Tag: supporters

Montreal 1st Leg: Phoenix

Day off from traveling. Yes, already.

Reviewing yesterday: actually left at 8am after 4 hours of packing and visiting with the folks we were house sitting for. Sue drove the grapevine, I drove Pasadena and all the way to Phoenix. Arrived at 11:00pm just as Terry got home from work.

We forgot to account for all the driving we’d done around Roseville before we left, so our first milage calcs said we’d gotten 13mpg. I scoffed, even though I wasn’t sure why it was wrong. Memory finally dredged up the answer. Back in the real world, calculating milage using what I like to call ‘the right way’ we got 22mpg which astonishes me, but I choose to believe that one. Van stuffed like an olive and we’re getting better gas milage than my ’61 VW used to get.

Taking the day off to swim and rest. We’ll be coming back to Phoenix to spend a month or so with Terry and Virgie sometime this winter. Terry’s written another excellent children’s book (he’s good) which he’d like me to publish. He’s also found an illustrator I might use for Ginger the Ship Captain’s Cat when I’m ready.

Early to bed tonight. Only facing a 7-hour drive to Albuquerque tomorrow, ending with our first ever couchsurfing experience.

Montreal Itinerary

Looks like it’s going to take 2 full weeks, 14 days, to make Montreal. Guess I’m not the road warrior I thought I was, but I just can’t imagine pushing that hard for that long. Also, I guess I can’t just drop in on my Mom, who I haven’t seen in nearly 10 years, for a single night. (We’ll be back later to spend a couple weeks with her.)

I’ll be reconnecting with an uncle and aunt I haven’t seen in nearly 30 years, staying with a musical buddy who’s slept on my couch, staying with a friend who just moved from here a few weeks ago, and meeting a couple folks who’ve become incredibly close online but whom I’ve not yet hugged in real life.

Update 1:Thanks to Jerry Kennedy‘s reminder nudge, we checked out Couchsurfing.org and found a place in Albuquerque.

Update 2:I didn’t check with enough people in Toronto, so one of them checked with me. H’ray for Debs, my musical friend in Toronto!

Thursday 30 Sep Home Phoenix Terry
Friday 1 Oct Phoenix Phoenix “
Saturday 2 Oct Phoenix Albuquerque Sonja
Sunday 3 Oct Albuquerque Denver Jason
Monday 4 Oct Denver Rapid City Denny
Tuesday 5 Oct Rapid City Arlington Mimi
Wednesday 6 Oct Arlington Rice Lake Mom
Thursday 7 Oct Rice Lake Rice Lake “
Friday 8 Oct Rice Lake Rice Lake “
Saturday 9 Oct Rice Lake Fremont Charlie
Sunday 10 Oct Fremont Fremont “
Monday 11 Oct Fremont Toronto Debs
Tuesday 12 Oct Toronto Ottawa Shawn
Wednesday 13 Oct Ottawa Granby Cristina

Another Guest Post: Dorothy Shapland Shares a Poem of Invitation

Dorothy sent this in an email, and when I asked, was gracious enough to allow us to share it here.

Come on over and join us anytime you like.
If you need to take off we can lend you a bike.
You can walk to the train and go for a ride,
It’s in our backyard, and we’re on the wrong side.
It’s always a mess, but it’s a fun place to be.
There are dishes in the sink, but the food is always free.
Collections of books, and stuff, and things,
Litter every surface. That’s where the dust clings.
Just ignore the papers and the laundry piled up.
Expect to deal with dander from one of the pups.
You can find a clear path almost any time of day.
You’ll pass people on laptops somewhere along the way.

We’ll help you escape from all you “should” do.
It’s easy for us, cause we do it too.
We don’t deal in guilt cause we do what we please.
And the door is never locked cause we all lose keys.

If you want to come play, you are welcome here.
There is only one rule, no drugs, booze or fear.

The Eagles Have Landed

Ian and Caitlyn have arrived for a quick overnighter before Trip #2.

Beans on the stove, brown rice and cornbread in the oven, homemade salsa in the fridge.

It’s gonna be a great dinner, followed almost instantly by waffles (or pancakes, no one’s decided for sure) for breakfast.

By bedtime tonight we will have tripled the amount of time we’ve spent with these folks whose home we’ve been living in for more than two weeks.

Guest Post: Ken Grossman on Brilliance and Absurdity

Ken has been a good friend to our family for many years. He’s a deep thinker with a sense of humour skewed in directions we like. He sent this as an email, and at Sue’s request is allowing us to post it here.

