And so it begins...

So, here is the very first post on this blog journey. I'm imaging that someday we'll look back at this post while we're halfway around the world for the 2nd time on our sailboat and say, "Wow, this is where it all began." 


To be honest, it began long before today, April 9th, 2012. The idea of living life on the move, of exploring parts of this great, green earth as a lifestyle rather than a weekend here and there has long been part of my and Tim's happiness. When we met in May 2004 it was because my friend Bridget and I had rented an RV and were planning to drive to a farm in Manchester, Tennessee for the Bonnaroo music festival and Tim and his buddies wanted in. The first time Tim laid his head on my shoulder was somewhere in the Blue Ridge Mountains in the middle of the night on the way back to Boston in an RV full of 14 stinky, exhausted, muddy, music loving friends. Later that summer we spent 3 days in ankle deep mud at an airport in northern Vermont for what at the time was the last Phish festival, Tim pulled my Corolla out of the mud first and we've been together and crazy in love ever since.


A year later Tim and I were planning a move to New Orleans to live. We'd been to Jazz Fest and at 2:30am on the first night we'd arrived while the band was warming up we looked at each other and said, "let's move here." 3 months later we were making our plans to leave when Hurricane Katrina had different plans for us. We moved south anyways, to West Palm Beach, Florida. Hurricane Wilma made us realize what it's like to live on the 18th floor of a high rise on the ocean. South Florida was soaked with happy hours, transient friends and sun but our Yankee, New England souls longed for a Cape Cod summer. We decided to move again, back to the Cape. However, our wandering souls decided we'd take a detour on the way to finally visit my childhood dream - The Redwoods of California. We packed our most important things in Army duffle bags on the roof of the Corolla, loaded Jack the dog in the back seat and set off West. As Martin Sexton sings..."In a Westerly direction, this car is my train..."

The Corolla + The Army Duffle Bags in the Redwoods

The Grand Canyon

We wandered west avoiding interstates the whole way, camping every night, we visited 5 National Parks, lost  the last of our spending money in Vegas, slept under the towering branches of Redwood trees, blew through tolls in Chicago, met awesome dogs and friendly people in Ohio. We would wake up each morning at camp and say, "this is the life, something new every day, an open agenda and wide open map in front in of us." The trip took us 8 weeks and we arrived back in the Cape house driveway with a Corolla that sounded like a dune buggy, a garbage bag full of laundry & a black lab who'd seen the country. It was pure bliss, even the 2 weeks camping with pit toilets and no running water. Something about traveling...

Toby, the new crew

New Friends for Life

Portsmouth Crew for life

We soaked up the feeling of being 'home' for about a week before we were already scheming our next move...this time north to New Hampshire. We were 26 and 27 years old and that was our last big move. We've absolutely loved living in NH, we've done a lot of great things in the past 5 years here - bought an awesome VW Camper Bus, it died at a Willie Nelson show, got a new four legged travel companion, Toby, got a Masters Degree, moved up in our careers, seen some great live music, learned to brew our own beer, GOT MARRIED!, brought the VW bus back to life, traveled all over New England, *thought* about buying a house, camped a lot, met some great life long friends, celebrated good times with old friends, watched nieces & nephews grow and parents grow wiser, all the while bringing our love of life & endless joy everywhere we go, without the family & friends we have we could never dream of making this journey a reality, we are truly blessed! 

Old Friends 

The Bus running again - Race Point, Provincetown, Cape Cod

Getting Hitched, Cape Cod, Sept. 2010 

Parents Growing Wiser...HA! 

Parents Growing Wiser...HA! 

But the gypsy soul and itchy feet that we both have been blessed with has returned and so today marks the official start to our FALL '14 DINKS plan as it's been lovingly referred to by our families. DINKS = Dual Income No Kids. We are planning to cast off our bowlines and set sail from the Seacoast of NH in Fall 2014 for points south. Plans aren't real until you set a date so that's what we're doing. Until then we have A LOT to do so we thought we'd track it here on this blog. We don't even own a boat yet! We'll mix in some hilarious stories of the Adventures of OJ our orange VW bus and keep this blog informative and hilarious because anything Tim, Toby and I do is somehow always ridiculous. 

So from OJ to to the Ocean it's time we got moving on...come along on our journey!

As Jerry Jeff sings:

It's time for a change
I'm tired of that same old same
The same old words the same old lines
The same old tricks and the same old rhymes


Days precious days
Roll in and out like waves
I got boards to bend I got planks to nail
I got charts to make I got seas to sail


I'm gonna build me a boat with these two hands
She'll be a fair curve from a noble plan
Let the chips fall where they will
'Cause I've got boats to build

Sails are just like wings

The wind can make them sing

Songs of life songs of hope

Songs to keep your dreams afloat

I'm gonna build me a boat with these two hands

She'll be a fair curve from a noble plan

Let the chips fall where they will

'Cause I've got boats to build

Shores distant shores

There's where I'm headed for

I got the stars to guide my way

To sail into the light of day

I'm gonna build me a boat with these two hands

She'll be a fair curve from a noble plan

Let the chips fall where they will

'Cause I'm gonna build me a boat with these two hands

She'll be a fair curve from a noble plan

Let the chips fall where they will

'Cause I've got boats to build I've got boats to build

I've got boats to build

-Guy Clark's 'Boats to Build' on Jerry Jeff's Cowboy Boots & Bathin' Suits