I am on my way. I am sitting on a Greyhound bus headed toward Boston. My dear friend Kate saw me off an hour ago with sadness and encouragement. It is night and the bus is bobbing and bumping along Rte 89. Ahead of me is Boston where I will meet daughter Vanessa around midnight when she gets home from her job at the French Restaurant. Tomorrow at this time I will be flying to Barcelona. After a couple days I will move on to the first of 4 stays with hosts in Southern France. Near Nimes, then north of Toulouse. Then south again in the Corbieres region of Narbonne and Carcassonne. In Feb I will fly to the Canary Islands and sail for 4 consecutive one week trips on the Bessie Ellen, a restored Ketch that carries 12 passengers and 6 or so crew.
Behind me now is just about everything that has defined my life for many years. Living in Vermont. Being a handyman. My community of friends. Kate and the farmhouse on the hill. My van. Familiar places, sights and sounds. I have condensed my material goods down to a backpack and will live out of it for the next 3 1/2 months. This is what I wanted. My new laptop (macbook air… just over two pounds) connects me to information and allows me to stay in communication with you. My debit card keeps me connected to my savings, which I have roughly planned to carry me through until I return with a couple thousand left when I get back.
Each extended stay on my journey will involve some exchange of work for room and board. In between I will stay at youth hostels and travel by train. It may work out to about $30 a day on average. Cheap for European travel I guess. Add another thousand for airfare and travel insurance. It is not a vacation, really, although I hope and expect to have great experiences. There isn't a 'back' to come back to. I have pulled up stakes. I sold all of my goods except for a core set of tools, some boxes of personal stuff and some extra clothes. It took about 6 weeks once I made up my mind to do it. Placing craigslist ads to sell my bigger tools. Doing a yard sale. Going through boxes and filing cabinets. Clothing, computers, desk stuff, books. All pared down or let go. Finally, a few items for the bonfire at Thanksgiving, including the little piano I was going to restore one day. At times it seemed to be taking much too long to get ready to go. But then I would take stock of what I was doing… completely retooling my life. Done.
I am opting for an itinerant life for a time. I can imagine coming back to Vermont, but not settling down. Just visiting or exchanging work for a stay for a while. I really don't know. I may go various places where family or friends can use me as a handyman for a while. VT, NH, CA, NC. I may stumble upon something and go off in an unexpected direction. I may try to get a job in Maine for the sailing season and succeed. This trip is gambit. Some structure. A lot of uncertainty. Anxiety that things may go badly. Excitement at the possibilities and everything new. Staying open to the unexpected.
My friend Randi told me "Beware of Geography". In other words. "Wherever you go... there you are." Truth in this. The real terra incognito is within.
That's the shape of things at this point. The explanation of how I came to this and more of what I am aiming for is for another time.
We are crossing the river. Farewell Vermont. I will not miss your cold and snow.
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