September 30, 2021

We spent the past two weeks making memories with friends and family members.  I went to an outdoor yoga class at our local farm.  It was my first outdoor yoga class and I was suprised at how much more wonderful and fulfilling it felt.  At the time, I ascribed this to the value of doing yoga outside in a beautiful natural environment.  Looking back a bit, I now wonder if this also had something to do with me beginning to feel more free and relaxed as well before I even got there.  The feeling of serenity was regrettably cut short when I dropped my scooter on myself while trying to back out of my parking spot.  I wasn’t severely injured, but there were several people there watching in dismay.  In my embarrassment and inexperience with a two wheel vehicle, I sprayed gravel while trying to pick the scooter up.  Not knowing that I should have turned the bike off first, the back wheel just started doing donuts as soon as I got it near upright.  I rode home carefully and decided it may be a bit before I get back on it.  Anyone want to buy a new-ish scooter?

We started watching Anthony Bordain’s show Parts Unknown and have really enjoyed it.  He has important lessons embedded in the discussion about food and cultures he experiences that I will take with us in our travels.  For one, he emphasized the importance of moving around to experience different things in walk in other people’s shoes.  I think that people are fascinating and that this is an important lesson.  It is important to have a respectful curiosity for others and the way of life around us.  We always talk about how there is so much hate and negativity out there.  I believe that most of this can be erased with more empathy and understanding.  I know I am happier when I am not feeling bothered by something someone else does and I will say that it is rare that others bother me.  We can all live so much freer and happier this way.  When something does something that does bother me, I have the choice to walk away and forget about it, seek to understand why they did this, confront it, or stew and bitch about it.  All of these choices can be good options at times, but be sure to make the choice mindfully.

Anthony Bordain also taught me that a popular game in Korea in Japan is known as the Dong Chim or “poop needle”.  There is even a statue of children playing this in a square in South Korea.  I do not ever recommend this game.

Luke and I have attended our local favorite open mic, The Rose Room revue at the Rose Garden in Upton, MA for many years now.  It recently re started once a month in person and we were overjoyed that we had one last chance to attend this special event before we left for good.  It was a great night and many regulars attended.  This for us had become our community like church is for some people and we have missed it since the start of this pandemic.  

We’ve been sorting through many apps to work on our trip planning.  We will be driving to western South Dakota, but plan to make several stops along the way briefly.  We have kept everything pretty flexible and decided to mostly try to find Harvest Hosts along the way as we do not plan to stay in any particular place for long.  We want to get to SD before it gets cold and driving conditions begin to be uncertain and it’s just about October already.  South Dakota is our first real destination as we plan to establish our address there and obtain our new driver’s licenses and registration.  

When you are planning to live a nomadic lifestyle like us and be on the road full time with no real “residential address”, there are a few options for digital mailbox services that will provide you with a physical address.  This physical address is needed for lots of basic things like your driver’s license. The big options are Texas, Florida, and South Dakota.  We chose South Dakota is we had a preference to visit and explore that area over the other two.  They offered a digital mailbox service with a lovely customer service rep who walked us through everything to help us establish our residency there.  They also not have income tax and do not require annual inspection stickers for your vehicle so it made good sense to us.  

We decided to leave on October 1st and our first stop will be in Hilton, NY to stay the night with a Harvest Hosts member.  We are anxious and excited as is the case anytime we go to do something big and new in life.  I am planning to try to visit some family briefly along the way