I am writing this on a humid Sunday afternoon, three days before we shove off for one hundred days of travel. Our little cabin in the woods will sit mostly empty save for three weeks in July when a concert violinist, his cellist spouse, their two teenagers and a dog call this spot home. The duo run a local music festival and our landlord and friend, Don, has been lending them this pad for seventeen years. Accordingly, we are not only packing but cleaning the cottage, too.
Whilst they are playing classical music for mostly adults in Sullivan. County, NY, Beth and I will be inhabiting the other end of the spectrum, strumming and singing for children and families locally from here to Westchester. Then, as in years past, we will drive to the Jersey Shore to meet a gaggle of five year olds eager to explore the wetlands, dance, drum, draw and laugh with us for two weeks.
From there, we point our vehicle westward and begin the ten day, cross country trip that will bring us to Estes, Colorado – the gateway to the Rocky Mountains. And thus will commence forty days and nights taking in the beauty and majesty of Colorado, Utah, Arizona and New Mexico.
At the outset, I would like to thank our friends, Sandi and Paul, for their counsel, friendship and support. There is so much to see in this part of our country and we are greatly benefiting from their experience.
In closing, I would like to say that I hope to rediscover not just the natural wonders of the USA west of the Mississippi, but the people who call it home and those, like us, who seek its splendor. I am weary to my bones of the new national pastime, political divisiveness. I long for a break from the daily grind of “what did HE do today?” and hope to replace it with “what do WE want to see, today?”
I hope you care to join me for the adventure.