Home and Heart

Two drifters off to see the world…

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  • Helicopter, Monuments & Needle Highway

    Yesterday, Saturday 11/21, we started with our Christmas present from Helen Jo Howard- Dick’s step mother. She and Dick’s dad enjoyed a helicopter ride over 30 years ago in the same place. Sweet!

    It was FABULOUS! The bird’s eye views of Mt. Rushmore and Crazy Horse were stunning. Perfect weather helped… And yes. It is all very moving. We drove to each memorial museum later in the day to dig in and learn who, what, why and how each monument came to be. The story behind the carving of Crazy Horse was a revelation. If you can possibly see these works…you won’t be disappointed.

    Next….the Needles Highway. Our friend Lynn Ashley grew up in the area. Like touring Spearfish Canyon- we had NO idea such beauty awaited. The ‘Needle’ mountains were formed by magma bursting through to the surface from the center of the earth. Surreal, truly.

    Our helicopter pilot suggested hiking at Sylvan Lake. This was another ‘wow’ place. Massive boulders emerging from a crystal clear, still lake. Seeing these ‘out of this world’ places makes us wonder why we had to finally GET there to even HEAR about them.

    To top off the day we headed back to Mount Rushmore to see it lighted after dark.

  • Thanks for the tip, Nathaniel

    What a great day. Drove to Spearfish Canyon late morning. The weather was ideal – blue skies and 50 degrees! You drive along a road through the canyon with stops for things to see. First was Bridal Veil Falls.

    Then farther up the road is a trail that leads to Roughlock Falls. A 1 mile trail gently uphill with breathtaking scenery all the way. The photos from an iPhone don’t do it justice.

    Pleasantly tired, we set off to Deadwood – site of Wild Bill Hickok’s demise. Pleasantly preserved old town but not much to see – so off we went to Custer National Bison Preserve. You are not supposed to get out of the car and we didn’t. One bison walked right up to the driver side door to say hello.

    Tomorrow – helicopter ride to see Mt Rushmore and the Crazy Horse Monument!

  • Sioux Falls and rural eastern SD

    First things first. Chris says she has never seen me so relaxed and open-hearted. I would say much the same about her. No doubts or misgivings about our plans and plots. Fun, fun, fun.

    There is land, lots of land, out here. We left Sioux Falls this morning with the plan to drive to Mitchell, SD to see the “World’s Only Corn Palace”. https://cornpalace.com/ https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Corn_Palace This is corn palace # 6, I believe, in this part of the state since early 20th century. It is basically a sports and concert venue about 75 miles from Sioux Falls. But about half way there we were distracted by a road sign that took us off the interstate to the prairie home of Laura Ingalls Wilder. In keeping with our plans to be spontaneous we headed north from route 90 and went to De Smet, SD (pop 1056) to see the place. Unfortunately the visitor center was closed but we were able to wander around the buildings and see the prairie around the area and imagine what it must have been like to eke out a living there 100 years ago. Even today it is very remote and windswept. We had lunch at the Oxbow restaurant in De Smet. Talked to the owner and learned that De Smet High School has 200 students. Even smaller than Voorheesville..

    On the road then to Mitchell to see the corn palace. The cool thing about it is that the outside walls are completely covered in mosaic art made entirely of corn cobs and other parts of the corn plant.

    Finished at the Corn Palace and headed back to Sioux Falls. BUT, made another detour – this time to Howard, SD!

    I poked my nose into the local hardare store hoping to buy a postcard to mail to myself postmarked from Howard, SD but alas, the post office closes from 12:30 to 1:15 and we couldn’t do that.

    Back on the road to Sioux Falls.

    By the way – they drive FAST here. The speed limit on the interstate is 80mph and i’m sure many of the folks passing us were doing more than that.

    When we got back to Sioux Falls, we went to The Falls – from whence the town takes its name.

    The stone is an interesting red color – according to google it is “Sioux Quartizite”

    Tomorrow – on to Rapid City in the western end of SD – Crazy Horse monument, Deadwood, Mount Rushmore, Badlands, Spearfish Canyon, etc.

