Thank You

Our first trip out in Expect Delays was, overall, a success. We can’t say that it was exactly easy, constant smooth sailing, or that it was ever even above 40 degrees for the duration of our travels. And pretty much every minor thing that could have broken did, but, two years ago we bought an old school bus from a junk yard in New Jersey, and then we turned it into a damn fun caravan, and then we even made it all the way up and down the East Coast. And this isn’t the last ride for Expect Delays. We now know what kinks to work out, what we really didn’t need to pack, what we needed more of (waste vegetable oil), and next, we head West!

Many people deserve a huge thank you for the success of our first trip. First of all, thank you parents who, when we said “we bought a school bus,” said only “cool,” and really meant it. And also supplied powertools, scrap wood, extra doors, ceramic dishes drawer pulls etc, food, waste vegetable oil, kitchen gadgets, and encouragement. Thank you friends who helped rip apart and rebuild our tiny home on wheels, in particular Cory and Ian for some serious construction time, and Cameron and Sean for moral support. Thank you Mallory for being the queen of crafts and making amazing curtains. Thank you to the entire Bourbon family who let Expect Delays live in their yard for a whole summer, gave us many fresh vegetables, lots of technical support, and adopted Jaco the cat for the duration of our trip. Jaco thanks you for this last part most of all, and Zoey his kitten pal too. Thank you Emma and the staff at the Children’s Museum of Saratoga for letting me have emergency afternoons off to drive to New Jersey and purchase a bus. Thank you to the Fyfe family at the Candleberry Inn who welcomed the bus when I drove it to work at 7am, much to the horror of several guests. And thank you Fyfe family also for the porta potty that Zach never once cleaned, but I assure you he enjoyed just as much as I did. Only the most special employers would purchase an employee a tiny toilet as a birthday gift. Thank you Haroths of Maryland for lovely hospitality, so so so much great food, and coffee roasting fun. And thank you Neills of Virginia for beautiful accommodations, excellent historic walking tours, and more great food. Thank you Haroths of Saratoga Springs for letting Expect Delays live in your driveway for awhile, and thank you Turners and Spiers of Brewster and Connecticut for cheering us all the way. Thank you Beardsleys, we cannot tell you how much our visit with you meant to us. Thank you loyal blog readers, and Hershey, PA for being every bit of cheesy fun promised on your website. And thank you world, because on this month-long outing, we never ever once saw a snake.

There were many times during this trip when things did not go according to plan. I seem to remember a moment by the side of the highway of hoping, harder than I had hoped for anything before, that the engine would turn over. And when Zach turned the key and the bus roared to life again, I thought both, this morning has sucked more than many things have sucked so far, and, that was one of the most necessary moments of life. Expect Delays was an adventure, still to be continued, and though not everything was perfect, I have to say creating this adventure has made me the person I always really wanted to be (now, if only I can get a “real” job). So, the biggest thank you goes to Zachary Haroth, a wonderful traveling companion who remains, even after so many mental melt-downs, waste-vegetable oil filtering catastrophes, delayed departure dates, grumpy afternoons, and constant taunting about crocs with socks (it will never be fashionable, sorry Zach), my best friend. To you, Z, I owe the most laid back, fun loving parts of my personality. Thank you.

And thank you Expect Delays. You are always a welcomed adventure.

New Friends

Expect Delays is, maybe a bit unexpectedly, spending some time in Saratoga Springs where the snow is finally melting and Zach and Jaco are reunited. I (Jess) am working for the summer back in my old stomping grounds on Cape Cod, visit with Zach and Expect Delays frequently, and find other bus friends here to keep me company.

South of the Border

Since we began seeing signs for it about 3 miles outside of Georgia, we decided we needed to go. I don’t have any photos of the actual place to post because honestly, I was in awe. It’s the most politically incorrect, in poor taste, wonderfully tacky variation on Disney World ever. We just stopped to use the bathroom, and gawk a little bit too. And take photos of us in ridiculous hats. Our expressions really demonstrated that we were a bit sad to be headed back north, you know, away from large straw hats and decidedly towards more snow. Ok, actually I look a little jazzed about it. I don’t know why.

