Stop number 8: we're back in Amherst. I've had the chance to do some laundry, repack and work on shipping a couple boxes to Taiwan. It turns out that if you're patient and can wait 68 days you can send a table loom halfway around the world for about a hundred bucks!

The travel gods have a twisted sense of humor. They gave us car trouble but waited until we were in town for a couple days, had the trouble be covered by the warranty and gave us one of the nicest Subaru repair shops I've ever seen. Once that was taken care of we were back on the road to Connecticut one more time to deal with various bits of paperwork.

While we were in the neighborhood we took advantage of the opportunity to have one more dinner at Plan B Burger Bar with our wonderful friends, the Cox/Sheldons. This is me, Riley and Darby, who's hiding behind her hands:

It's been a little odd, all these goodbyes. Wandering around for a month between selling the house and flying away means that we've said goodbye and then reappeared a number of times. I hugged my sisters goodbye last night but I'm still in town for a couple days (while they're busy with work) so I haven't even gone anywhere. It's made leaving seem unreal. We say goodbye and nothing changes. It's just odd. 

Yesterday was kayaking on Ninigret Pond in Rhode Island followed by a lovely boat ride and picnic on the beach with the Overbyes. It was like having a vacation from our vacation!

Today we took a ride in Cathy's brother's bigger boat and toured around Stonington, CT and Westerly, RI. It's an opportunity to see how the 1% live, including Taylor Swift, who by most accounts is a nice young woman but still managed to piss off the locals by spending $6 million on a wall to keep out the riff-raff.

We have arrived at stop number 7 on our Goodbye Tour: Rhode Island. We left Washington after a wild thunderstorm and incredible double rainbow.

Unfortunately, this photo doesn't do it justice.

Anyway, we drove down to Virginia Beach for a couple days. We swam in the Atlantic, hiked in First Landing State Park and biked around the Virginia Beach boardwalk.

Poseidon guards the Virginia Beach waterfront.

There were some wild thunderstorms there too, including what may have been a tornado. Now that we're back in New England the weather has turned dry and bit cool. We're planning a day on the water thanks to our friends Cathy and Mitch.

We're two weeks into our trip and it has really sunk in that we have no home to go home to. While it may be true that home is where your heart is or where you hang your hat, it's also where you have a place for all your stuff. A table to toss the mail. A place where you get mail! A bathroom where you leave your things on the counter. I'm getting pretty good at being organized with finding things in my suitcase, but a suitcase just isn't home.

We got an email from the secretary at our new school asking how much luggage we're bringing so she knows what size taxi to send to the airport to pick us up. In two and a half weeks that will be home. At least the place where we hang our hats. I wonder if it will be where my heart is?

Washington Monument and Lincoln Memorial

Me and my kayak

Lee and I rented kayaks and paddled down the Potomac River and around Roosevelt Island. To get there and back we walked a couple hours, mostly because we took some wrong turns but it's all good. After all, we're on vacation with no place to be except back at Geoff's by 4:00 for the World Cup. Plus all that walking justified the really good burger and fries we ate in Georgetown.

Day 12 of the Goodbye Tour. We left Amherst, MA on Sunday, spent the night in Philadelphia with eldest son Zach and his lovely girlfriend Cierra, and arrived in Washington D.C. on Monday afternoon where we're spending a couple days with my brother Geoff.

Our timing was perfect in that we got to enjoy lunch with niece Amanda as she had a layover at the D.C. airport on her way to Paris. After a fabulous meal we dropped her off at National. Unfortunately, one of the flight attendants fell ill and they had no replacements so the flight to NY got cancelled. Amanda scrambled for a flight to get to NY in time to catch her evening connection to Paris, to no avail. The airline did book her onto an early morning Paris flight and by the time I went to bed last night she was arranging to fly into La Guardia, take a shuttle to JFK and spend the night at the airport.

I relay this story to remind myself that even when travel plans get completely mucked up there will always be some way to work it out. Lee and I will be doing an awful lot of flying in the next couple years. I'll use Amanda's experience as a reminder to NOT PANIC when stuff hits the fan. (It would be especially helpful if Geoff were available with his computer and calming influence to get us through any rough patches.)

Happy Fourth of July!

Lee perfects his form in bean bag tossing.

My mother's family has had a family reunion during the Fourth of July weekend since the 1960's. The family tree has branched far enough to include fourth cousins this year. The menu includes potato salad made from my grandmother's recipe, including mint that originally grew in her garden. But times do change and lunch included vegan options as well as the traditional ham and turkey.

It was wonderful to reconnect with family before we fly away.

We have officially moved out of Simsbury and spent our last night in town (thank you, Nicki!). Now I can turn my attention towards the future. First it's a month of vacation then off to Kaohsiung, 27 days and counting.