  • Getting to South Dakota

    Yesterday we drove from Northfield MN to Sioux Falls, SD. It is, as they say, “The Great Plains”. Flat farm country for mile after mile. Very peasant but very redundant after the first half hour.

    The big excitement for the day was that we stopped for lunch at the Blue Line Diner in Newell SD where a lady backed her car into ours in the parking lot. No injuries. Not a lot of damage, but enough. We were able to travel on unimpeded after the exchange of info.

    Today was first full day in South Dakota. We thought we had everything we needed to get new Driver Licenses and register the car. Driver Licenses turned out to be pretty straightforward. Car registration not so much. We’ll get it done for sure but it is a multi-step process taking days to weeks.

    So we are now officially residents of South Dakota. Never in my life before did I think I would ever write that sentence. It makes the whole adventure seem all the more concrete. No more NYS income tax and once we get the care registered, a break on car insurance.

    We can’t register to vote in SD unless we spend one month here. That was a surprise to me as we thus can’t really vote at all, now. On the other hand, I am more than a little surprised at how little that seems to concern me. I grew up being taught that voting was an almost religious duty but in my current circumstance, I don’t think I will miss it.

    Impressions so far of SD. 1. Everyone is NICE. They are all open and conversational and nice. We’re not in NY anymore, Dorothy… 2. Sioux Falls is Very spread out – it feels like everything is 12 miles away no matter where you start and finish. 3. Dakota Post – our mail forwarding service is terrific. We stopped in to pick up a package. The people are nice (they are, after all, from SD), well organized, and helpful.

    Tomorrow is a tourist day. Maybe see the Sioux Falls (after which the town takes its name) and other such things.

  • Finally on the Road

    Finally on the Road

    After a couple of years of deciding to take the leap and 3+ months of planning and execution (figuring out where to go and when, researching residency and taxes, giving bunches of stuff to family and friends, starting the sorting and winnowing of boxes of family papers and photos, many trips to Goodwill and similar organizations, selling the house, multiple garage sales, etc) we finally hit the road this morning. Got up at 3:30 am to leave for the airport at 4 am (Thank you for the ride, Brooks!) and catch a flight to Minneapolis via Detroit. From there rented a car and drove south to Northfield, MN, a charming small town with 2 liberal arts colleges, St Olaf’s and Carleton. There we are visiting niece Christine, her husband Seth, and their 2 kids Jo and Ben. Spent some time learning about Jo’s passion for dragons and learned how to play foursquare – a playground game that is sort of like volleyball without the net.

    Spent the afternoon walking to St Olaf’s and attended a wonderful family concert by the St Olaf’s orchestra. Truly memorable!

    All in all, a great day to start the grand adventure!

    Concert at St Olaf’s

  • Phase 4 (or is it 3? Or 5?

    We are well underway on the adventure now.

    This week was quite the roller coaster. The buyer’s inspection found a number of things that need to be addressed-chimney repairs, vermiculite removal, etc. Then they raised the question of whether there was an unknown or undisclosed underground oil tank, about which we know/knew nothing. For a while it felt like the whole thing would fall apart but it seems to have straightened out and we are still on track to close the 14th of November.

    Thursday night 11/6 was our last night sleeping at 37 Swift.

    Friday was spent prepping for the estate sale. All the furniture, rugs, desks, art, tools, etc were to be sold. But we needed to clear out little stuff and make a thousand decisions about what to save, what to give away, what to toss. The garage is where photos and family papers are for now. That sorting can happen next week.

    A couple of antiques (dry sink, cobbler’s bench) and bunches of art and family artifacts went into a U-haul to go to Seth and Megan in Cornwall-on-Hudson or to Caitlin and Alex in Baltimore.

    By 2:30 we were done packing and on the road, driving the 10foot box truck.

    Got to Cornwall, had dinner with the kids and collapsed.

