On May 30th, I packed up and left Beaufort. It was sad after having such a great experience, but I was ready to move on to the next step in my adventure. I had considered staying a few extra days to wait out the heat wave up north (92 vs 77 in Beaufort), but I had planned to stop in and meet with the van builder to make some design decisions, and I was excited to do that.
After leaving Beaufort, I headed to an Airbnb for the night in Ashland, VA. It was a lovely home with an equally lovely host and her two daughters - she even made me dinner! The next day, Zoe and I walked around Ashland and then we went onto Fredericksburg, VA. Fredericksburg seems like a nice town, but maybe not very dog friendly? I wanted to get an ice cream and walked in with Zoe and was told that I couldn't have her in there if she wasn't a service dog. It was a very open space with no other customers inside. I do understand that dogs aren't supposed to be in restaurants, but everywhere I'd been in NC and SC were very dog friendly, so I was getting used to that. I would have just gotten my ice cream and left, but it was not going to be. Oh, well, I didn't need the extra calories anyway!
From Fredericksburg, we headed to Philadelphia to visit and stay the night with my niece, her fiance, and their pup. After driving through city traffic around DC and then PHL, we arrived and immediately took the pups for a walk so they could be acquainted before entering Juniper's home. They got along great! Zoe is super easy and Juniper likes other dogs, but isn't always sure how to act around them. I am so happy that this worked out, as it is always enjoyable to spend time with Monika, and Laurel and Juniper too.
On June 1st, I headed to NJ to check in on the van. See photos below. Not very exciting yet, but it was super valuable to get inside the space and work out some ideas. We decided where the AC would go (NOT over the bed) and lowered the bed height as far as it can go (bump outs dictate that) so that I can hopefully fully sit up on the bed. I also realized that the wheel wells will take up some of my drawer space and modify the step idea I had, so this was really valuable to see.
And then I headed to Sue's, my home base for the next few months. She was gone for a few days, so I quickly unloaded the car and made a mess of Sue's very neat and clean house - good thing she wasn't there! I still have way too much stuff! Though I've already purged so much of what I own, I suppose I am going to have to do it again, and probably again and again. How am I ever going to get down to what will fit in the van??? Will I really have to keep a storage unit? And if so, I suppose VT isn't the most convenient location...
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| Meet and greet walk. Juniper is sooo adorable!! |
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| Sleepy pups! |
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| Laurel and Monika enjoying dinner |
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| Juniper showing off her polite dinner companion skills! |
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| I've never had scallion pancakes other than my friend, Mark's, before. Yum. |
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| Zoe looks pretty comfortable |
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| Likely to be Zoe's travel spot. Much better fit than in the Promaster. |
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| Grey adding insulation |
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Losing about 15" W x 12" H in storage here. :o(
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| Holes cut in the sides for the bump outs to allow the bed to go from side to side. |