Why we love the Beardsleys

Of all the wonderful people and places we visited on our trip, we owe a very special thank you to Jake and Caitlin Beardsley. We arrived at their home with only a day's notice, and about 5 hours later than predicted because the veggie kit airlocked and shut off the diesel supply to the engine, meaning no fuel was running to the engine. If you don’t know anything about how vehicles work, allow me to enlighten you: if you want to go anywhere, you need fuel to reach the engine. While this may have initially seemed like the worst morning of our trip (we had started driving at 5am, ok, I had started driving. I did the am shift. I literally would pack up, drag Zach from the bed and strap him into the front seat with a juice box and some toast and drive while he napped. But it’s cool, because he drove the pm shift, much of the time finding a place to camp, dragging me from the front seat where I had fallen asleep with a juice box and some toast, and tucking me into bed. If you can travel well with someone you love, you really love them), our day ended fabulously. Despite the jerky owner of the gas station who told us we had to move the bus, which was clearly broken down in his parking lot, and we were so grateful to be in a parking lot and not just out of the road, and he wanted us to just shove off into traffic, thanks man, Zach did amazing things. He single-handedly (I was busy sitting on the lawn of the convenience mart trying to pick up wi-fi to find the nearest repair company that would actually tow a short school bus -- way to have faith in the situation, Jess) rerouted the fuel lines using only, I believe, twisty ties, some spare nuts and bolts, and pluck to bypass the veggie system and run the diesel lines back to the engine directly. And when he turned the key and the bus started, I did the best happy dance you have ever seen. And I think also busted open a beer at 9am.

Anyway, we arrived at the Beardsleys' to the most glorious welcome: Old Fashioneds (Caitlin’s wonderful holiday drink creation) and brie cheese. And we hugged them so hard because in that moment I cannot tell you how much we really really loved them. We had the best time with Jake and Caitlin who let us snuggle with their cat, Princess, since we were missing our animal friends, and gave us so much amazing food. Pasta carbonera, fried bananas, a lot of brie cheese and hummus, home made chocolate chip muffins (which Jake baked while wearing the coolest apron ever that his talented mother made) and so much more. And Caitlin was kind enough to let me wrap some of the Chirstmas gifts she was packing up while sitting under their beautifully decorated Christmas Tree. I’ll admit it, I’m such a ham for Christmas, and I was really missing some Christmas spirit. Jake and Cailtin, you saved Christmas.

And then, they showed us their wedding video. For those of you who may not have made the connection, the wonderful jam that Zach and I were surviving on for most of our trip was actually gleaned from Jake and Caitlin’s beautiful wedding. Only truly fabulous people give out homemade jam as their wedding favors. And many of the guests left theirs behind! Which meant opportunity for us. The Beardsley wedding was fun and beautiful in every way, and they took it really well that the end of their wedding video was them waving goodbye to their guests, and then the camera panning over to the corner where Zach was not so stealthity stuffing jars of jam into every available pocket of his suit. Zach and I for some reason thought we should dress as a pair of blueberries for this wedding, me in a cobalt blue dress and Zach in a retro powder blue suit, and thus the great jam heist was perhaps not as secret as we thought. So, thank you Jake and Caitlin for wonderful southern hospitality, holiday spirits, delicious food, and so much jam.

