Okay, some aphorisms to start the day...
Everything happens for a reason...I don't believe this. When something happens, we should take it as an opportunity to make sense, learn a lesson, give it reason...but, it didn't happen for a reason...it just happened!
You're only as old as you feel...I think the only people who say that are those who have never been a sixty something. I feel great, I feel like I'm 17 with 49 years experience...but, try and convince someone else I'm that young who looks at me and sees that I am not 17! You're only as old as others see you. You can be young at heart but don't expect others to see you that way. Act as young as you feel at 66 and see where it gets you...Late mid-life crisis? Just really hard figuring out what it's like to be 66 years old when I never figured out 65...
And, finally, life is about the journey and not the destination...this I do believe and what a journey it has been! Both existentially and literally. Back on the road and what a trip! Especially the snow storm I drove through on Friday. Some of the worst weather I have ever driven through in my life!! White-outs and snow drifting from 20-25 mph wiind gusts!! I love my girlfriend who speaks to me from inside my navigator gps system...I ask her to avoid highways for me and she is so cute, sometimes too cute, and puts me on some really minor roads which only locals know as shortcuts...but, being on Mud Pie Lane in upper western Pennsylvania with winds howling and snow blowing was a bit much. Oh yeah, and let's not forget the deer running out in front of me!! Up and down hills, dales and hollows, twisting s-curves, trucks using lower gears, 20 mph limits...What a journey...but, the boys, Morrison, Ozzy and I showed our mettle and made it to our destination. Is it the journey or the destination? This morning I am writing from Radford, Virginia will be in search of a dog park for Ozzy and a day off the road for Morrison and me. I want to shave my head again and go from full beard I have been growing the past couple of months back to just a goatee. I am feeling scruffy and would rather be on the road looking clean and respectable.
When not faced with adversity, I have seen some really beautiful country.
Still headed to Nashville...
Sunday, January 31, 2016
Thursday, January 28, 2016
Okay!!! The no-plan plan is coming together. Got on the road Tuesday as I had hoped and went to Burlington, VT. Unfortunately, Burlington does not hold the allure for me that it once did. Church Street is EXPENSIVE!!! Wednesday AM I had breakfast at Penny Cluse, a place I used to love, but, two poached eggs, potatoes, biscuit, cup of coffee and tip...$15...$15 for 2 eggs?
Long and short, I find myself in Poughkeepsie, NY with a new RCA Viking Pro 10" tablet which I bought for a little over $100...just what I needed. Compatible with my Android phone, detachable keyboard which I am using right now to write this post. Can word process, surf net, watch youtube...works great so far.
So, spent the morning looking at maps and I have decided to slowly head toward Nashville, TN. Gonna bypass Lancaster, PA, for now, but head there on my return trip, April or May. From Nashville, I think to Asheville, NC to Charleston, SC and then to Lancaster, PA. A good route, I think. Of course, all is subject to change at any moment.
Am reading an interesting book, The Violinist's Thumb, about DNA.
Morrison had a first mileage reading of 22MPG, which is not bad considering the idling we do to warm up in the morning.
Ozzy is doing well, I think he has already figured out we're in travel mode and he likes it. Today we will try and find him a dog park.
All systems go...
Long and short, I find myself in Poughkeepsie, NY with a new RCA Viking Pro 10" tablet which I bought for a little over $100...just what I needed. Compatible with my Android phone, detachable keyboard which I am using right now to write this post. Can word process, surf net, watch youtube...works great so far.
So, spent the morning looking at maps and I have decided to slowly head toward Nashville, TN. Gonna bypass Lancaster, PA, for now, but head there on my return trip, April or May. From Nashville, I think to Asheville, NC to Charleston, SC and then to Lancaster, PA. A good route, I think. Of course, all is subject to change at any moment.
Am reading an interesting book, The Violinist's Thumb, about DNA.
Morrison had a first mileage reading of 22MPG, which is not bad considering the idling we do to warm up in the morning.
Ozzy is doing well, I think he has already figured out we're in travel mode and he likes it. Today we will try and find him a dog park.
All systems go...
Sunday, January 24, 2016
Finally, and happily, the time has come for Ozzy and me to get back on the road. We have been in New Hampshire for about nine months, mostly taking care of business...trying to pay down debt and save a little so that we could get back on the road,
I worked this past summer on top of Loon Mountain selling photographs of mine, and, in fact, actually sold a bunch. Then I taught this past Fall semester at Plymouth State and finished teaching the winterim term just a couple of days ago. I would have gotten on the road this weekend, but because of the major storm south of here I decided to hang around a couple more days and wait for it to be cleaned up a bit before I drove through it. And then I thought I would wait for February 1 to get all of my tax forms, but, then decided that I have until April 15 and whether I do my taxes now or later is of little consequence as there is no good time to pay taxes and only good times to receive returns.
I had a great time teaching this year which really rejuvenated me. Before the fall semester I was thinking to teach just to make the money because I was burnt out and didn't want to go back into the classroom. But, my fall class and winterim class were filled with some of the nicest students I have ever had at the university.