The nomadic lifestyle took awhile to sink in with me but I’m on-board now. I cannot say whether it is an absurd idea or brilliant but I suspect it is a bit of both. Here is what I like about it:

  • It serves that inner voice in many of us to live life with gusto
  • It also serves the inner voice that speaks to our wanderlust (But we may need to be aware of too many inner voices as we may end up on medication:)
  • A chance to meet people and REALLY get to know them
  • I think you and Sue have the brainpower and personality to pull this off
  • The world has become very virtualized and there are not many things you cannot do over the Internet
  • Freedom, not total freedom, but freedom to a degree that most industrialized people will not voluntarily seek
  • Exposing Fiona to an unconventional and rich array of experiences, I suspect she will grow up to be a different sort of person and I can’t wait to see
  • I would hope there is a potential through your website to catch an audience that may fuel you both spiritually and financially
  • If you can be successful, I would think you would achieve a comfort with living your life in a predatory world and not fear the future. (See Zen and the art of Motorcycle Maintenance)

There are probably more things I can think of I like but on to the things I am fearful of:

  • You WILL be very dependent on the Internet; stay tuned into potential changes there
  • I don’t know what kind of safety nets you have in place but I suspect that it is not many. Your level of vulnerability concerns me
  • A big safety Net issue is Health care…
  • Traveling the roads makes you very dependent on your vehicle
  • There are bad people out there. Some of them really really seem like good people. Be careful
  • Fiona is blessed to have you both but I would be concerned about her none the less. I don’t wish to verbalize all the reasons…
  • It is a truly crappy economy out there and this might be the perfect way to face it, but, we relentlessly move towards the future and preparing for that should be somewhere on your radar.

OK, a couple of thoughts.

  • The My-Fi from Verizon is very good for browsing the Internet but it sucks for file upload/download especially outside the 3G range. I’ve read about new technology for cars but I don’t know anything about it. You will need to find hot spots.
  • You may want to put a Android phone near the top of your list. If you can try one for 15 days before returning it (Verizon included a $35 restocking fee for my Droid X) then that might be worth it. If you cut loose on this project, I think a Droid phone would be like a Swiss Army Knife for you.

What do you think about Ken’s lists? Are the pluses enough? What about the concerns? We’d love to hear your comments below.

Official Launch: Thursday Morning, July 29th

We’re off to Hoquiam, Washington, leaving tomorrow morning. (I didn’t know where it was either.)

We leave at the crack of dawn tomorrow, drive 12 hours, and stay with Ralph and Kelly and their kids.

We will eat. We will play music. We will have peace.

Funny how things kept bouncing around, not knowing where they were going to land; even our plans with Ralph and Kelly changed in the past 18 hours since we first talked about it.

Anyone Want to Put the Canfield Family Up for a Night or Two in Portland Next Week?

The best of plans sometimes have to change. We just found out this morning that our lodging accommodations in Portland, Oregon next week fell through. Due to an unforeseen family need, the wonderful family that were going to let us stay with them in return for our coaching services are unable to do so.

That leaves us without a place to lodge for a night or two. We have lodging in Washington on Saturday, July 31. We’d hoped to arrive late in the day in Portland July 29th and stay that night and July 30th with the family in Portland, leaving their place mid-day Saturday. If necessary, we can drive all day Friday, July 30th, stay a night in Portland and leave Saturday for Washington.

Ideally though we hope to leave Thursday July 29, arrive late in Portland, spend all day Friday July 30th in Portland and leave Saturday.

So if you are a Virtual Assistant and would like to receive our action guide, Building Blocks: Succeed as a Chief Virtual Officer, and one-on-one in-person coaching for your business from two great business coaches in exchange for a night or two lodging, please contact us asap!

Or if there is anyone else in the Portland area that’s just thrilled to have us and our six-year old visit, give us a shout!

Must Have Luggage

That could be a noun, were it hyphenated, but it’s a short phrase describing a need.

We have luggage. It’s pretty battered. It has served us well, but it’s nearing the end of its own personal journey.

What have you personally used for lugging stuff around (that’s what you do with luggage, you lug) that you’d never leave home without? What would you recommend for a family of 3 who don’t have a budget but still need good solid luggage?

What I really want is Joe’s trunks (4 of them) from Joe Vs. the Volcano. I suspect that’s not in my immediate future.