I slept three nights on Judy's sofa in Lancaster, PA. Avoided the frigid record breaking cold in the northeast and sat through a two and a half day storm of snow, freezing rain and rain. I had breakfast in Millersvile, PA with my friend Dewie and hit the road to return to Plymouth.
I have been in Plymouth for about a week and a half and many look surprised when they see me. I explain that I had a financial set back in Virginia and decided that because now, in addition to being old and tired of the road, I am about as broke as broke can be. I am one flat tire away from being homeless and I would prefer to have the flat in Plymouth rather than Purcellville, VA. So, I am home and feel mostly good about.
I have already played music with Peter and made connections with firends and co-workers. I am on the roster to teach two classes in the fall and have signed up to teach this summer, if there are enough students to register for my class.
My health is good and I am once again parking at "The Point Five" on Tish's property. I have been offered a room in a place in Meredith, rent free, but, I really want to stay in the van, so will be at Tish's until I feel like I need something different. I wouldn't mind finding a camper somewhere so that I could have a bit more space, a place for an alternate heating system and where I can leave Ozzy for the day. We have been 24/7 for over a year and there are times I would like to have a space for him so that he doesn't have to hang in the van, sometimes very cold, when I want to go somewhere and hangout for a while. But, until the right situation presents itself we will continue as things are.
A long story, but, Ozzy was in a fight and had his ear torn in half. Actually sounds worse than it is. He never gave any indication that it was painful and we went immediately to the vet where he was sedated, ear stapled together and one of those stupid cones which we kept on for about 5 minutes. He has not bothered his ear, I give him his antibiotics and you would never know that there was a problem.
Sir Morrison continues to truck right along, although he has developed an aversion to heavy rain and will stall out occasionally. I wait five minutes and he is ready to go again. Some wire is getting wet, I imagine. Troubling, but not serious.
There you have it for today...

Addendum: I am in good spirits...I got a one month free subscription to netflix, put it on my tablet and found The Office. Very funny!!

Well, Sir Morrison was serviced yesterday, Saturday. But, not just brakes!! Some bearings packed, new tires, alignment, brakes...I don't even want to disclose amount of money I spent, but, it was considerable! I am thinking that some work done I had done that didn't need to be done right now, but would have needed to be done in the near future. And, brakes were metal to metal, it was a Saturday in Purcellville, VA and I feel safe to be on the road...
Let me revisit my discussion about journey vs. destination. It is both the journey AND the destination which are as important and meaningful as the other...I am tired of driving, and now after my garage bill, am poor. I would like to go to Asheville, NC, Nashville, TN, Austin, TX but I don't want to drive there anymore!! I have tried to live on the road and have some dream to do it, but, in reality I can neither physically, psychically no financially do it anymore. I have given it my best shot. I was feeling like returning to Plymouth after just a couple of days on the road and my van difficulties really confirmed to me that Plymouth is my home and that's where I want to be. I don't want to worry about miles on Morrison, when  will something happen, because Morrison is my shelter and something happens to him I am homeless. I have friends and places I love and things to do in Plymouth. I am returning home.
I made it to my friend Judy's couch last night with wind chill and winter storms sorrounding me. I will be here through Wednesday and then returning to Plymouth.
I have a project in mind and would like to work toward putting together a dog park in Plymouth. That would make Ozzy happy.

Sir Morrison, Ozzy and I are back on the road. I love the reflection time I have as the miles go by...the sounds of Sir Morrison's engine, tires and the inside of my head. I have been debriefing my week in Plymouth and specifically the voting and aftermath. I want to briefly rage against the machine as no amount of my raging, our raging, e-mails or signing petitions will change the workings of the machine.

I have come up with an image for a political cartoon: Lucy has a tag on her that reads DNC (Democratic National Committee) she is holding a football that is tagged, delegates and Charlie Brown has a tag, Bernie Sanders supporters.

