live. work. dream.

Everything happens for a reason. If we hadn’t have gone back to Los Angeles, we never would have learned that our beloved Jerry’s cancer has made another ugly appearance. You can’t tell by looking at him; he’s as playful and spry as ever. We only took him to the vet for a new heartworm medication, but left knowing we had to get him into oncology treatment, fast. So, we hightailed it back here to New Mexico, to visit a wonderful clinic in Santa Fe, the Veterinary Cancer Care clinic.

We always wanted to see Santa Fe, just not under these circumstances. The closest, most cost-effective RV lodging we found was at Cochiti Lake campground, about 30 minutes south. It’s an Army Corps of Engineers lake, and a bargain at $12 a night.

Our trip into the city was quick; just enough to see the vet, walk around the plaza, and get a good feeling about the place. This joke that a local told us, says it all:

Question: Why did the Santa Fe’an cross the road?
Answer: Because she was channeling a chicken.

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We haven’t lived the typical office life for nearly a year now, since selling our business.

And I must say, we don’t miss it one bit.

We got a pleasant reminder of running your own business, however, while in Los Angeles.

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Friday, we pointed ourselves westward, right into New Orleans (NOLA), where we’ve met up with an old friend from Humboldt, Mr. Gordon Soderberg. As one of the founding members of the Redwood Technology Consortium, Gordon is one of the reasons why we fled San Francisco in ‘98 and moved up to the sticks. He was a geek like us, and we figured if he could make a living in the trees, so could we. In 2005, Gordon left Humboldt to join the Veterans For Peace wagon train that was supporting Cindy Sheehan, and found himself in NOLA two days after Katrina, to help with the rescue, cleanup, and now, grassroots rebuilding efforts (because the government hasn’t done crap. More later).

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After 7 months of fulltiming, Jim and I have gotten into the groove of doing whatever we want, whenever we want. Sure, there are a few occasions when work-like commitments require us to stay inside and bang away on our keyboards for a few hours. But overall, our life is seriously lacking in any routines.

Sadly though, this trip isn’t about sitting on our butts indefinitely. Now that we have reached the midway point of our year-off, it’s time to test the waters in business choices that we’ve always been interested in, but never had the time to pursue. A “vocation vacation” if you will.

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Happy Halloween Everybody!

The photos are still up if you missed last year’s hallowed party (Viewer Discretion Advised). This year it’s going to be pretty mellow. But if we do happen to get any camping trick or treaters, we are prepared!

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Come September, scenes like this put a wide smile on campground owner’s faces.

We have often considered buying a campground when this trip is over. So whenever we can find an owner who has time to chat about what it’s like to run one, we love to listen and hear about what it’s really like. When we arrived at one resort in Maine, it was a quiet weekday, and the owner was happy to share some advice about the realities of running a campground.

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Perhaps that’s a good thing. But perhaps the reason we like Vermont so much, is that it reminds us of the last place we called home. After spending ten years in Humboldt County, CA, we were ready for a change. But finding a small town near abundant natural beauty with an open minded population of young creative individuals has been a challenge. Until we visited the Green Mountain State, that is.

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We are SO excited to let everyone know that there’s a story about us in the October issue of RV Life Magazine.

Mike Ward, a columnist for the publication, tracked us down when we were in Pennsylvania, and interviewed us for his monthly column, “First Glance.”

We love the story that he wrote (even Jerry got a mention) and are happy to share it with you!

To read RV Life’s new digital version of their print magazine, click here to read it. Go to “Contents” and look for “First Glance” on Page 6.

Mike also made note of our Agreda website and how we have become digital scrapbooking consultants in an effort to extend our journey. Read Mike’s monthly RV Life First Glance Column here. Read it this month (October, 2007) to catch our feature, and tell a friend!

Last fall, our beloved dog Jerry was diagnosed with bone cancer, had his leg removed and became a tripod dog. The vet told us that he would only survive about 4 months after the surgery. We moved quickly to sell our house and business so we could hit the road and give Jerry the life he always deserved. This trip was our way of making up for all those long hours we worked, and devoting 100% of our time to playing and romping with him, while he still can. Every day with Jerry is precious to us; we are so grateful that 10 months later, he’s still happy and healthy.

Today was a milestone. We made it to the Atlantic Ocean, at Acadia National Park in Maine, and got to watch Jerry play in the ocean once again, just like he did for so many years at Samoa Beach in our old hometown of Eureka, California. He made it with us, all the way across the country, and dipped his three paws in the Atlantic. What a beautiful day this was.

We’ve traveled many miles searching for our ideal community. A few times, we thought we might have found it. But . . .

The thought of moving into a small town is nice, but few have the diversity that we feel makes life more interesting.

We crave the solitude of 40 acres in the sticks, but fear we might go nuts being so isolated.

And in places where we love both the land and the people, it might a lot of effort to fit in.

So where does that leave us? At the other end of the country, completely enamored with one state in particular, which is now the benchmark to compare all future areas against. That state is Vermont.

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