Somehow, I have no photos of Savannah

My lack of photography in Savannah is one of my greatest disappointments of the whole trip. Because we LOVED Savannah. Except for the fact that it is downwind of a paper mill and the whole city does smell decidedly like sewage, it’s not, it’s just paper, but it doesn’t smell good. When I called home to tell my Dad we were in Savannah, he said only, “Cool! Which way is the wind blowing today?” Still, questionable aromas or not, Spanish moss, beautiful vegetation, fantastic townhouses, awesome stores, delicious food, I can’t say enough. We particularly enjoyed the Savannah Bee Company where we got to sample several different types of honey and other honey treats. And then Zach played in a huge fabric bee hive with some children while I did some honey related Christmas shopping for our parents. It was also in Savannah that Zach and I learned another difficult lesson: the absolutely essential effect eating regularly has on your ability to love your traveling companion. We did partake in local cuisine everywhere we went, Wendy’s and Bojangles trips aside, although we don’t have a Bojangles up north, so that can be forgiven, but for the most part we did our own cooking. Our grocery bills were stunningly small and we made delicious meals on our tiny camp stove. Some of our recipes are posted on my Examiner page. The Pear Pasta One Pot Wonder in particular is not to be missed. However, when you cook a delicious meal on a tiny camp stove in your vehicle, it is totally delicious, but then you have to stop driving, cook, and let the stove cool before you can safely pack up and drive some more. So, we often tended to forgo reasonable lunch times to get some more hours on the road into each day. And that meant that our blood sugars frequently dropped to the I’m-so-hungry-I-could-bite-your-head-off-and-then-eat-it level. And the best example of this was finding ourselves in Savannah at around 4pm, having eating only honey as a snack, starving, tired, and not being as loving to one another as we could have been. And when we noticed that we were grouchily staring one another down on the doorstep to the Lady and Sons, aka Paula Deen’s restaurant, we assumed it was a sign from God. It was a Sunday, so only the buffet was offered for about $16 per person, and since both Zach and myself ate about $60 worth of food, per person, we made out awesomely. I think I drank 3 sweet teas, ate 4 pieces of fried chicken (two legs, one wing, and a breast, yeah, that’s like a whole chicken, oh my) so much mac and cheese (which was surprisingly the only thing that wasn’t very good. Come on Paula, you love the butter, the mac and cheese is no place to skimp), collard greens with big, fatty chunks of ham hocks, fried okra, black eyed peas, and banana cream pie for dessert. Zach came in at a close second eating slightly less chicken, and passed up the okra for some pulled pork options. Thanks Paula!

The ice cream for lunch day

Kind of self explanatory. We ate a lot of ice cream in lieu of an actual meal, and took this photo to remind us that it was totally worth it in the moment, because when you are traveling a lot, and you don’t keep dairy because you don’t have a refrigerator, and you are both already mildy lactose intolerant, and then you eat a triple scoop and a milk-shake, you really pay for it later. Stomach aches for days….

Flagler College

Flagler College happens to be on the site of the first hotel in the nation to have working electricity, and it currently has the largest collection of intact Tiffany stained glass windows in the world. Therefore, it was obvious that Zach and I needed to get inside that building. Did we pay to go on the overpriced tour that didn’t even get you into the dorm space? Of course not. We put on our backpacks, carried around some Nalgene bottles, walked up to Admissions and pretended to be transfer students looking to get a tour of the campus. It sounds like a fool proof plan, right? It was, except for the fact that I forgot how much I hated college campus tours, and as soon as we stepped foot inside admissions I felt the early signs of a rather massive panic attack (I love my parents, but I think we will all agree that I was a shaking little mess by the end of our college searching. One child plus two parents on 20 separate college campus tours equals slightly college phobic child). So, I ditched, fast, and left Zach to fend for himself. Zach then promptly panicked and told the admissions representative that we wanted to transfer in the Spring, not realizing Spring Semester started in roughly 3 weeks. So the admissions representative panicked and flung every piece of paperwork he could at Zach to make sure he could make the final application deadline. When Zach finally located me quivering in a far corner of the building, he had a bundle of paperwork for me too. To the individual who lives at the fake address in Saratoga Springs that we wrote down on all the Flagler forms, we apologize, we hope you are enjoying the Flagler catalog, and perhaps you will be inspired to attend this beautiful college.

We did actually get on the college tour, however if was the next day, which means I had multiple nightmares about being late for my first class, or the test that I forgot to study for. Good Grief. But, the tour was amazing, and totally worth it, and the Tiffany windows are beautiful, and the Hotel is one of my happiest places. And then, before the tour could return to the admissions building, Zach and I took off running down the street because if we went back to admissions we were scheduled for an entry interview. Smooth Zach. But it was fun.