I left Plymouth, New Hampshire st 9:30 this morning in a minor snow storm.  Except for the fishtail into the left lane, back into the right, left again and then right concluding in a 180 facing in the opposite direction, on Routes 3/25 between Holderness and Meredith, NH, my trip so far has been fairly uneventful.  (The slipping and sliding was a pretty good adrenaline rush for one day.)  I went west into Vermont and then south through Massachuset into Connecticut.  I saw the last of the snowstorm around Hartland, VT.  I will be spending the night at a rest stop just south of Orange, CT.  I am tired and think I will try and make it to Newark, Delaware tomorrow and then to North Carolina.
This trip is different than the one which returned me to Plymouth for teaching this past January.  Today I took major interstates because I want to find warmth quickly.  Even here in CT it will be cold tonight and looks like Delaware will be colder than I would want it to be.  My last trip was nice and meandering on smaller roads without the mission to find much of anything but what would present itself.
It is time for me to find new adventures.  I am thankful for friends who helped along the way and will miss some deeply.  New friends and old.
I may return to Plymouth for graduation as there still are students in the system whom I would like to cheer as they walk across the platform.
Stay tuned the journey continues.

I missed my Sunday update.  No one should worry.  I have been 100% safe, warm, dry and sound.  Done living in my undisclosed location which was my office on campus where Ozzy and I lived for three weeks.  We had the air mattress, heat and a desk top computer with a monthly free trial of Netflix.  Watched Ken Burns' documentary on Jazz, which I HIGHLY recommend.  Just a terrific piece of work.
I reconfigured the inside of the van a bit and now Ozzy has his own full size bed...I swapped out my bureau for a chest with a flip up top.  I put it next to my bed with a couple of pillows and a blanket on top.  Ozzy now sleeps next to me on it.  No more bed hogging!
I had planned to leave New Hampshire on Sunday February 1 but have decided to leave Friday morning January 30.  I really need to find warmer weather and new adventures.  I had also planned to stop in Pennsylvania on my way south, but, now have also decided to keep going until probably Asheville, NC.  I need a change, big time.
I have money in the bank from working through January and with gas prices almost half what they were when I first started this journey, I am feeling in pretty good financial shape.
I will play at the open mic at the Common Man on Thursday night, sleep in the van (20 degrees) and then head out Friday morning.
I will keep you all updated...

Okay, this midweek post may turn into a rant...I have just finished submitting grades for my winter term class, a class which supports  my thinking that retirement from the classroom was a good decision...
I originally signed up to teach my class when I thought that I would probably be missing the classroom and it would be nice to go back for a three week term after a full summer and semester off.  I was missing the classroom and looked forward to getting back to it for the month of January.  After this January teaching experience I am turned off to ever going back to university teaching....
Allow me to begin with the good points.  I had 5 students in all, two who were really terrific.  They were interested, conscientious, engaged and attended all classes without absence.  Pleasures to have as students.
Now, here we go...
I had one student, to that student's benefit, contacted me before the course began to let me know that the student had a week commitment for another academic program and would miss that week of classes.  Could I accommodate this in some way?  I agreed, we discussed the accommodations, deadlines, work to be done, etc. So the student is gone for a week of a three week class and writes to me that the other experience is keeping the student busier than first thought, and so, can I accept the work on another deadline?  What can I say?  So the student returns and hands in work.  I then notice that night that it appears that the first assignment, due before departure, is not done.  I ask the student the next day and, "Oh, I didn't hand it in, I didn't finish it."  I think that if I am willing to accommodate, the student should certainly reciprocate with timely work and all work completed.
So, I have another student, with documented anxiety disorder and Asperger's Syndrome.  This student comes to class the first week and then contracts the flu and goes home for the whole second week of class.  I write to the student to drop the class, the student calls me, we work out a plan for the needed work.  (Remember, I have already allowed another student to make things up and know that I would be taken to task for treating students differently.)  So, the student returns to class and it is time to make a mask.  We make masks out of plaster-craft which is a gauze material impregnated with plaster.  You wet it and smooth it.  I don't know how many times I went over and modeled how the material should be smoothed.  Never got it!  Never got it either when I kept correcting and instructed how to hold the paint brush closer to the brush end and not at the other end.  At least, half a dozen times, I looked over, saw the student, unfocused, using the brush as I instructed him not to.  So, now I am teaching how to hold a paint brush to someone who doesn't have the focus to copy one simple instruction.
And, now, the real kicker!  I have a student who did not give me documentation as to a learning disability, but, who is clearly in need of modified instruction.  I could say so much about how it appears that this student has never been allowed to do or think for self.  It even appears that the student may have been emotionally and psychologically brutalized for ever trying to think for self.  I certainly think that this student has absolutely no idea what I talked about for three weeks.  Anyway, when the student is done painting the mask I ask the student to go clean the paint out of the Tupperware and brush.  Student goes to the sink and I look over in a bit, hear water running, but it doesn't seem like anything is getting done.  I look again in a bit and same thing.  So I walk over, water is running, Tupperware is on counter and this conversation ensues.  "J (not the student's real name), you need to just take the Tupperware, put it under the water and sponge it out." Student holds up a sponge and says, "The sponge is hard."  I take the sponge, "You need to put it under the water and it will soften up."  I am teaching a university student how to use a sponge!!!!!!!
I would like to say that I like all of the students and for the most part I really don't think it's their fault that they are the way they are.  But, why are these people here?  I feel badly, but, I no longer have the capacity for this and am done.  And no longer have the capacity for students who ask for accommodation and then don't show the level of commitment that should be returned.  I'm done!!!
The university is not for everyone!!!
I will post again on Sunday, as always.

