10.29 - 31 - This is it

10/29 -  So, this is it.  I left Sue's this morning and headed to Pennsylvania for my first stop on this next phase.  It was hard to leave as I don't know if I will see Sue again before Monika's wedding at the end of June!  So many emotions when you leave loved ones and the familiar to walk a new path with so many unknowns.  

I met Monika for a walk/hike in Valley Forge Park in PA.  She lives in Philadelphia and this was a good place to meet.  I'm so happy that it worked out.  On my way, I was following my google directions and noticed a sign that said "No trucks over 4 tons".  Yikes - it's not a truck, but it is roughly 8500 lbs - so over 4 tons!  Driving this rig, I need to pay attention to clearance and weight limits which is something you don't think about until driving such a big vehicle.  So, I had to reroute, but we met up and it was wonderful to see Monika and Juniper and we had a lovely walk.  Zoe was happy to get out and explore after the long drive!  

After leaving Monika, I went on to visit and moochdock at an Agilent coworker's home.  I had always enjoyed working with Samantha and she had kindly offered us a place to stay if passing through and I took her up on it and I am so glad I did.  I had never met her in person before and she's very cool and fun.  I don't know how long I'll stay here, but hopefully we will meet up with another coworker or two tomorrow whom I have also never met in person.  I left NY this morning, not really having much of a plan beyond tonight.  I imagine I'll stay here at least 2 nights, but I really don't know and I love that.  Once I leave here, I plan to head to Mary's (Kiwi - who I met in Maine) in Arlington, VA for one or more nights.  

10/30 - After a good, but short night's sleep (went to bed too late, woke up too early), I woke to this view.

Zoe and I went for a foggy walk at Wolf's Hollow County park.  On the drive there, there was a sign for low clearance of 10'6". 

This is the lowest I've gone through and it's a bit disconcerting.  I should be fine at 10' with the Maxxair fan open, but still!  And then on the way back, I noticed a sign at a bridge saying no trucks over 8000 lbs.  Yikes - I think we weigh about 8500, but I didn't notice the sign on the way to the park.  And it's not a truck!  😀  When I arrived at the park, I saw this sign:

I talked with someone and he said he hasn't had any problems and comes often.  With a van, that is so obviously a campervan, I figured people know that there is going to be some valuable stuff in there.  When I first saw the sign, I thought they were stealing the vehicles, not just stuff.  I really need to get an air tag for some added insurance.  

We had a lovely walk on the Forest Loop trail.  I just love the fog!  And these trees in PA seem so big.  I commented on that with Monika when we walked yesterday too.  

After we got back, Samantha took me on a driving tour and we had a BIG breakfast at an excellent diner - Route 30 Diner.

Needless to say, our leftovers could feed a few people!

The afternoon was pretty quiet and we took a nap.  Well, Zoe napped while I read and didn't nap...  I'm reading "Remarkably Bright Creatures" and I'm loving it!  It's just one of those lazy type days.  I feel like I need to be doing stuff, but it's ok to not be doing and going all the time!  This is a case where I'm not quite sure what to do in the area other than drive around, which I've done, and I'm really OK with not doing/going.  

Later we took a walk around the neighborhood.  We're in Amish country, so I had to take a picture of a horse and buggy.  The horse was so beautiful and regal!  (I learned that many of the Amish horses are retired racehorses.) 

Samantha is working on some projects, so Zoe and I are hanging in the van this afternoon.  It's going to get into the 30s tonight, so I've got my window covers on and I'll be turning on the heat for the night!  It is raining and in the low 50s outside right now, while about 65 inside, which for me is perfect!  I've got my bluetooth speaker playing some good music, so I'm enjoying just hanging out.  I'm sure that some people would feel claustrophobic in here, but I find it cozy.  It's not comfy like on a nice couch in a house, but it's good.  

We are going to go to dinner with another coworker tomorrow who I've never met in person before either.  I'm looking forward to that.  Not sure what I'll do tomorrow during the day, but I'll figure it out!

10/31 - Halloween, though it doesn't feel like it.  I don't think I've seen a single person in costume today.  I find that a little strange as usually I will see some people, like restaurant staff or store personnel dressed up, but not today.  Maybe Pennsylvania isn't much on Halloween.  

This morning's view:

Today, Zoe and went to The Amish Farm and House and did a farm tour and a bus tour.  It's really weird because this is in the corner of a shopping mall.  They were there long before the Target moved in.  

Here are some cute animal photos from the farm tour.

