Blogs from Fayetteville, North Carolina, United States, North America

It seems like we were not home for long until we got the call out to go to work the Hurricane, Hurricane Florence that is. I had photos spread over the dining room table and Dale had wheels off the Ferrari. We had to put everything back together, pack, clean the RV and get out. This time we had a few more days to get ready so we didn’t have to throw everything together. Driving to Atlanta, the site of the induction, took longer than we’d wanted to take. It didn’t help that we bought some bad fuel along the way and limped into the next repair shop. But as it turned out, they knew exactly the problem and we were on our way within an hour. Inductions are always fun, we get to see everyone ... read more

So yesterday on our way to the build I had mentioned to the group that if anyone who was in the van was really itching to check the century ride off of their bucket list, that I would be willing to Nav for them since I’ve already “been there, done that.” Noah eagerly took me up on it (even though he said he normally doesn’t do that!) and so I had a day in the van with NJ ahead of me instead—which can be its own adventure in itself! When I got up and put on normal people clothes, I did indeed find a dead beatle by my pillow—lovelyyy! Not too concerned, I packed up, took my stuff of to the trailer—unsure if chore groups had switched or not (do they switch on Sunday? Monday? What ... read more

Another early start saw us load up and leave DC behind and head to Fayetteville, North Carolina. This was where we first experienced the 'wonder' that is WalMart, as we began stocking up the food. Group A, which consisted of me, Graham, Sarah and Sumi, were the first to cook for the group, so we headed to get our ingrediants, whilst everyone else helped with the stocking up for breakfast and dinner and then stocking up on supplies of their own. The stop off took longer than it should, but I did make sure I got me a pair of flip flops, and some cold sore cream for one thats appeared this morning. Back on the road, we eeventually stopped off for lunch in a town called Stoney Creek. It had one of those huge sky ... read more

Ok, so 3 weeks ago, I didnt have a passport, or really imagined I'd need one. Well in about 30 hours my plane leaves to Brisgane, Australia. It's crazy how thing work out. This will be the first time I'll ever go out of my time zone. So it's going to be an amazing experience. Over the past week, people have asked me if I'm nervous, or worried. I can honestly answer "no". I'm not sure why, but in no way am I worried, nervous, or scared about what's going to happen. I'm going for up to 12 months on a working visa. I'm going with a total of around $1600USD, that should convert into around $2100AUD. I'll be able to get a job, and that will be the biggest challenge. Once that is taken care ... read more

We set out from Accord Sunday, January 13th. The weeks leading up to this moment were harrowing, with major work still needing to be completed on our new (used) pop-up camper, last-minute immunizations (malaria! Typhoid!), grant applications due, and our home prepared for our lovely renters. Miraculously, the Friday before liftoff Zoya and Max gave remarkable presentations based on a series of National Geographic articles in preparation for the first leg of our journey. Zoya gave us an overview of the early colonies, focusing on Jamestown, but with an articulate summary of Rhode Isand and Pennsylvania along the way (Cudos to Rachel and MCS for the deep background on this!). She used our new marker board to make things clear, lecture-style. Max chose the topic of global warming, and Zoya gave Max's presentation an A+. We ... read more