December 3, 2005 Leverett, Mass

Hello. Right now I, (Miles) am sitting in Leveret, Mass. Our first day on the road was a bumpy, noisy trip. When we finally crossed into Massachusetts it was three or four o’clock, and I was losing it. At one point there was a hairpin turn and since reading “Walk Two Moons” I felt as if I was going to go tumbling of the road and die. Though I didn’t. When I finally got to my mom’s childhood friend’s house I ate dinner, watched a movie with my mom’s friend’s, friend’s child and went straight to bed. Now it is a sunny day and I am about to go to the library next door, and then for a hike to a Peace Pagoda on the top of a hill.

It’s Jill. I’m in Leveret, Massachusetts. Today I went on a hike with Miles and my friend Henry to a Peace Pagoda. We went on a rocky bridge. Some of the rocks we couldn’t go on then we went to this book sale thing and had some hot chocolate. Then we went to the Emily Dickinson museum. Then we went back to Henry’s house again.

Paul here:

We left Hinesburg on Friday 12/2/05 at 2:20 p.m. – a day later than planned, but not bad considering the task at hand. We finally just threw loads of stuff in “the rig” and got going. (Our formerly empty camper quickly resembled our typically cluttered house, and our house looked the best it has in 10 years!) Saying goodbye to the dog was emotional, and the cat was off doing his own thing.

The trip south was uneventful and we were grateful to learn that Ruth and Jill could handle riding in the back of the RV without getting carsick. The configuration of the camper means that the passengers in the back are in the VERY back, behind the rear wheels. They are also very far away from the heat that only comes out of the dashboard.

We ate gas station food in Rutland, and the fact that Miles was then able to ride in the very back of the camper after eating Stewart’s Shoppe’s chili was another encouraging sign.

We hit snow and slush on the Route 7 summit north of Bennington and went through some thick stuff again on the Route 2 summit between North Adams and I-91. All of this muck quickly coated the rear windows making it impossible for Ruth and Miles to see out. At some point, Miles chimed in, “Now I know why they put TV’s in these things.” (We don’t have one in ours.)

We’ve also learned that it’s pretty hard to hear each other from the front to the back of the camper while tooling down the road. It makes for some funny conversations but also provides some excellent 1 on 1 time for 1 parent and 1 kid.

We found our way to our friend Erika’s house in Leverett, MA by dinnertime. As usual, Erika has found a beautiful place to live. An old farmhouse in a great setting with the claim to fame that Van Halen’s drummer used to live in it. I quickly demonstrated my knack for useless information by reminding folks that “the drummer from Def Leppard only has one arm” (this was a college radio song at one point).

We’re spending time with Erika, Erika’s boyfriend Mark, and his sweet 8-year old son, Henry. Miles, Jill and Henry are having a good time, and the grown ups are getting caught up too.

We hiked to a nearby Buddhist Peace Pagoda today and were amazed by its size and location (Massachusetts?!) We also went to Emily Dickinson’s home in Amherst.

Ruth got the camper cleaned up inside, and I spent a fair amount of time today trying to locate a key water heater part between here and D.C. and figuring out where we’re going next. It’s still too cold to turn on the water in the camper.

We’ve received reports from home that the dog and cat are doing just fine.

There’s a great support team making this journey possible and we thank each and every one of them!