It was a beautiful day, so I really enjoyed the bus tour.  The landscape is so beautiful here.  I didn't expect it to be much different from Vermont with all our farms, but it is very different.  All the farms here are pristine.  The barns are in great condition and everything is neat and tidy.  The fields are beautiful as they plant cover crop after the corn, so there are no cut corn stalks around.  Instead the fields are mostly green.  

Notice the working team out there.

Another working team with 6 draft horses.  Must be some hard work!

Our guide made a special stop to see this covered bridge.  Probably similar to many in VT.

Guess I wouldn't be driving over this bridge (or any covered bridge).  I could do the height, but not the weight!

These are the scooters that the Amish use.  I've not seen scooters like this in the past.  The Mennonites use

 bicycles, but not the Amish.

Since Target was right there, I ran in and found some rope baskets that I wanted to try for storing my clothes.  I'm not sure how well it will work, but I'm trying it out and it looks cute!

And then I took Zoe to a park and let her off leash since there was basically no one there.  She stays very close to me and basically just stops to sniff.  I found in NC that our walks are way faster if she is off leash because when she comes up for air she realizes that she better catch up to me.  Otherwise, I'm standing there waiting forever at EVERY SINGLE blade of grass!  

Big Bertha looks so tiny!

When we got back, I heard the now familiar clip-clop of the another horse and buggy go by the house.  

Samantha and her four lovely Whippets

Dinner with Jamie and Samantha.  It was so great to now meet Jamie in person as well and hang out with them both.  Lots of work talk and I have to say I'm happy to be retired!!!  😃

Jamie, Samantha, and me at dinner

And now off to bed!  Tomorrow I am heading to VA to visit with my new Kiwi friend who I met in Maine.  I'm not sure where I'm going after that though.  I'm still trying to avoid the below freezing overnight temps!

Break from vanlife

10/14 -  I'm back at Sue's in NY for a couple of weeks.  I'm here to care for Jet while Sue has hip replacement surgery and recovers for a few days with her friend, Eleanor.  Once she gets home I'll be here to help her out for a bit and to hang out before I depart for the winter.  So, I'm not taking a break from vanlife 'cuz I need a break, but only to spend time with Sue and help her out.  

It's interesting that while I'm here I find myself more anxious about the van, where I'll go next, and any new problems I have on my mind.  Maybe when in the van, there isn't as much time to worry about things as I'm figuring out where I'm going, exploring, doing chores, going from A to B, etc.  I started to stress (my MO) about having to fill the diesel tank for my heater, which is inside the van.  I'm so worried about spilling diesel in the van and dealing with that smell.  And then, when I realized that it's going to be cold, I started to wonder if the water compartment in the garage will stay warm enough from the heater.  The only airflow into the water compartment is at the top.  If it's 25 outside, will the heat in the center of the garage transfer into the water compartment?  I'm thinking about drilling holes in the wall, but they could easily be covered by stuff...  This is the stuff that keeps me up at night...

On Monday, I went to take a shower and there was no hot water. Where's the benefit of being in a house without hot running water??!!  Sue called Eric and we did some troubleshooting, but we couldn't get it working.  Sue and I went to Cathy and Tom's for a shower on Tuesday (SO appreciated!!!).  Sue left for surgery at 4 AM on Wednesday and Eric showed up Wednesday afternoon and he fixed the boiler!  Yippee!  Then I sidetracked Eric from his other projects to help me with some of the fixes I needed to do with the van.  He helped me fix a couple of cabinet door hinges/latches, water fill challenges, and a leaky shower head.  It's really nice to have a skilled person to help fix some of the issues.  I so appreciate it when people help me with these challenges!

I was talking with Eric and was saying I don't really know what to do with myself when I'm staying here and he asked what I like to do.  I find that hard to answer.  What am I looking for in my travels?  I really enjoy the micro-interactions I have with people who I cross paths with during the day.  I find that this really satisfies much of my social needs.  I love beautiful scenery (who doesn't?!), walking/hiking, architecture, quaint/old towns.  I always have to keep in mind what I can do with Zoe as my preference is to not leave her behind.  While here in NY, I struggle with what to do with myself when Sue isn't around.  I'm sure there is plenty to do - I just need to go and explore.  I do think that I need to do better research before planning my travels.  Like I mentioned, had I not stumbled upon the old areas of Portsmouth, I would have left feeling disappointed in my visit.  

