“WE ARE NOW IN THE MOUNTAINS AND THEY ARE IN US,
KINDLING ENTHUSIASM, MAKING EVERY NERVE QUIVER,
FILLING EVERY PORE AND CELL OF US.”
John Muir
My First Summer in the Sierra

On May 6th, under the encouragement of the new moon, we began our first cross-country journey with the Vardo.  Oh sure, we had done a couple hours here and there of travel time with short trips, but this was the do or die moment we had been waiting for!  Our son was returning home from his military deployment, making it just in time to see his first child born and we were heading to North Carolina to welcome them both and honor his wife for giving us our second granddaughter.

We stopped in Ohio to see our other military son and his family before we engaged the open, winding roads to the East coast.  Two hours in I was so anxious from what we began to call “squirrely butt” that I was ready to call the whole trip off and abandon our travels.  Permanently.  The Vardo was fishtailing radically.  Finally after a weight re-distribution she smoothed out and kept pace like she was made for it!   We swept thru Ohio, West Virginia, Virginia and finally North Carolina. Over the Appalachian Mountain range, thru the Blue Ridge Mountains, into mountain tunnels and underwater tunnels, finally landing on the shores of the Southern Outer Banks. We drove thru whipping wind and rain, a fog so thick in the Allegheny Valley that there was no front to the truck, only layers of white distorted haze.  Nearly 2,000 total miles of travel and, having embraced nature’s fickle moods, we found not one sour moment.  We were shouting our triumph from those mountain tops!

It is in our traveling nature to take odd moments to absorb the journey along the way.  A random flea market stop near Asheville turned up some fragrant dried hibiscus for tea.  It had a definite Hispanic flair with open markets abundant with papaya, chilies, chayote and prickly pear.  Musica poured from every tent and the atmosphere was lively and tangible.  We also made a stop at Thomas Jefferson’s Monticello.  Toured the grounds and have come to enjoy a new found respect for our  horticulturist and 3rd President of this great United States of America.  His plant knowledge was unrivaled at the time and so well documented that the foundation has been able to continue his legacy.  The gardens are something stunning 80′ x 1,000′, lush and pristine.  I procured some seeds from his plantings, albeit they are some 200 times great grand children of the original plants, they are as pure and genetically linked as the 200 times before them.  I now have Cucumis anguria (West Indian Gherkin) and Capsicum annuum var. glabrisusculum (Texas Bird Pepper), Lycopersicon lycopersicum (Cherokee Purple Tomato) and a flowering plant called Nigella damascene (Love-in-the-Mist).  My husband insisted on that one.  He has moments of rare romantic nonsense, which I adore.  One of our last stops was Mitchie Tavern, just a few miles from Monticello.  We arrived too late to tour the tavern itself but were able to visit some of the shops.  We also met a gracious woman by the name of Cindy, (and her father).  It turned out she is the director of this beautiful historic site.

The Vardo was a point of excitement and wild imagination for hundreds of people along the road.  We were overwhelmed with enthusiastic admirers. One gentleman, who had little English but was so enamored of her, began patting her appreciatively and talking to her directly.  He actually kissed Isadora (the Vardo’s given name) in a show of appreciation.

It was our pleasure to share the stories of her origination and details incorporated into the design.  ~ Did you make it?  How long did it take?  How much does it weigh?  Does it travel well?  How long does it take to set up? (Answer to that by the way is either 1 hr or 1.5 hrs, depending on if we are in amore with each other or well… NOT.)  Do you sleep in it?  Where’s the bathroom?  Can I get a reading?  Can I take pictures?  Can I have my picture taken with it?  Where are you from?  Where all have you been?  Are you coming back here? ~  Being engaged added about 6 hours to our travel time.  But we are honored to share in their enjoyment and, even at the end of a long day of travel, we wouldn’t want it any other way.

So the first big journey is under our belts and we are already planning the next!  Until then, we will just be…

JALLIN’A DROM!