Monday, November 2, 2020
Travel Day: Fairfax, VA to a Rest Stop in CT
ODOMETER: 78,382 | MILES TRAVELED: 437
by Grant
We awoke to a lovely sunrise over the Walmart parking lot next to a dumpster in Fairfax, VA. Turns out there are no RV parks within cooee of McLean, VA, so we took advantage of the Walmart open invite to RVs for an overnight stay. The kids’ 2-hour orthodontist appointments ended up taking almost 6 hours, so when we hit the road by mid-afternoon we were well behind schedule for a Boston arrival. We made it through 6 states and a massive GPS failure in NYC (AKA worst case scenario – navigating tight NYC streets that were not designed for a 60’ road train), and hunkered down at an overnight rest stop in Connecticut. On the trip up we lost one of our stand-up paddle boards (massive 40mph + cross winds) on the New Jersey Turnpike, but luckily a friendly trucker had pointed out that the remaining board was hanging on by a fin and we rescued it before it became the second casualty.
Worst case scenario: navigating tiny NYC streets that were not designed for a 60’ road train named Thelma & Louise.
Travel with us:
Travel Diary
Travel
Sailing Tahiti to Australia | Leg 4: Fiji to Brisbane Passage
Sailing Tahiti to Australia | Leg 4: Fiji to Brisbane Passage A Long-Awaited Departure After having waited in French Polynesia for two and a half months, we excitedly sailed out of Bora Bora around 7:30 am on Saturday, September 4th. Like the rest of French...
Sailing Tahiti to Australia | Leg 3: Bora Bora to Fiji Passage
After having waited in French Polynesia for two and a half months, we excitedly sailed out of Bora Bora around 7:30 am on Saturday, September 4th. Like the rest of French Polynesia, Bora Bora was in COVID lockdown, and we had spent the last week waiting for our departure paperwork to go through all the requisite bureaucratic channels. This required multiple trips to the local gendarmerie (police station), where Grant quickly befriended the two kind and helpful officers, Alex and Bruno.
Sailing Tahiti to Australia | Leg 2: Mo’orea to Bora Bora
It took us about 24 hours to get from Mo’orea to Bora Bora on August 28 2021. Like the rest of French Polynesia, Bora Bora was in COVID lockdown, and we spent a week there waiting for our departure paperwork to go through all the requisite bureaucratic channels. This required multiple trips to the local gendarmerie (police station), where Grant quickly befriended the two kind and helpful officers, Alex and Bruno.
We made trips to get water, fuel and provisions, but apart from that we had to stay on the boat. We passed the time snorkeling (saw a giant moray eel!) and inventing new water sports.
Once we received our exit paperwork, we were finally free to leave for Fiji.
Related Articles
Related
How Big Is Too Big?
Lessons From the Road | How Big Is Too Big?Does Our Built Environment Affect Our Relationships? The “Big Mac” symbolizes the belief that more is better. If one beef patty is good, wouldn’t two beef patties be better? Similarly, the colloquialism of the “McMansion”...
Lessons from the Road | Less is More: Adventure over Stuff
Lessons From the Road | Less is More: Adventure Over StuffWe have been on the road for about four months, and while that’s a relatively short time, I think that some of the big lessons happen in the initial “adjustment period” of an experience like this. One thing is...
My 10 Favorite Books of 2020
My 10 Favorite Books of 2020Welcome to 2021! Most of us couldn't wait to see the back of 2020, looking forward to better times with hope and anticipation. If you are at all astrologically inclined like I am, you know that on December 21st, our world experienced a rare...
TRAVEL WITH US!
We are currently sailing the South Pacific to Australia.
Thank you for joining us, have a great day!