    Saturday morning unloaded their stuff from the truck, then off to Baltimore. Arrived there mid afternoon and unloaded their stuff from the truck and turned the truck in to U-Haul. Had a very pleasant afternoon and evening hanging with the Gibsons then early bed. Adventure is tiring!

    Up early today to get on the train back to Albany. We’ll be in V’ville this week sorting stuff, then off to SD Saturday!

  • And the beat goes on:

    Here we are just 16 days until the closing. That may seem like a lot of time but we will be on the road for a few days next weekend taking furniture and family heirlooms to Seth & Megan in Cornwall-on-Hudson as well as to Caitlin and Alex in Ruxton.

    And then, while the closing is planned for Friday 11/14, we really have to be out by Wednesday 11/12 because that is the day that the buyer has final walk through of the “broom clean” empty house.

    Empire Estate Sales is doing the estate sale Saturday 11/8 and Sunday 11/9 and then doing the cleanout on Monday 11/10. So when you look closely, we really won’t be able to live in the house after 11/6. Which is only 8 days away, not 16. YIKES!

    November 15 will be the really big day, though. We fly to Minneapolis and from there drive to Northfield Minnesota to visit Christine, Seth, Ben, and Jo. Then on to Sioux Falls, SD to establish residency. While we’re there we figure we may as well indulge our wanderlust as well. Mount Rushmore, Crazy Howrse monument, and the Badlands are on the agenda.

    It looks like this really will happen!

  • The devil is in the details

    since the last posting things have been a whirlwind around here.

    We have a projected closing date of 11/14 which means we have to be out of here with the place empty and broom clean for the buyer to do a walk through on 11/12.

    We got rid of a lot of “stuff” at the garage sale. The garage sale was two full days and then we had three days with a sign out by the road advertising “Free Stuff 9am-5pm” to try to get rid of what didn’t sell. By the end there wasn’t much left except the furniture, things we left in the house for staging for the open house, art, family treasures, and what we need to survive day to day.

    Part of all this is mindset/philosophy.

    We are having an Estate Sale on 11/8-9. That should take care of a lot of the rest of it.

    Family stuff is being distributed to kids if they want it (For example, Caitlin wanted the antique dry sink). The things she wants and the family stuff for my kids will go to them in a UHaul the same weekend as the garage sale. We will also be sending particular items to a bunch of other kids, nephews, nieces, etc.

    Art is another whole topic – maybe I’ll do a seperate post on the Art when that shakes out.

    So, in the US it turns out to exist you have to have an address – can’t just say “We’re on the road.”

    Turns out there is a whole subculture of RVers who have solved this problem. You get your mail sent to a mail service in South Dakota. South Dakota allows you to claim residency there just with the mail box and evidence you spent one night in South Dakota. Then you can get a South Dakota driver’s license, pay SD taxes ($0.00 income tax), and vote in SD. So that is in process – though we will have to trek out to SD at some point. But getting out of NY state taxes will be worth it.

    All very exciting and tiring – but we will get there!

  • WOW!

    Today was the first day the house was on the market and there was an open house and multiple people looked + several private showings. Just talked to the realtor and found out that the first person who looked at it made a CASH offer above our asking price! Beyond our wildest hopes!

  • Hello World!

    We are starting this blog today as this is the day we officially listed for sale our house at 37 Swift Road in Voorheesville, New York.

    We’ve decided to start a new adventure and chapter in our lives. Once the house is sold, we will be spending some time visiting various family and friends around the USA. Timing will be fluid depending on many things – how fast the house sells among other things. Current plans include visiting the Nathaniel in Tucson in November as well as Thanksgiving in Baltimore and Christmas on Cape Cod with Helen Jo.

    A visit to Evan, Heather, and the new grandson in Hawaii in February or March is the plan for the end of this USA segment. After that, we hope to take up residence in the country of Malta. From there, the world awaits.

    We are told by Mike Barnett and Theresa Eriksen, our friends who live in Malta, that it is wicked hot there in the summer so we anticipate using the summers in the future for trips back to the USA to visit family.