Getting our last bit of Winter - Last week in February

Since we are planning to leave on Sunday, we have been trying to get in our last bit of Winter fun. 

Matt, Jeff, Fred and Joe 

Wednesday I skied with my usual ski bums, Jeff and Joe as well as my son Matthew. It was a typical February ski day in Vermont, cold but the snow was pretty good. This season, I have skied  a dozen days at Sugarbush and one at the Snow Bowl. Conditions have been good for the Northeast.

Ed, Jean and June

Thursday, Ed, Jean, June and I rode the snowmobiles from Moriah to North Hudson for lunch at the Paradox Brewery.  It is about a 46 mile round trip, the trails were not well groomed but they were not that bad either. I have put a bit over 600 miles on my sled this season, not a lot but enough to justify keeping it another season 😊.

Moriah to North Hudson

Our Route to Paradox. 

It is 13 miles by automobile but a bit over 23 miles by snowmobile.  Going by sled makes the journey fun but Paradoz is also a great destination. It seems everyday I read about another brewery closing, let's hope that Paradox continues to thrive. 

https://paradoxbrewery.com/

Visiting Mom

Friday Morning, I went to the FMBBC (Friday Morning Boyz Breakfast Club), got my hair cut and then we visited Mom. She was in good spirits. 

Mom will be 92 on April 27th, I will make an effort to get home by then. 

Friday afternoon our good friends, the Sacco's, visited. Paul had a new knee installed just over a month ago...I think he is good enough to get their RV out and come with us.....maybe not. Emily and Travis also came to dinner, it was a fun evening. 

Scooter and Bikes Loaded

Saturday it was forecast to be warm, in the 40's, so I pulled out the Serenity and loaded the scooter and bikes. It is still snowy in VT. 

Saturday, Matt and the grand kids visited as well as Emily and Travis again. We got a good dose of the kids, it will be a while before we see them in person again. We watched videos of the Emilia (7) and Elissa (5) skiing, they learn so fast. 

Marina Skating Party

Saturday, was the Marina Skating Party. Brother Tom and I have worked all winter to keep a rink open on the Lake, it was looking OK until the big thaw on Saturday. Temperatures in the 40's made the surface mushy and wet.  Despite this, Gabe scraped the slush off with the tractor and people skated. We had a bon fire, food, music and lights.  Regardless of the conditions, it was nice to see many of our marina friends in the middle of the winter. I did leave early to go finish packing. 

I think we fit in all we could in our last few days, hopefully when we return winter will be mostly over. 

Sunday morning the adventure begins. 

Minus 7 Days - Sunday, 22Feb2026: The Olympics, the Plan, and Packing.

June and I are planning our most ambitious road trip to date. We have not finalized our route, but we plan to cross the entire USA, via Texas, then drive most of the west coast all the way to Seattle and then cross back through the mid section of the USA. I am thinking it will be a trip of about 10,000 miles over about two months.  Of course a plan is just that, we will do our best to stay on course but will also adapt as necessary, which is one of the benefits of not really having a schedule. 

This is our "plan", subject to changes without notice. 

Route as of 22FEB2026

Today is Sunday and we are watching the Olympics and making lists. 

We just watched the USA win the Men's hockey Gold Medal! It was an exciting game; the Canadians clearly out skated the USA but our goalie, Connor Hellebuyck, just denied them shot after shot, his performance was beyond belief.  Jack Hughes lost his front teeth via a nasty high stick and came back to score the winning goal in overtime, it was like a Hollywood script.  The Women's game was just as exciting, again the USA won gold in overtime. The 2026 Winter Olympics were great to watch....back to reality.

We have one week to pack the Serenity Falcon and get things squared away at home before we "plan" to hit the road. 

June takes care of the human stuff, food, clothes, and things like tooth paste.

Some of June's many lists

June makes lists on paper. 

Lots of paper lists.

I use "Google Keep" to make lists. 

Fred's Google Keep List

I use "Google Keep" for lists because they can be shared across platforms, like my confuser and phone as well as with anyone that has a Gmail account. 

June takes my neat and tidy Google Keep List, prints it and writes on it....  😏.

After today, the packing starts (June started a week ago), we are retired (at least in the winter)..we can take our time. 

We got close to a foot of snow yesterday (Saturday), it is a winter wonder land which makes the trip between the house and the barn a bit messy. 

This is me cleaning the driveway yesterday. (I put this video in just for fun)

It has been a good winter, lots of skiing and sledding, the skating hasn't been great because we got so much snow. That being said, we do have a skating rink cleared at the marina and are planning a skating party on Saturday (28Feb), hopefully the weather will cooperate. 

Weather permitting we plan to depart on Sunday, March 1st.  

Stay tuned.