Blogs from Durham, New Hampshire, United States, North America

Gracie and I awoke to a gorgeous warm day and rented a car. We drove to Durham, NH to see roller derby: Rochester NY's Roc Stars vs New Hampshire’s Skate Free or Die. Brianne skates for the Roc Stars, and this would be the first bout I’d see her in. Her skating name is Harriet Beecher Ass, but she’s known to teammates as Beecher. (Her son Kiernan’s “skater” name is Son of a Beecher.) Gracie navigated well, and even sang some of my favorite songs, so the trip went quickly, and we made it to the UNH campus arena in plenty of time. The bout was exciting and frustrating to watch. I was impressed at Brianne’s nerve and physicality; I see how growing up with older brothers prepared her for this sport. I flinched ... read more

Thanks to John for figuring out how to upload photos. This set has samples from our trip through Salt Lake City. I goofed and published the later photos first, but really Ottawa was our first major visit. (img_src) ... read more

A wise man once told me that to pack for a backpacking trip, "you must place all that you think you require on the floor and then take about half away in order to be able to fit everything." Alright, perhaps this was just my friend Tosha, and at the time I chose to nod my head in agreement while secretly doubting his wisdom. Surely, I thought, this was a drastic overstatement. As I have spent the last few days packing, or more precisely, begrudgingly removing my cherished travel "necessities", I feel it only adequate to admit my ignorance within this public forum and concede defeat. I suppose my downfall derives from being a teacher. We all like to search out a variety of sources in order to cross-reference to gain greater understanding. I took ... read more

John added the title "Travels with Charley" and the derivation of that title is kinda cute. Charley is not a dog, as I would wish. Or even a cat or a goldfish. Charley is an abbreviation of Charlestown, the graduated care community where John's mother spent her last few years. He figures this motorhome is our graduated care community...... read more

(While we are having a wonderful time with this new adventure, our hearts are heavy about the tragedies in Haiti and elsewhere. How lucky we are to have such silly problems while others suffer so deeply.) We got the car hooked to the rear of the motorhome and left Durham at 8:25 AM on Friday, January 15. We are now (Tuesday, January 19) at an RV park a few miles west of Savannah, looking forward to taking the car in to spend time in that glorious city. We can't walk as much as we'd like, because of Linda's healing broken ankle. But we will surely enjoy our time there. We have learned quite a few things along the way... - Day 1, as we passed Baltimore, we drove through a tunnel marked "Maximum 5 tons gvw." ... read more