Thinking about my travels so far, I have loved all the visiting of friends and family, and my time in Maine in the Rangeley area was fantastic.  I think that part was so fantastic because it was so beautiful with the fall foliage, Zoe and I had a couple of great hikes (though I pushed the old girl too hard 😞) and then i met Mary at Quill Hill, who I ended up spending the next 5 days camping with.  First at Flagstaff Lake, where she invited me to join her at her campsite, and then at a women's van gathering for three days.  What I've experienced this first month+ has been much of what I hope for.  I won't have friends and family to visit everywhere, but hopefully I'll meet people along the way who invite me to park in their driveways.  That way I get free places to stay, possibly showers and laundry, and most importantly visit with new friends!

I think I'm enjoying the boondocking better than the Harvest Hosts and Boondockers Welcome so far.  Maybe I need to stay at the BW places longer than one night, which is all I've done so far.  I haven't done a lot of the free sites, but when I have they were easy.  I suppose when I get farther south and everyone is traveling to warmer climates, I may have less success finding these places and wish I had planned something with HH/BW.  Campgrounds are a good option too, but because I don't want to have scheduled plans, these could be a challenge as well.  

In my travels from 9/9 - 10/14, I only paid for 3 nights in campgrounds.  Other than that I stayed at friends/family, HH/BW or free camping.  That's a pretty good deal!  But, with HH, it is expected to spend a minimum of $30 (used to be $20, which felt more reasonable) and I ended up spending about $200 on stuff at HHs.  I get something in exchange, but truthfully I don't always want what I'm getting and I'm just spending money to support them.  Gas and food are my biggest expenses.  I've spent a little over $500 on gas in a little over a month.  I've only driven about 2K miles and I had estimated about 3K miles and $800 in gas per month, so I guess I'm on track.  

10/24 - After Sue returned, she was ready for some activity, so we went to Minnewaska and while she read her book, I took the pups for a walk.  We had some good, but not great, foliage, and it was a gorgeous day.

The next day we went to Eleanor Roosevelt's cottage property and the Vanderbilt Mansion in Hyde Park.  I took Zoe and Jet for a short hike at the Roosevelt property and then went to the Vanderbilt property and took a tour of the house.  Such a lovely property and lots of interesting information shared by the guide.  Sue had been before so she hung out with the pups while I took the tour.  Unfortunately for Sue, Zoe whined the whole time...

Keep in mind that this was just a seasonal home for the Vanderbilts and only hosted up to 16 guests, which is nothing compared to the other homes.  I'd really like to learn more about the Guilded Age and these people and their many homes.

I'm getting ready to depart and head south on Sunday 10/29.  Unfortunately, I may find I'm leaving too late to do the travels thru western VA and western NC that I was planning.  Today is 78, tomorrow will be 78 and then Sunday it starts raining with a high of 51 with nights soon getting well below freezing.  I'm heading to Philadelphia area and then DC area, which will be a tad warmer, but still cold.  We'll see where to after that due to temps in western VA going into the mid 20s and I'm not psyched for that if I can avoid it.  I was hoping to visit friends in Roanoke and Dublin VA, but I'm not sure.  Maybe I'll head to Richmond, VA and stay closer to the shore until things warm up a bit.  And then maybe I'll head west into the mountains.  Or if it's not going to stay above freezing, maybe I'll just head down the coast.  We shall see!!!  I just love this feeling that I can go wherever depending on the weather, how I'm feeling, or to where someone has invited me.  I guess this is why vanlife is equated with FREEDOM...

The dogs cooling down after a hot day outside.

Saturday was pack up day.  I filled the water tanks with the modified filler hose (thanks to Eric) and made my compost medium for the toilet.  I prepared it differently and I think I got it right this time, using much less water and adding only 1/2 to the bin.  Last time with all the water, I ended up using the whole amount and ended up needing to change it sooner, plus there was quite a bit of water in the bottom of the toilet from condensation.  It feels good to figure things out!

Eric got the pex and it fit right inside the hose of what I was already using.  Now I don't have to worry about the angle of the van when filling water.  This hose reaches all the way down the pretty much level gravity fill hose into the tank.  Such a huge improvement!

Heather and Winston came and camped out Saturday night.  Unfortunately, Heather still has traces of covid symptoms, so she stayed outside most of the time.  It's a good thing it was such a nice day and evening.  We had an awesome tofu Thai dinner, then a last summer like hurrah bonfire with a full moon.  It was perfect!

YUM!

Love those spark trails!