Two more weeks...February 1 and we are on the road...we cannot wait!!!!

Night times have been bitterly cold the past week in Plymouth.  I have been inside and warm sleeping on my new air mattress which is comfortable.  I put a folded blanket beside the mattress where Ozzy sleeps, as, unfortunately, the mattress really isn't big enough for the two of us.  He dutifully lays on the blanket through the night and must be comfortable based on the snoring I hear coming from him. 
Yesterday, although chilly, was in the twenties and sunny.  Ozzy and I took a really nice walk on Squam Lake which is frozen.  We will probably walk on the lake again today.  I wish I could let him off leash as that would have been a perfect place for him to run, but, I just can't trust him to come back to me. I am looking forward to going places again where there are enclosed dog parks.
Today I have started preparing for a workshop I will be leading at the Pemi Youth Center starting this Thursday.  I volunteered my time there last spring for a mask-making workshop and really enjoyed myself.  For the next three weeks I will be going back to the Center on Tuesdays and Thursdays where I will lead a workshop on making "Flag Books."  It should be fun!  My group is likely to be 5th through 7th grade.  My first real teaching assignment many years ago was teaching middle school science.  That experience completely turned me off to middle schoolers.  God bless the middle school teacher who is a breed unto him/herself.  However, I really enjoyed my time last year at the Pemi Center and had my mind changed about middle schoolers.  Not sure I would want to be with them all day long, but, a small group for an hour or a bit longer is just fine.  Fun, really!
I have been ready to get back in the van and back on the road for a couple of weeks, but, still have three weeks until I leave.  My target date is February 1 and I will hit the road on that date.  I agreed to be a judge for the high school juried art show on the 29th for the Friends of the Arts, and a former student of mine is having an opening for her art show on the 31st.  Then I am gone!!
My course has been going well.  I have 5 students who seem to be enjoying the class and having some aha moments concerning mythology and identity.  We discussed the shootings in Paris as I brought up the point of the power of mythology, the narrative, and how the fundamentalists read the texts as prose and literal as opposed to poetry and metaphor.  This is a major problem.  There is so much attachment to the words as the teaching rather than understanding the words as temporal metaphoric guides on how to experience what the words are trying to explain.  The limitations of the words open all to misunderstanding.  What else explains how people can kill as they do in the name of Allah, Jesus Christ...?
Stay warm...

I'm not feeling very well today.  Waking up "off".  I have some medical conditions for which I take medication and just to simply describe my life medically, I have good days and I have bad days.  Today is a bad day.  Light headed, feeling achy and a bit feverish.  I have a condition called atrial fibrilation coupled with high blood pressure, for which I take medication daily.  Aspirin, lisiniprol, amlodipine, digoxin, and metreperol.  I'm actually amazed that I don't have more bad days and have as many good days as I do.  So, as I sit here this morning posting my Sunday update, in my long johns and t-shirt, it's not a good day...I will go out soon and find some food.  After eating I usually feel better.

Anyway, I have left my house-sitting experience and am now in a place that I am hesitant to make public because I don't really have permission to be here.  But, I am warm, dry and safe.  If I am found I only will be asked to leave without any major hassle.  The first night here I slept on the floor with my sleeping bag and blanket.  I did get some sleep, if not the most comfortable experience.  But, as they say, every cloud has a silver lining and the adversity of the first night on the floor led me to find an item which will be helpful in the new location and when I return to the van.  I found an air mattress which is the same width as my bed in the van.

Peter and I built the bed to be 26" wide.  It was the best width for the van.  But, up until the other morning I could not find a mattress compatible with that width. Twins are 37" wide, fulls are 54" wide.  What I have been doing is finding egg carton foam full size mattress pads and folding them in half, 27" and using them on the bed.  Yesterday, after sleeping on the floor, I was bound and determined to find something better, and did.  I found a "slim twin" air mattress, 26" wide!!!  Made for cots.  I have a pump to fill it with air and I slept beautifully last night on it.  When I move back into the van it will fit perfectly on the bed.  I love it and so does Ozzy!

Tomorrow is the first day of my teaching for the winter term and I anticipate a good night's sleep.

Last night was a snow storm which has made all look beautiful outside.  I have not been out yet, but, now, off I go...