You know what they say about the best laid plans and all of that? Our plan was to leave Vermont last Monday, after a evening in a hotel (with a pool - my kids would literally sleep in an alley if it had a pool) and dinner at a favourite Vermont restaurant. We were going to party our way out of Vermont! The trouble started the Sunday before, (actually, the trouble started months before but we'll just stick to the less distant past). We woke up after another wet night in Vermont and slowly started to pack up. During the week and a half, being close to home, we had run so many items back and forth between The Cloud House and The Lightning Bug but as we packed we began to notice our super rookie mistake...we had been underestimating the weight of many of the new things that had joined us at the campsite. It took the better part of the day to pack up. As we drove away you could feel the strain that our van, Rhonda Lotsaseats, was under. We thought we'd just make it home and unload the items that were staying there, and replace them with the sure-to-be-lighter things going to Rhode Island and everything would be great. Rookie mistake number two?
You see, packing has been a challenge. Since we are packing longterm and for a trip through multiple climates at multiple times of the year, choosing what to bring has been challenging to say the least. On this road tripping leg we have packed pretty light, but as we loaded up the boxes of clothes for England/Europe it was clear that Rhonda just couldn't haul all of this stuff 265 miles to my mother's attic in Rhode Island. We were crunched for thinking time because Ezaias was going to be awarded a Vermont Outstanding Student Award at a Lake Monsters baseball game that very evening. Hence the decision to stay in Vermont until Monday, (Ezaias was much less than enthusiastic and was probably praying we'd miss the game, which we ended up doing. I love happy endings). In a pinch we decided Rhonda could make it to Burlington and from there we'd rent a car, redistribute our weight and drive safely to Rhode Island. We made it to Burlington with no problem and Travis started to doubt our concerns about the weight. So we cancelled the car rental. The next morning after taking appropriate advantage of both the pool and laundry facilities at the hotel, we sent off. A minute later, as we turned onto the highway, two of our bikes fell off the trailer into the road! Luckily, no one was hurt. We got the bikes back on the car and Travis did all he could to shake, jostle and put all of his weight onto the bike rack. The bikes seemed good and solid. We pulled back out onto the highway. A few moments later the bikes fell off again. Luckily, no one was hurt. We were a bit shaken up and we knew we had to reassess. As you maybe know if you've visited Vermont, the highway exists are very far apart. So we slowly made it down the road and pulled off to go over our options. We didn't feel safe driving Rhonda with all of this weight.
Back to the car rental plan. There are three things you must know to fully understand this part of the story: A.) I was born in 1981. Depending on who you consult I am a Millennial. (I've actually heard the term Xennial for people like me, born squarely between Gen. X and Millennials and having experiences that straddle both generations. A, part 2.) Travis is younger than me. He's definitely a Millennial, though you wouldn't know it from his cool and chill persona. B.) Millennials are really very resistant to taking on any more debt than a college education requires. So they are very unlikely to have things like credit cards. C.) To rent a car from an airport you MUST have a credit card. C, part 2.) We live in Vermont. There really aren't things like car rental agencies that are outside of the airport. So, long-story-short, no go on the car rental plan.
Next we did something that we are really very good at - we sat on a curb and discussed our situation while plucking grass. Luckily the toddler was asleep and we've been training our older kids to do this since they were three, so they were game. If you know me, you'll know I've had many peculiar and out right strange experiences in my life. I used to blame it on the other people I was hanging around with at the time, but eventually, I had no choice but to accept that it's not them... It's me. So I thought to myself, I MUST have experienced something like this before. Oh, right, Maine! When I was 18 (too young to rent a car) and stranded in a car that suddenly wouldn't go above 5 miles per hour, which spontaneously projectile-ejected cassette tapes into the backseat and "auto-tuned" (before there was auto-tune) to the nearest latin music station, while 200 miles from home and parents that chose to practice tough love at that very moment! That was the day I met the U-haul box truck! Travis, let's rent a U-haul truck! Well, if you know Millennials, you'll know that $300 for an empty truck is not something that will jive. If you know Vermont, you'll know that all the Budget and Penske trucks were sold out that night (cause there are only three of them in the whole state).
So, we got another hotel. With another pool (with a bonus waterslide) and went to another Vermont restaurant and the next day we rented a Budget truck for $167 (all of which perhaps totaled $350, and if you know Millennials, you know....no just kidding) and finally made our way to Rhode Island, but not before taking appropriate advantage of that sweet pool!
That was a long way around to the pictures! Of course we took them! Have fun making you own lemonade (if you've got lemons) until next week when I'll tell you all about Rhode Island! Enjoy!
