Winding down the journey has seen us ‘Stepping it up a Notch’ as for unknown adventures lurking around every corner. A friend of mine says in one his songs, “Born inside a cage you ain’t going far”, well this trip we brought our cage along with us and went very far. We didn’t let the RV bind us in any way at all. It took us from adventure to adventure, but I still feel the sentiment he sings about is so true, we can’t let ourselves be bound by circumstance. Especially if our circumstance comes from a place of health and we only let our minds limit our possibilities. We live in an era where we can let everything going on in the world get us down, or empower us to keep our beliefs and spirits running free to explore the endless possibilities that await us. If we choose the latter, life is one big adventure, and the earth a magical, natural, cultural wonderland.
Back to the journey of Janey-Rae & company. We finished up our projects in the Quebec countryside while enjoying some peaceful times on a small lake, a pleasant Sunday enjoying taking in Montreal, then it was back on the road.
Coming across the American border is always a bit intimidating. Borders have that way of making the innocent feel guilty. When we were told to pull over we knew we had done nothing wrong except lived life outside the box for the past year, but our border guard, although just a man doing his job, had the ability to make Angie squirm questioning how such an adventure was possible without her working illegally. She assured him that we had been creative in our spending and, although camping free on BLM land, Native American gambling casinos and Walmart parking lots is absolutely legal, we daren’t mention it, that guilty feeling rearing its head. Although with really nothing to hide I pulled out my computer to show him this blogsite (no free wifi at the border, so that didn’t work) and then a copy of my book to prove where we lived, and thankfully Angie was let back with us to wind down our journey together with a last visit with friends and family in the New York area before flying home.
Louis had some more mountain biking racing ahead of him, we had flights to book, a few friends to visit in upstate New York, and oh yes, Chessie had some unfinished business. She wanted to leave a small piece of herself in the land she had done so much traveling in for the past year, so while in the Albany area of New York State, we stopped in a local hospital so she could donate her appendix. Fortunately we had some friends to drive to not so far from the hospital for a tranquil recuperation. Frank and Christiana are the parents of our good musician friend Dan who we know from France. We stayed at their house last year in the beginning of our journey, but they were in Europe so it was so nice to finally meet them in person and share some quality time and eat some scrummy food together while listening to Dan’s excellent CD. Here’s a song from Dan’s CD. What a voice, and pretty good banjo strumming to boot!!
Catching up with their neighbors Bruno and Bruna, whom we met last year, felt like a nice way to wind down the trip. Meeting Bruno and Bruna’s one-month old baby brought home how long our journey had really been, wow!!
Now we are at my brother’s house, Chessie is on the mend, Louis is squeezing in as much riding and racing as he can – bagging a 1st place last weekend in Vermont – and we’re all getting ready for the new phase awaiting us back home. We are still managing to do some fun things here like seeing Sheila E in concert in New Haven for free with some old college friends. Angie, Kathy and the kids are at the beach now soaking up some Connecticut sun. I opted to stay back and chill out to write my blog. I split open my knee while mountain biking in Massachusettes, so am giving my wounded knee a rest.
We probably could have thought of a better way to wind down the journey than Chessie’s appendix wanting out, but hey, we were never in control of any of it from the beginning. Angie and Chessie will fly out first, Louis and I will tie up loose ends and try to sell Janey-Rae. It’s kind of sad, she feels like more a part of the family than just a vehicle. I hope someone who really appreciates what her possibilities are for adventure winds up purchasing her, but again, it’s out of our hands. The ending of this adventure will lead to the beginning of our next one, and I hope Janey-Rae will have lots more exciting miles exploring as well.
See ya up the road! Wanna buy an RV?
Janey-Rae looking comfie.
Listen to the words of this song and get inspired for your next move.
Peace, Joe
