Blog Readers. Whaaat's happening? (Jim)

Well today is July 1st and we have just wrapped up the first full month of our road trip.  Technically it started when we closed on our house on May 24, but we are going to go ahead and consider it one full month, because we don't want to have to add a May column with pro-rated expenses to our budget (well, there it is).  Both Lindsay and I have left behind the world of project status meetings, reviews, minutes, presentations, line charts and histograms and it has left a bit of a void.  Therefore, I would like to welcome you to the first Road Trip Review: Trip Progress Status.  That's right - TPS report all up in your motherfucker.



Yeaaah....I'm going to have to go ahead and ask you to come in on Saaaturday...

I believe it would look something like this: 

 

 

 TPS REPORT

COVER SHEET

 

Lead Facilitator:  James Kahn                                          Date: 7/1/13

 

Executive Summary:  The extraction from employment and homeownership was executed perfectly to plan.  Technical difficulties caused minor changes to travel itineraries but were ultimately resolved.  Two of the three Summer Obligation Events (SOE's) were attended as required.  All systems nominal for execution of second phase of road trip (Maine / Canada). 

 

Locations

Summary:  From the home sale in Boscawen, NH, our travels took us to Swanzey NH, Jackson NH, Wells ME, back to Jackson NH, back to Swanzey NH, to Pattersonville NY, back to Swanzey NH, to Winhall VT, Schroon Lake NY, to Lake Placid NY, to Potsdam NY, to Swanzey NH, to Ashburnham MA, to Providence RI, Newport RI, West Greenwich RI, and finally back to Wells ME.  A spaghetti diagram shows thus:

 

Swanzey seems to exert a singularity-like gravitational effect 

Indeed, if we were to consider Swanzey to be the center of the universe and the origin of our travels, our average distance from Swanzey could be depicted thus:

Cannot...achieve....Swanzey Escape Velocity.......

 Notice the disappointing trend of becoming closer to where we started.  If we wanted to look at the total mileage:

Holy Shit - we could have driven to Aberdeen, South Dakota by now!

That's sobering. 

 

Analysis:  We have so far followed fairly closely to our tentative plan.  The mechanical issues with the truck (shockingly resolved with no hit to the maintenance budget...knocking on wood) resulted in fewer days in VT / NY and a few more in NH (and led to the hilarious 'cabin' rental debacle) and a few hundred more miles in Lindsay's Focus (good thing we didn't sell it yet.  Um, does anyone want to buy a Focus?).

 

Experiences

Summary:  Hiking is our primary vocation on this trip and we have been to many beautiful new places in the White Mountains and Adirondacks.  We saw the amazing VT homestead of Helen and Scott Nearing and spent the afternoon with the truly amazing owners.  We have spent time with multiple groups of friends including a baby shower and a wedding.  The extra time spent in Swanzey allowed us to spend some extra quality time with my amazing family.

 

Analysis:  Although the weather was not particularly conducive to outdoor activities, I would say we have been very successful in seeing new and beautiful places.  As I am sure will be a theme with this trip, for every place we see I become aware of half a dozen more places that I wish we could see.  Truly life is not long enough to see all of what even this tiny part of the planet has to offer.  This section does not have any pictures or graphs, so see below:

Indeed

Financial Status

Summary:  Lindsay will be delving deeply into this topic in an awkward, TMI, camera up our pants kind of way.  But suffice to say for now we are under budget, thanks primarily to the extra hospitality of family and friends and our willingness to risk our lives at a Providence Walmart parking lot.

 

Camper Status:

Summary:  We have been sleeping in the camper for almost two weeks now and living in it full time for five days as we travel

Analysis:  So far so good.  We are getting slightly better than anticipated gas mileage out of the truck (thanks mostly to my driving like a grandmother on the highway - cruise control at 60mph, damn kids can whiz by me all they want I'm not going any faster dammit)

NO I WILL NOT SPEED UP

The camper has proved to be remarkably comfortable to sleep in and maintain a happy temperature.  The major issue is outside noise - say semis rolling by at Walmart at 3 AM or damn kids partying in Newport after 10PM on a Friday night.  Hopefully these issues will lessen as we get back into our comfort zone in the sticks.

 

Relationship Status

Summary:  We are still in a relationship

Analysis:  We are still in a relationship

 

Forward Outlook

We are ready to embark on the first major expedition of the trip as we head up the coast of Maine to the Canadian Maritimes.  The only thing holding us back so far is that we are very comfortable in one of our favorite parts of the planet: Wells Beach.  The weather on our first day here includes a flash flood warning and we feel the need for one good beach day; we hope to achieve that and then be on our way by mid-week. 

 

Action Items

Lindsay:  Do stuff
James: Micromanage everything Lindsay does
Lindsay/James:  Go Here: