On the road, I-80 east of Creston Junction, Wyo.
“Best laid plans….” Our apologies, blog-watchers, for the delay in starting our posts. Somehow, getting all the loose ends tied down in Boise and in the rig on the road took a lot longer than it should have, and so has figuring out road systems (i.e. how to live in a space the size of half my office with another person in harmony while engaging with three different computers, a router and a cellular connection). At the moment, though, things are as smooth as the charcoal-grey tarmac rolling away behind us. What better time to begin?!
Seven weeks ago, we bought “Big Eddy” and immediately began asking everyone we know for help: questions about motorhome living, communicating on the road, and many other unknowns. Pennie Cooper was my first source. She and her husband, Bill, have been RV’ing for several years. She told me about using a Verizon data key for communications, “The Next Exit” (a book of resources off every Interstate exit in the U.S. so you don’t waste gas looking in the wrong places), and Camping World in Meridian (we replaced a couple of small light bulbs there).
Next, we visited AAA to pick up maps. The people there were wonderful and gave us excellent service. After Gary plotted our cross-country path, Robyn Parks prepared a wonderful set of TripTik booklets (three of them!) for us. We also upgraded to AAA PlusRV insurance, which provides TWO towtrucks if we need ‘em. While standing in line at AAA, we heard for the first time (but not the last), a phrase denoting what we’ve become: “leaf peepers” (folks who tour New England in the fall). Gary discovered another RV vocabulary word online, “boondocking,” which refers to parking a rig somewhere you don’t have to pay to stay. Who knew RV’ing had its own vocabulary, too?
My wonderful fellow-RSS editors at Public News Service have pitched in to help me change a few shifts, and I’m extremely grateful to PNS founder/managing editor Lark Corbeil for providing work I can do on the fly (at 6 to 8 miles/gallon mileage, I need to keep making as much money as I can on the road!). Ditto to my Positive Action client (founder Carol Allred, marketing manager Brad Allred and editor Becca Legg ), who send me enough free-lance editing to keep beans and rice on the table. I apologize to other longtime clients, especially City Club and the Idaho Statesman and all my readers, and to my friends and colleagues at the Fund for Idaho, Julia Davis Park Second Century committee and Idaho Nonprofit Center, for my prolonged absence.
Mark and Margaret Stewart and Trish Klahr and Lee Melly were kind enough to share their driveways with “Big Eddy” on our maiden voyage to Sun Valley last month. They, Yvonne McCoy and Garry Wenske, and Carol Casler were also kind enough to buy the chamber music, philharmonic and Shakespeare tickets we couldn’t use. (Carol, Yvonne and Kathy Barrett also gave us delicious road food: Williamson Orchard peaches and homemade cookies and banana bread, respectively.)
Knowing we would be visiting Frank Lloyd Wright’s haunts near Chicago, Diane Myklegard gave me a well-regarded novel, “Loving Frank,” and Kay Hummel loaned me a fascinating book about how what we choose to pay attention to can determine our lives, entitled “Rapt.”
Ellie McKinnon suggested points of interest in Nebraska; Susan Stacy gifted us with a “traveling spirit” and Mary Stieglitz loaned us some goop to shine up “Eddy’”s hide. Ardyth Eisenberg, Bob Mosely and Renee Mullen, and Ann Kreilkamp have invited us to pass some time with them on our way east. Cathy Sher, director of the So. Bannock County History Center in Lava Hot Springs, treated us to a Thai dinner on our first night away from home and showed us some of her favorite displays in this gem of a museum the next day.
We would have found it very hard to leave home at all without Jim Elgin’s comforting presence as our in-house horticulturist-cum-kitty-master, and we’re delighted our new housemate, Nick Garcia, is there to lend Jim a hand when he needs it.
Conversations and e-mails with many other kind, helpful people have sped us on our way and put wind in our sails. Thank you, everyone, for your advice and good wishes. We send you our love and hope your autumn days will be as full of good things as ours!
Next: First stop: hot water
