I’m probably not gonna read all the books I meant to read during the year, but did bring a long a small selection of hope to read and a stash of STEM/SCIENCE/MAKER Books.  

Along with leaving the pumpkin, we decided to leave behind the inflatable kayak, which also made room for a larger supplies of maker supplies.  I aspire to dig deeper into creating, circuits, and code through this journey.  I’m sure I’ve guessed wrong on some of the stuff I brought (or didn’t bring),  especially since we are heading to new territories… but ah well  there’s no lack of Walmarts  or Goodwill stores to supply us with whatever we ‘shoulda brought” — and  thank Goodness for Amazon PRIME!  (2 day delivery comes in very handy on the road).

But although I found some things easier, I found some things harder - like leaving behind the people I love.  Thankfully I am taking with me some wonderful memories of  what a wonderful family I have.

Yesterday  I got to hang with Ryan, Sarah, and the grandkids. Loved watching Simon jumping off the rocks in a 360 to get ready for skiing;  Cedar hitting the T-Ball and pretending to slide into first base and Rosie spinning on her butt in the leaves to get a full view all around her;  all three of them sliding down the plastic slide into the leaf pile that Mama Sarah was raking and Papa Ryan holding the big stick so Cedar could pretend that he was climbing up a magical beanstalk.  As you can see from this mini movie, the memory from yesterday was a wonderful gift.

Today  my Mom, two sisters (Joanne and Chantal)  and two cousins (France and Lise) met Craig and I for a leisurely breakfast at the Guilt Plate where we not only indulged in food, but also in lots of stories and memories.  Thanks  Chantal for the nice earrings,  and thanks Joanne for retrievng them from the restaurant garbage where they ended up after our waitress cleared the table.  Both were great early birthday presents as were the memories we shared of life with 100 cousins! 

The memories of the past few days were just what I needed to make leaving just a little easier. 

And the icing on the cake was that the amazing unseasonably warm weather has made it possible for Craig to surprise me with a truly unexpected birthday present;  this morning Craig announced that he made a week long reservervation at Liberty Harbor RV Park  just outside NYC… where we can take the Path Train into New York  for $2.50. This means that our first stop on our trip will be with MORE family!  A week will not only allow us to spend time with Craig’s kids (Maggie and Peter) in NJ  but also with my kids (Adam, Matt and their wonderful ladies - Guiliana and Molly).  The icing on the cake is that I’ll get to spend my birthday at Carnegie Hall with my son Matt as the New York Pops play some of his arrangements.   What am amazing birthday present!  

From there we’ll head towards Colorado, where we’ll get to enjoy spending time with Craig’s son Warren and wife, Allison.   Currently, our itinerary will take us from Colorado to Tucson, AZ where we’ll spend a month; then a few weeks in Quartzsite (the RV boondocking capital of the world)  then off to San Diego.  Our itinerary is open for the month of February, bringing us to Austin for the month of March (including SxSw EdU and Interactive Festival). We’ll spend April making our way back to Vermont. 

Onward we go for our third season taking our Bluebird bus out of Vermont.