Marshmallow does Kansas

Sadie on the road

The world's biggest rocking chair in Casey, Illinois

Super human strength in our family

Sleeping in the van, note Moog's leg over the cooler

A restaurant in Boothbay Harbor where the lobster boats come right up to the dock. Note the working Diesel fuel pump right next to the bussing table.

Hud at sailing camp, Great Pond, ME

So here we are in Maine, staying with my kind parents in the house I grew up in.  After one whole year with no vacations and a serious amount of preparatory work and planning we are finally able to take a deep breath and just STOP for a little while.  We gave up a lot this year as we prepared for our new lives--we didn't travel, we saved every penny we could, and we spent every evening and day off working like fiends towards this goal of buying a sailboat and living on it. We knew it would be hard, but it was way WAY harder than we ever thought it would be, and Trav and I have our first gray hairs to prove it.  (As it turns out, leaving your lives and starting new ones is super labor intensive and stressful.  Keep that in mind if you ever start thinking about taking a trip like this.) But now, for the first time in over a year, we can goof off a little bit. We swim in the pool, we take rides in the boat on Great Pond, we eat Whoopie Pies like they're about to go extinct.  And I keep catching myself thinking about when this vacation is going to end and then remembering, "Oh right, this is how we live now.  IT'S NOT GOING TO END." I won't lie to you, it's a really weird feeling. That's an understatement actually- it's not just weird, it's ALIEN. For as long as I can remember, the end of summer has meant a return to work, a return to school, a return to routine.  Now we have no routine of any kind and to be honest, it's kind of hard to wrap my head around that.  In Telluride, my daily to-do list filled an entire page.  I got used to being stressed, just about every single day about how I would get it all done. Now my daily to-do list reads like this:
1. Run
2. Get dog groomed
3. Pick blackberries
And here's the messed-up part-- I have to keep telling myself that IT'S OK NOT BE BE STRESSED.  Crazy, right?  Travis and I are in the process of re-training our brains that we don't have to be in a rush, we don't have anywhere to be at a certain time, and our responsibiities are few and manageable.  Strangely, it's much harder to do that than it sounds.  And it makes me realize, in a MAJOR way, how much we needed this. Stress isn't good for you.
In other news, my brother is getting married in 2 weeks!  My sister is coming from California in 2 days!  Vivian learned to swim!  Hudson learned to sail! Homeschooling begins in a few weeks! In October, we leave for Florida to start our lives on the boat. Things are happening and life is good. As always, I am grateful.

Marshmallow gets prepped for take off!

Two weeks ago, Trav and I were driving a Land Rover Discovery and a 2013 Toyota Tacoma.  Today, these are our wheels.  She's a 1995 Chevy van with a blue velvet interior.  She's got a TV/VCR unit that plays VHS tapes and she smells like a former smoking room at the Days Inn. Ladies and Gentlemen, meet "Marshmallow"!!  (Naming credit goes to Vivian). Every single item we are taking with us to start our new life fits inside (or on top) of Marshmallow.  The plan is that Marshmallow will take us to Maine, and then in October, to Florida.  We are about to become very well acquainted with Marshmallow.  I hope she likes us.

In typical Julia fashion, the launch that was supposed to happen on Monday is happening today (Thursday), but it's 9 am and Trav is still emailing clients and finishing billing and doesn't look like he'll be done any time soon.  At this rate, we may still be here when our renters arrive.  (We'll all bunk in together, I bet they'll LOVE that!)

The house is an echoey shell, everything packed and stored away.  We've been sleeping in sleeping bags because I washed the bedding and put it all away 3 days ago. We have signs on 3 out of 4 bathrooms that say DO NOT USE because I scrubbed them to an immaculate shine and they're going to stay that way.  Last night was our last night sleeping in this house we love.  I was expecting to have some sort of ceremony or special moment or family hug or something but we were all so exhausted and stressed out there was none of that whatsoever.  The kids tumbled like dirty zombies into their sleeping bags, Trav worked on property management stuff until super late, and I made a disgustingly sweet bowl of oatmeal mixed with a packet of Swiss Miss dry instant cocoa and ate it while watching Orange is the New Black, the episode where we find out why Crazy Eyes is in prison, and it seriously upset and disturbed me.  It was not a good night.

Now it's the morning, the supposed morning of our departure, and I keep creeping into Trav's office, asking him if he needs any help and when he thinks he might be done.  I know I am not actually helping when I do this, but I can't stop.  WE NEED TO LEAVE TODAY!!  We absolutely, positively need to be in Maine by the 10th because Trav has an important family thing and we have to be there. It's a 40 hour drive to Maine, and if we don't leave today we'll have to rush there and we'll be miserable the entire drive.  I'm also trying not to think about the fact that Marshmallow's AC isn't working and Trav fixed it himself using some kind of epoxy, a technique he learned on YouTube.

 I think that I'd be sad about leaving Telluride and all of the people and things we love here but I'm too stressed out to think about it.  Maybe that's a good thing.  SIGH. Until next time friends, we send heaps and bucketloads of love and appreciation and gratitude to everyone who has helped us, hugged us, and wished us well on our journey.  Thank you, Telluride. We love you so.
(Now cross your fingers for us! xo)

       

Hud and Viv in front of my favorite building in the whole world.

See that building?  That's the beautiful Sheridan Opera House...and I don't work there anymore.
It's been a week and I still can barely wrap my head around it.  On the night of my final performance, the wonderful SAF staff surprised me with a slideshow with photos of me from the beginning to the end of my 17 year run.  It was so special and meaningful I still can't even think about it without crying. Sigh....Thank you, Opera House and the people who work there.  I love you to the moon and back.

So what now? I'll tell you what...I JUST JUMPED ON THE SUPER-HIGHWAY OF EXTREME LEARNING!!  The very next day after leaving my job I emcee'd for the Mountainfilm Festival for three days, and I found myself right back in my good old Opera House, interviewing filmmakers on the very stage I had just left. I introduced 31 films, met dozens of filmmakers, and LEARNED SO MUCH.  Holy moly, did I learn.  I learned about Syrian refugees and how climate change effects political instability, and about the pollution of the Ganges River, and about brilliant yo-yo artists and about dead pets. My brain exploded about 800 times during the weekend.  As an emcee, there were highs and lows.  At one point I forgot the word for hyphen as I read a web address out loud and I stammered and struggled and then said, "you know, that small horizontal line?" Jeez.  And another time after a river film I merrily shouted out, "Didn't that movie make you want to go camping RIGHT NOW?" And the audience was absolutely silent. I'm squirming now just thinking about it.  I also forgot a film title once and the audience had to remind me. Ughhhhhhhhhh.  (The rest of it went really well but the epic fails are funnier so I had to mention them).

And THEN, the very next day after Mountainfilm, I began a 3 day Wilderness First Aid and CPR course.  And AGAIN, my brain exploded with all of the new info.  You GUYS!  I can bandage!  I can splint!  I know what shock is and how to treat it!  Do you have a some kind of gross, infected cut?  I totally know how to fix it.  Kaboom!!!!

Next up on the learning adventure: diesel engine repair and how to take better pics on my Iphone.

This post was all about me, sorry about that.  Next time I'm going to write all about Hud and Viv and Trav, I promise.

Oh, and my smart sister fixed our blog so it's easy to find how to follow it.  There's a button to click on the home page near the top, so please follow us.  Thanks so much for reading!!!