A Steinbeck I’m not, as you know if you read this blog. But, by the time you do read this, Penny and I will be well on our way toward the southern tier of New York. It’s a route I know well from my days working in rural New York: the Rutland, Route 4, Northway down to Albany, then I-88 to Binghamton, then Route 17 toward Jamestown. No tolls but lots of river towns and thumpy concrete highway. I think they call it I-85 out west but that’s like putting lipstick on a pig.

Yesterday I went up to Worcester to get some diesel fuel and my last maple bun at the Post Office Cafe for some time. Penny settled into her stretched out spot between the two front seats, where she will sleep for hours.

I don’t have tons of storage space but I am hauling Pete’s Green mesclun, local chicken and hamburger, Cabot Cheese, Morse Farm maple syrup, Booth Brothers milk, and some homemade granola to go with the Stonyfields yogurt. I should have a good first week culinary-wise.

So the general plan is to see our son Rich and his wife Lydda, along with Bronson in Ohio for the weekend. We are getting psyched for that. Afterward, it’s a little open. I am going to head north through Michigan, hook a left before Canada, and wander along the northern route through Minnesota, North Dakota, and Montana. The objective is to arrive in San Diego County in late June to see the West Coast gang.

Vermont is a tough place to leave in summer. Everything is just popping and one side of me wants to stay and paddle, hike, and bird. But I really wanted a change of venue for a bit, to see grandkids that I see way too infrequently, to explore a part of the country that I have never seen, and to do a little birding in places new to me. It’s going to be fun and I’ll share a bit of what I see and do, including comments my Vermont plates draw. Peace my friends.