Archive | 2010

Of Dark Clouds and Silver Linings

Bad weather is more unnerving when you live in a tin can.  I used to love extreme weather.  Now it is borderline terrifying.  The swaying trees seem closer and creak more loudly.  The house rocks with a strong enough gust and the rain pounds on the roof like a drum.  It all feels a bit more precarious, probably because it is.  This will take a bit of getting used to.

But by morning, the storms moved on and took the fog that enveloped Narragansett with them.  A beautiful summer day followed in their wake.  All-in all, we survived the ordeal no worse for wear . . .  a little sun burn aside.

Just an another day at the beach - Scarborough Beach, RI

Into the mist

Both a change of scenery and a change of seasons awaited us at the end of our latest move.  With the warm spring sun of Connecticut in our rear-view mirror, we entered the crisp, cool, misty cloud that currently shrouds Narragansett.  The dense fog gives the whole place a very ‘autumn in New England’ vibe, which we absolutely love.  Rarely do we enjoy walking on the beach so much as when a storm kicks up the surf and cool temperatures empty it of other visitors.  We have the whole place to ourselves.  It looks like we arrived at just the right time.

Salty Brine Beach

Point Judith Light House

Travel Day

Today is travel day.  We’re heading from Connecticut to Rhode Island.  The drive time is only about 50 minutes but this little jaunt will put us within spitting distance of Newport, Providence, Bristol, Block Island and beaches.  Throw in some hiking and biking and we’ll have more to do than our allotted 10 days will allow.

This is only our third move with the RV but our anxiety level is way down.  Getting the bus seaworthy and driving the beast isn’t as challenging as we originally feared.  It’s pretty much a matter of battening down the hatches, dumping poo, unhooking everything that needs to be unhooked, making sure the kitten doesn’t get crushed in a retracting slide, and we’re ready to go.  Set-up is just reversing the process (except we don’t reload poo, at least not straightaway).  The whole process might take us an hour, but with practice I think we’ll get it down to 30 minutes or so.  Besides, most of the chores needed to disembark are things we have to do anyway – like cleaning and putting stuff away.

We’ve found that traveling like this is far better than herding on to an airplane.  It’s even better than a normal road trip that involves packing and unpacking suitcases and a car.  Whoever said “getting there is half the fun” must have been smoking crack for that half of the trip.  Traveling is painful.  Destinations are awesome.  So here’s to more destinations with less travel . . . Cheers!

The Morning Commute is Such a Drag

Shannon hard at work in the office, Countryside Campground, CT

Ordinary, Extraordinary

I’ve never been here before, and it feels a little like an adventure.  Not an “Adventure”, with a capital ‘A’, like an Indiana Jones escapade or even a gorilla trek in Gabon (on the to-do list, btw).  But a small adventure of exploring something unfamiliar.

And it’s not at all about the destination.  There isn’t anything at all “touristy” about this area and no reason why a traveler would venture here, except out of necessity.  And indeed, I’m here on a perfectly ordinary errand; to pick-up Shannon at the New London, CT, train station.  But it is that juxtaposition between the ordinary and the unfamiliar that has me excited.  Every day now is a kind of adventure; an exploration of the unknown.

I wonder if it is possible for the unfamiliar to become routine.  I hope not, this is too much fun.