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)

       

Moog reads a chart, Hud at the helm

Our Telluride time is ticking away, just three more weeks and we'll be on the road! I've managed to purge 75% of our belongings and the acoustics of our house have seriously changed-- there's an echo now that all the "stuff" used to absorb, and our house feels lighter and larger. What Trav and I find most interesting about this major purge we've done is that neither of us can remember most of the things we've gotten rid of.  Which proves, I suppose, that none of those things were ever very important or necessary in the first place.  Our closets rattle with empty hangers, our shelves sit silent and empty. Only the things we truly USE are allowed to stay.  The minimalist life begins!  And it feels right.

In the midst of all the packing, I found these two photos, taken four years ago in the San Juan Islands. As you can see, our kids have been sailing since they were knee high to grasshoppers, and as a result, being on the water is as natural to them as skiing.  They are mountain/ocean kids.  When we asked them over a year ago if they would like to live on a sailboat, they didn't hesitate to scream, "YES!", and then follow up with the question, "Can we leave tomorrow?" Our kids have giant appetites for adventure, natural curiosity about just about everything, and serious cases of wanderlust.  This makes us proud.

One of the most challenging tasks Hud & Viv have tackled recently is selecting the playthings they'll take on the boat.  We gave them each a small plastic bin about 2 feet wide and one foot deep, and told them that whatever they could fit into their box, that's what they could take.  (Books, games, sand toys and art supplies are separate, of course, and we are taking abundant amounts of those things).  Watching the kids sort through their belongings and decide what matters most to them has been fascinating.  For Viv, it's all about tiny plastic ponies and snuggle toys.  Not a single doll made the cut.  Hud's box is filled with Tech Decks (mini skateboards) and Legos.  My gut tells me that it doesn't matter very much anyway, for just as Trav and I already can't remember what we've sold or given away, the kids will also lose interest in their belongings.  My guess is that once we're on the boat, those toy bins will be stowed and seldom opened as the natural playground that surrounds us takes hold of their imaginations. OR I could be totally wrong and they will be begging us to ship in some plastic crap from Amazon...only time will tell.

Until next time, friends!  Thank you for reading.

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!!!      

Here's what the back of our boat will look like!

Boat names are so much fun.  On every sailing trip we've ever taken, we always take the dinghy around all the marinas and harbors we sail into, just to check out the boats and read their names and where they're from. A lot of boat names are sailing related (kind of obvious and boring) like "Wind Traveler" or "Sea Breeze". My favorite are the cheesy puns: "Reel Knotty" or "Ship For Brains" or  "Bi-yahtchhhh" (that one was our second choice after Moxie- just kidding).    
Under the coast guard's regulations, your boat has to display the name of your home port (even if your home port is landlocked, as in our case).  Our boat's name and port will be painted on the transom, the "rear end" of the boat, and it will look like what you see above.  My brilliant sister, Sarah Nyman designed it for us, and we couldn't be more excited that a piece of her artistry will be traveling with us wherever we go.
Right now, as we speak, our boat is being sailed from the BVIs to Florida,  We have only 15 weeks until we leave Telluride and begin our journey.  It still doesn't seem real.  Every single day, we are working towards leaving (boxing up belongings, planning for homeschooling) while at the same time living our normal lives (running for the bus and directing plays).  It's a weird feeling-- like we've got one foot in Colorado and the other on the sailboat, balancing between them, only somewhat gracefully.
Stay tuned for an update from Captain Trav as he prepares for his first big sail on our boat (Nassau to FL) in 2 weeks.  It's a big long sail in open ocean-- out of the frying pan and into the fire, baby!