I will be on the road from end of January through beginning of May and then return to the routine of Loon Mountain in summer, and university fall and winterim. Seems like a good compromise as I am financially unable to retire 100% of the time but can make it February through May, which doesn't suck.
I worked a lot, but also got to hang out with friends and students. Saw some really good shows at the Flying Monkey and did a lot of reading. Read about the brain, Homo Sapiens, Mountain Men (Saw the Revenant, which was very good and one of my areas of interest), Kublai and Genghis Khan, blues and rock and roll. Met and made some new friends. But, now it is time for me to become anonymous for a while. Although I do appreciate that there are many people in the area with whom I have great relations, I just don't want to be Jay for a while...a largish fish in a smallish pond.
The van, Morrison has continued to be a trooper...it is inspected with good tires and breaks and, knock on wood, starts up every time. We have parked the past nine months at Tish Hill's "point five" property. Just before Christmas to a couple of days ago Ozzy and I house-sat for a couple of places in Plymouth, the last being a place where I was responsible for the chickens and sheep, which, although cold in the morning, was fun. The past two nights Ozzy and I spent in the van, last night being the coldest, minus 2 degrees, but, with the proper sleeping bag, quilts and blankets we were quite comfortable and honestly, I prefer the van, as does Ozzy, to being inside.
So, we will wake up Tuesday morning and I will make the decision then as to where we will be headed. South, for sure, maybe first west to Burlington, VT and then south...don't know, makes little difference, looking to eventually find lows that hover around 30 degrees. Probably at some point back to Lancaster, PA, Asheville, NC, Charleston, SC and more...and, oh yeah!!! gas at $1.70 a gallon, more than half of what I was paying a yer ago when on the road.
I am going to try and be conscientious about posting blogs, probably on Sundays again as I did last winter. So, I made a short story long, which I am really good at, but, to summarize, we are happy, healthy, still young and resourceful, improvisational and creative, ready for a new adventure. Peace to all. Keep in touch, I still have my campus mail address, my gmail address, my website and can always be reached through this blog. Bon voyage to me, Ozzy, Morrison and to you for whatever journey you may be on.
I worked this past summer on top of Loon Mountain selling photographs of mine, and, in fact, actually sold a bunch. Then I taught this past Fall semester at Plymouth State and finished teaching the winterim term just a couple of days ago. I would have gotten on the road this weekend, but because of the major storm south of here I decided to hang around a couple more days and wait for it to be cleaned up a bit before I drove through it. And then I thought I would wait for February 1 to get all of my tax forms, but, then decided that I have until April 15 and whether I do my taxes now or later is of little consequence as there is no good time to pay taxes and only good times to receive returns.
I had a great time teaching this year which really rejuvenated me. Before the fall semester I was thinking to teach just to make the money because I was burnt out and didn't want to go back into the classroom. But, my fall class and winterim class were filled with some of the nicest students I have ever had at the university.
I will be on the road from end of January through beginning of May and then return to the routine of Loon Mountain in summer, and university fall and winterim. Seems like a good compromise as I am financially unable to retire 100% of the time but can make it February through May, which doesn't suck.
I worked a lot, but also got to hang out with friends and students. Saw some really good shows at the Flying Monkey and did a lot of reading. Read about the brain, Homo Sapiens, Mountain Men (Saw the Revenant, which was very good and one of my areas of interest), Kublai and Genghis Khan, blues and rock and roll. Met and made some new friends. But, now it is time for me to become anonymous for a while. Although I do appreciate that there are many people in the area with whom I have great relations, I just don't want to be Jay for a while...a largish fish in a smallish pond.
The van, Morrison has continued to be a trooper...it is inspected with good tires and breaks and, knock on wood, starts up every time. We have parked the past nine months at Tish Hill's "point five" property. Just before Christmas to a couple of days ago Ozzy and I house-sat for a couple of places in Plymouth, the last being a place where I was responsible for the chickens and sheep, which, although cold in the morning, was fun. The past two nights Ozzy and I spent in the van, last night being the coldest, minus 2 degrees, but, with the proper sleeping bag, quilts and blankets we were quite comfortable and honestly, I prefer the van, as does Ozzy, to being inside.
So, we will wake up Tuesday morning and I will make the decision then as to where we will be headed. South, for sure, maybe first west to Burlington, VT and then south...don't know, makes little difference, looking to eventually find lows that hover around 30 degrees. Probably at some point back to Lancaster, PA, Asheville, NC, Charleston, SC and more...and, oh yeah!!! gas at $1.70 a gallon, more than half of what I was paying a yer ago when on the road.
I am going to try and be conscientious about posting blogs, probably on Sundays again as I did last winter. So, I made a short story long, which I am really good at, but, to summarize, we are happy, healthy, still young and resourceful, improvisational and creative, ready for a new adventure. Peace to all. Keep in touch, I still have my campus mail address, my gmail address, my website and can always be reached through this blog. Bon voyage to me, Ozzy, Morrison and to you for whatever journey you may be on.
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