I drove 1,000 miles from Virginia to vote for Bernie. As I expressed in an earlier blog, I had misgivings as to the value of my vote, but decided that I needed to vote for Bernie and maybe make a difference. So, Bernie gets 60% of the vote, Hillary 38%, but, because of "superdelegates" she gets the majority of delegate representation. Superdelegates?! Superbullshit!! As I suspected deep down inside, my vote means nothing! The fix is in, the game is rigged! And, I don't ever want to play in the game again. Unless Bernie is the nominee, I will never, ever, ever vote again...this Charlie Brown will not have the football pulled away from him one more time. I don't care which perverse Republican runs against Hillary...I will not vote for her. Shame, shame, shame!! The machine is tone deaf and and the oilers of the gears just don't get it.

Sir Morrison, Ozzy and I are in Massachusetts thinking about spending some time in Connecticut tonight. We will update on Sunday...

I posted the above a couple of days ago...since then then there has been more skullduggery in an attempt to fix the election. The DNC has decided to allow unlimited PAC and corporation money to be contributed to the committee, which, oh wow, supports Hillary again. (The rule against this was instituted by Obama in an attempt to "change the way Washington works.") They really don't get it...they are at every turn subverting the will of the electorate and the more they do that the more the people are going to be turned off to the same old party system. The real kicker here is that the DNC is backing the wrong horse. It will be Bernie or a republican in the white house regardless of the amount of money and establishment support that Hillary gets.

Ozzy, Sir Morrison and I are in Purcellville, VA. Sir Morrison appears to be having some brake problems and I have found what looks like a reputable garage, Hogan & Sons, which says that they will be able to get me in and possibly out, today, Saturday. Fingers crossed. The Knight, Sir Morrison, got 24 mph yesterday!!
Cold here, but not too cold. Very windy and it is hard to find a place that doesn't have some kind of weather advisory; wind chill, heavy winds, flooding, mixed precipitation. There are a bunch of shops, including Harris Teeter supermarket and starbucks, within walking distance of the garage so Ozzy and I will have a place to be occupied while brake work is being done.

Then? Don't know, but, rest assured I will keep you advised...

It's Monday and my apologies to those of you who look forward to my Sunday updates. Sunday slipped by mostly in the library at Plymouth State. I really like my new tablet and got lost in watching TEDTalks, Discovery and History Documentaries, and music videos on youtube. I continue to read an interesting book about DNA that I really understand maybe 20% of, but, it is enaging and I get the gist.

And, really, not much to report since I returned to Plymouth on Friday.

Came back to vote on Tuesday and take care of some business, especially getting paperwork together to do my taxes. Taxes are done and now I am waiting to vote tomorrow. Will be back on the road Wednesday or Thursday. Snow predicted for today and tomorrow but my reading of the weather map tells me we will miss the brunt of the storm which will be mostly south of here. But, will still effect my travel plans.

While I have been here I went to see my friend Holly Furlone play at the Mad River Coffee House in Campton...she asked me to play a tune and I played a few, one with her which was fun. I also went to the dance extravaganza at Silver Center where I saw some really great perfomances by a varied group from professionals, dance studio students and of course PSU students, who as always did a great job. In case you don't know, I am an unabashed dance groupie. And, the current group of PSU dancers, led by the head of PSU Dance Dept. and my friend, Amanda Whitworth, is a really great group of students. At the show they were selling sweatpants with "PSU DANCE" printed on the butt. Didn't buy one but thought my students would get a kick out of me coming to class in the fall wearing a pair.

So, my plans again are up-in-the-air. I think I will wind my way south to Charleston, SC and just follow my whims.

Finally, as you know my van is named Morrison after Van Morrison. Van Morrison was just knighted a few days ago and is now Sir Van Morrison...so, I guess my Morrison is now Sir Morrison!

Ozzy is happy and healthy...shout out to Tish Hill for once again allowing me to park at the "point five."

I'm voting tomorrow, you?

