Aunt Hilda’s Attic Travels.  It’s a New Year! December 30, 2019.

Good morning, everyone in earshot of my blog.  And Happy New Year!

With this new year comes a renewed promise (especially to myself) to get my fingers moving and get back on the blogging horse.  Giddy-up, giddy-up.  Many of you have encouraged me by leaving such nice comments on my blog site.  And I have been spurred unmercifully by others to get back at it.  So…. Here I am!

This morning I sit in the North Ft. Myers Regional Library in Ft. Myers, Florida.  Hopefully, library time will be productive.  I hope to put this New Year’s ramble up on the web today. I have two other posts from July and August that I have written but not published, yet.  They are old, but fit chronologically with my previous posts. They will appear after the New Year holiday when I find another open library.

Where I have been …. And what I owe you!

Since I left Minnesota in July, I have been in amazing places and met amazing people!  The Sisters on the Fly component of my trip has presented a dimension I did not expect when I left California last spring.  I spoke of three Sisters in previous blogs.  Mindi Crabb was the first Sister I met.  I stayed at her place in Pinedale, Wyoming, on my way to Grand Teton National Park.  And Robin Bartel hosted me in Cody, WY as Ieft Yellowstone.  Then came the serendipitous meetup with Bernice Ende, the woman I met in Havre, MT, as she continued her tour discussing her experience as a long rider (horseback alone over 1,000 miles).  Watch for a PBS documentary about her this spring!

Then you read (or will read) about my camping gathering with 20 other Sisters in Michigan at the Lavender Festival.  That is when the ball really took on momentum!  Since that event, I have maintained online friendships with many of those women, and gathered about 100 more Sister connections.  Some have been generous with offering a spot to stay for a night or two as I traveled.  Some I met as those “Curb” Sisters gathered a group for lunch, dinner, or a Flea Market.  Some I met just by happenstance conversation at a campground.  “Have you heard of Sisters on the Fly”?  “Oh, yes.  I am a Sister!”  And the conversation and connection ensued.  And on, and on, and on.  Such generous, knowledgeable women.  It has been a growth experience I didn’t expect, and have more than thoroughly enjoyed!

But of course the SOTF component is not my entire journey.  I have jealously guarded alone time, as well. In the woods, on the water, or along a lonesome road.   I head into a National Forest wooded area, where I can find a stream or a meadow and spend a few days by myself.  Usually with no cell phone or internet service.  I do love my alone time.

My Path So Far

Just a list of locations and minor points ……. For my own gratification, each one will need to be discussed, and printed out for my permanent record.  But I would like you to be able to track this fantastic journey with me as I continue to circle the country.  I might miss something, but oh, well.

June – July 2019.  Minnesota – Family and friend time

July 2019.  Wisconsin – More family and friend time

July 2019.  Michigan – Boondocking, touring, camping, SOTF Lavender Festival event, visit childhood spots (Grandma’s farm, Aunt Hilda’s house, Grandma’s house, childhood home and school, etc.)

July 2019. Ohio – Boondocking, Cuyahoga National Park

July – August 2019.  Pennsylvania – Warren PA, Allegheny National Forest (10 days)

August 2019.  New York – Watkins Glen State Park (Camping with Lucy Logan, Sister I met in Michigan), Finger Lakes area (Curbing with Barbara Kocen, another Sister), Oswego, NY (Accidentally crossed paths with a friend’s 1960s sorority sister), Queensbury, NY (Audrey Kiernan .. yep… another SOTF curb.  And a pre-dawn visit to Saratoga Race Track).

August – October 2019.  Vermont, New Hampshire, and Maine – The three states I had never visited.  I spent almost two months in various areas of New England, watching nature turn the area from green to gold.  The Northeast SOTF group and so many individual members embraced me and continue to be part of my life every day.  And I  made a lifelong connection with North Conway and the Saco River, New Hampshire.

October 2019.  Massachusetts – Curb with Angel Smith. Learned so much about Massachusetts history.

October 2019.  New York Catskills – On my way escaping toward the south, I stopped to curb at SisternEllen Adam’s magical spot.  Met Ellen while camping in Vermont.

October 2019.  Pennsylvania – Boondocking in Reading.

October – November 2019.  Maryland and Virginia – Assateague Island National Seashore.  10 days camping with the wild horse herds.  On the way out, drove across the mega bridge and curbed with Stacey Bittner in Virginia Beach.  Met 4 other Sisters.

November 2019.  North and South Carolina – Fantastic camping near the barrier islands and in Myrtle Beach.  Met long-lost friends in Myrtle Beach.

November 2019.  Georgia and Oregon – Toured Savannah. Left Hilda with family in Statesboro for a little over a week and flew to Portland, OR for Thanksgiving.

December 2019.  Florida – Many Florida stops with family, friends, Sisters (some I met in the Midwest or the Northeast), county parks, beaches, boondocking, and Harvest Host sites.  I am seeing parts of Florida that I hadn’t expected to be so beautiful.  More than the two coastal areas.  Much more to see. 

Where I am headed.

I am about 8 months and 14,000 miles in.

Tomorrow I venture close to the Everglades National Park, and will spend New Year’s Eve and New Year’s Day out of touch with the world in a small campground in the Big Cypress Swamp/National Preserve.  I expect to come out alive on the other end of the next couple days, and then I will continue through the Everglades and head toward Biscayne National Park.

Key West and Dry Tortuga National Park are the next dots on my “want to go” list.  It is a long drive, but I am really looking forward to it. National Parks are especially worth the effort.

Once I leave the Keys, I have a couple more stops to make in Florida, and then I camp for four days along the beaches on the south shore of the Panhandle area. 

My next major destination is Colorado City, Texas.  I need to arrive there the morning of January 25 for a gathering of 30 sewing and crafting Sisters.  (Remember…. I do have my sewing machine and fabric and tons of other craft items with me. Lol.) I spend 9 days creating …. not sure what, yet!

After Texas, I go to New Mexico to meet up with Bernice Ende (Lady Long Rider) again.  Looking forward to spending some quiet time with her.

Then it is meandering through Arizona and on to Southern California.  Two gatherings with my Lemon Drop Diva camping group near Anza Borrego for the spring desert flowers, and then finally home on March 29, 2020, one year after my departure.

It will be bittersweet.  I am looking forward to being home.  But I will leave much of my heart out here on the road.

Thank you for journeying with me….. I will post more from my ongoing travel, and will try to catch up and patch in the missing pieces as I go.

Yesterday I went to church with SOTF Sister Vicki O’Nan and was fortunate to hear a Sunday sermon delivered by an entertaining and insightful minister in Englewood, Florida.  His message was pretty much that Fred Rogers had it right when he said we were all neighbors.  And I am certainly finding that to be true.   I have met a thousand new neighbors along the way, and look forward to being able to let my guard down and meet many more. Won’t you be my neighbor?

Wish me luck!  And all the best to you and yours in this coming year, 2020. 

Lynne