My journey to New England began in late July of 2013.  I was offered my job on Wednesday, July 17, and left Kansas City on Saturday, July 20th.  At 7:00 AM Saturday morning, my father called to ask if I’d left yet. I told him my pickup was loaded and I was heading out the door.  He invited me to stop by his home and swap pickups. His 2010 Chevy Colorado was a huge upgrade to my 1993 GMC Sonoma.  Little did I know this change in vehicles would influence a new lifestyle of weekend adventures. Not only that, but having 4-wheel or all-wheel drive is quite a necessity in New England.  When dad gave me the truck it had around 35,000 miles.  Three years later at trade-in, it had 105,000 miles.

Our first experience with this vehicle was actually a trip to New Jersey the year before. In 2012, our daughter, Autumn, married her online friend, Jim, who lived in New Jersey.  After a beautiful poolside wedding, we loaded her belongings in this pickup and drove her to her new home in Manchester Township, NJ. This marriage was the catalyst that prompted me to look for a new position on the east coast. Funny how things have all worked together in this journey.

Few of these adventures would have been possible had it not been for my Garmin GPS. After driving Autumn to NJ in 2012, Janet and I rewarded ourselves with a day in New York City. We had booked a hotel in Newark, NJ. At that time, I owned neither a GPS or smart phone, so I studied my Google maps carefully .  Unknown to us, a heavy storm overtook us on our way to the hotel, and in the dark, I could not remember all the directions I had studied. Luckily we found a list of directions on my iPad that led us to our destination, not without a frightening exit off the highway into a dicey looking neighborhood. I figured $100 was worth the confidence of navigating myriad of roadways I was to find throughout the northeast. I called my GPS, Samantha, as that was the name of the voice in the Garmin library.  Samantha was a welcome companion and a lifesaver more times than I can count.

“Life is either a daring adventure or nothing at all.” – Helen Keller