I have just listened to NPR discussing the results of the Iowa caucus. I would like to be very clear about my feelings about the American political system. It is the playground of the greedy and mean-spirited and there is not a bat's chance in hell that it will be anything but that ever, certainly not in my lifetime. It is all about money and power. Voting is just a shadow play giving people a false hope that there is the possibilty of change. The biggest lie is that the politicians care about us at all. They don't! The system is broken...and so, I am terribly conflicted. As an idealist, I would like to think that Bernie can make a change. I like Hillary, I think that she is competent and I support a woman being president of the US. But, if you think you saw animosity toward Obama, you haven't seen anything like what it will be if Hillary is nominated. As a pragmatist I believe that she would lose against almost any Republican nominee and that Bernie both idealistically and pragmatically is the better choice.
I am terribly conflicted. All of the above being said, I think that my failure to vote in the primary next week in New Hampshire would be a mistake. So I have decided to return to New Hampshire for Tuesday's primary to vote for Bernie because if there is a chance for change I will need to play my small part. My teacher Thich Nhat Hanh professes "engaged buddhism". This is an opportunity for me to engage...
So, I am currently in Virginia and will take my time travelling back to the north country. Some places I will stop on the way that I want to go to and after Tuesday's vote I will get back on the road again. Seems like a pain in the ass, but, the right choice is often not the esiest one.
I will just be the day in NH, pick up some tax paperwork, vote and gone again. I want to make it a quick in and out...not a whole lot of socializing to be done as I am in and want to continue in my anonymous mode...

Okay, some aphorisms to start the day...
Everything happens for a reason...I don't believe this. When something happens, we should take it as an opportunity to make sense, learn a lesson, give it reason...but, it didn't happen for a reason...it just happened!
You're only as old as you feel...I think the only people who say that are those who have never been a sixty something. I feel great, I feel like I'm 17 with 49 years experience...but, try and convince someone else I'm that young who looks at me and sees that I am not 17! You're only as old as others see you. You can be young at heart but don't expect others to see you that way. Act as young as you feel at 66 and see where it gets you...Late mid-life crisis? Just really hard figuring out what it's like to be 66 years old when I never figured out 65...
And, finally, life is about the journey and not the destination...this I do believe and what a journey it has been! Both existentially and literally. Back on the road and what a trip! Especially the snow storm I drove through on Friday. Some of the worst weather I have ever driven through in my life!! White-outs and snow drifting from 20-25 mph wiind gusts!! I love my girlfriend who speaks to me from inside my navigator gps system...I ask her to avoid highways for me and she is so cute, sometimes too cute, and puts me on some really minor roads which only locals know as shortcuts...but, being on Mud Pie Lane in upper western Pennsylvania with winds howling and snow blowing was a bit much. Oh yeah, and let's not forget the deer running out in front of me!! Up and down hills, dales and hollows, twisting s-curves, trucks using lower gears, 20 mph limits...What a journey...but, the boys, Morrison, Ozzy and I showed our mettle and made it to our destination. Is it the journey or the destination? This morning I am writing from Radford, Virginia will be in search of a dog park for Ozzy and a day off the road for Morrison and me. I want to shave my head again and go from full beard I have been growing the past couple of months back to just a goatee. I am feeling scruffy and would rather be on the road looking clean and respectable.
When not faced with adversity, I have seen some really beautiful country.
Still headed to Nashville...

Okay!!! The no-plan plan is coming together. Got on the road Tuesday as I had hoped and went to Burlington, VT. Unfortunately, Burlington does not hold the allure for me that it once did. Church Street is EXPENSIVE!!! Wednesday AM I had breakfast at Penny Cluse, a place I used to love, but, two poached eggs, potatoes, biscuit, cup of coffee and tip...$15...$15 for 2 eggs?
Long and short, I find myself in Poughkeepsie, NY with a new RCA Viking Pro 10" tablet which I bought for a little over $100...just what I needed. Compatible with my Android phone, detachable keyboard which I am using right now to write this post. Can word process, surf net, watch youtube...works great so far.
So, spent the morning looking at maps and I have decided to slowly head toward Nashville, TN. Gonna bypass Lancaster, PA, for now, but head there on my return trip, April or May. From Nashville, I think to Asheville, NC to Charleston, SC and then to Lancaster, PA. A good route, I think. Of course, all is subject to change at any moment.
Am reading an interesting book, The Violinist's Thumb, about DNA.
Morrison had a first mileage reading of 22MPG, which is not bad considering the idling we do to warm up in the morning.
Ozzy is doing well, I think he has already figured out we're in travel mode and he likes it. Today we will try and find him a dog park.
All systems go...