A recap of where I went, who I visited, and what I saw.

Regular readers may have noticed that I’m blogging a lot less frequently that I had been in the past. I think the main reason is that I’m keeping so damn busy. This means I’m spending a lot less time in front of a computer and have a lot less time to spend getting my thoughts out in this blog. To my supporters — especially those who have donated to help keep this site up and running — I apologize for not delivering the content you expect to find. Please try to accept another promise to do better.

And that’s what this series of posts is about: summarizing how I spend 18 days from the end of September to the beginning of October. You saw some of the pictures in “postcard” posts; here’s a bit more to fill in the gaps.

The Plan

I began planning this vacation years ago — probably as far back as 2014. The idea was to go out to Vermont to visit my friend Tom and his wife Tammy. Of course, you go to Vermont at the best time of year — autumn, when the colors are peaking. But for a few years I just couldn’t get the trip together. First I was busy building and finishing my home. Then I was busy enjoying my home and satisfied myself with local trips I could easily make with my truck camper.

But by 2017, I was ready for more substantial travel.

As you might know, my work keeps me pretty much glued to the Wenatchee, WA area where I live from mid May through August. Last year, I was lucky enough to be able to escape to Oregon for the big solar eclipse; my cherry season work ended just a few days before the eclipse. That same year, I’d decided to move my camper and boat down to Arizona in October so I could enjoy the trip down there. (The previous year, I’d gone down around Thanksgiving and it was too cold to hike or even enjoy the various places I stopped along the way.) So I turned that into a two-week long road trip that took me to visit friends and sites in Idaho, Utah, Colorado, and Arizona. Obviously, I couldn’t squeeze another vacation between my August and October trips — I have to be home sometime.

This spring, I started thinking about it again. I had lots of airline miles on Alaska Air. I had lots of free time after cherry season. I consulted Tom for the best time to come. I consulted my brother, who lives in New Jersey where I’d likely enter the area. And I thought about the other things that I might do when I arrived, like spend some time in Washington DC, taking in a few museums.

I sat on the fence for a week or so. And then one morning I just said “screw it,” and I booked my flights to and from Newark. Cancellation fees would make it very expensive to change my plans. My trip dates were set: I’d leave here on September 22 and return home on October 9 for a total 18 days away

(I should mention here that the only thing that makes trips like this possible is a great house-sitter to watch over my home, my garage-based barn cats, and my chickens, who were producing an average of eight eggs a day. I have the best house-sitter.)

Arriving in Newark

I flew into Newark with Penny, a half case of wine, and a huge rolling suitcase.

Because there are so many wineries in the Wenatchee area, Alaska Air will check a case of wine on a flight out of Wenatchee Airport for free. I packed a half-case box with four bottles of wine, a bottle of locally produced apple moonshine, and two jars of my honey. I padded them around with bubble wrap and shoved two of my scarves in there. As you might imagine, the baggage handlers managed to break one bottle of red wine, soaking — but fortunately not ruining — my scarves. A nice woman at the baggage claim area gave me a $75 credit on my account for the next time I fly.

My brother met me at the airport with his Maserati, which I assume was a gift to himself after his divorce. (Everyone should give themselves a gift after a divorce; my gift to myself was my new home and the flexible lifestyle I’d tried (unsuccessfully) to enjoy with my wasband throughout my marriage.) It’s a low-key black sedan that’s very comfortable and wickedly fast. I got to give it a try myself the very next day.

On the way back to his place, we stopped for sushi. As we polished off an enormous sushi boat, we reminisced about the time years before that’d we’d gone to a favorite sushi restaurant in Teaneck, NJ for “happy hour” half-price sushi and had eaten until we were ready to explode. Langers love good food.

 
Here’s my brother Norb with the sushi boat we shared for dinner. Seriously: it could have fed four people.

Back at his place, I settled into his bedroom. He’s only got one bed and he let me have it because he had to get up very early the next morning. He’s a competitive shooter and had a match in Old Bridge. He left me the keys to his car — he’d take his Toyota truck. We chatted for a while and then turned in for the night.

(Continued in Part 2: The Farewell Tour)