It has been a bittersweet day for us. Empty house, belongings in storage... officially on the road for good!

Going to miss the comforts of home, and remember all the wonderful memories we've shared together - but the next chapter begins, and many new adventures await. 

No turning back now, this is real! 

Squaw Valley Park tomorrow, Hershey through the middle of the week (hooray for all things chocolate!), and Philadelphia and Hellertown Saturday. Very busy week ahead of us (the RV is in a state of what I call organized chaos); another update soon! 

Great kickoff in our wonderful town! 
Wish we were able to take more pictures of other people that came by... Rule 3 was the perfect setting, with sand volleyball, bowling, games for kids, and of course...food and drinks! 

Thank you to Ed of Ed Winters Photography for coming to support and take some lovely pictures for us. Congratulations to our friend John for advancing in the next round of the Karaoke World Championship - you rock!

Spent the evening at the Dayton KOA to rest up and make sure everything is in working order. So far so good... just very time consuming as we learn. Grateful to have very helpful neighbors!

Very nice campground; lots of amenities and attractions and friendly people to chat with. Looking forward to many more stops like this through the year- give me good weather, company, conversations... add a few brews and it is a perfect night!

Wish we could have stayed longer to enjoy the rest of the day's events at The Boonshoft Museum of Discovery and share the Mobile Observatory with others. Ben was so happy to meet a longtime supporter and sponsor for the project, Garry - a true pleasure to chat with! Hope to cross paths again someday with you! 

I will be taking more shots of sponsor names to post under Photos in just a few days. Some sponsors have had very interesting names to put on the Mobile Observatory instead of their own or business name (to whoever had Manbearpig and Kobayashi Maru- thanks for giving us a good laugh!). 

We are excited to add equipment/souvenirs along the journey to add to the Mobile Observatory. By spring 2015 she'll have quite the eclectic collection of items!

Next week: Rule 3 is in our neck of the woods, then off to Pittsburgh! THE JOURNEY HAS BEGUN! 

We've been patiently waiting but the glorious day has finally come! 

Looks better than we could have imagined... Thank you so much to Ken and his team at Farber - it has been a wonderful experience! We were just shocked at how everything turned out - Ben is pleased the All Sky Camera works perfectly! 

The past week has been insane... insanely awesome. Between moving things into storage, getting our home ready to rent, dealing with a gigantic ornamental oak going down on us,  etc... it has been fun. But all wonderful experience nevertheless, bringing us closer to the start of the journey! It has been wonderful conversing with very nice folks around the country, and seeing their names on the RV. 

Check the Photos section for updated pictures... we'll be adding close up shots with sponsor names tomorrow! To Dayton on Saturday!

Thank you to Lisa and Bruce of Fox Hollow Farms for hosting us this weekend! 

We had a great time, despite discovering a broken filter and having internet issues with the news the next morning... we hope to be able to come back again; it was a lovely experience. The dogs explored their little hearts out, and we learned about this wonderful family owned and operated farm. 280+ acres of awesome, with grass fed beef, cows, chickens and so much more! Check them out - click on the picture! 

We hope to have a couple more trial runs down before we head out...so far she's running beautifully! The Mobile Observatory will HAVE to remain close to major cities during the journey, as having a connection is crucial. 
Names of sponsors  and decals going on this week!! 

The Mobile Observatory Project's Facebook Page is Officially Up! 

Thank you to a number of folks who have helped with facilitating and finalizing a number of these stops; we are so happy to have your help in making this happen. It's only a matter of time now before the Mobile Observatory comes through!

As we make our BEST efforts to work as many as we can in the schedule, keep in mind the Mobile Observatory gets a whopping 8.5 MPG at best; some cities WILL fall off the schedule - so please, if you want us to come to your city contact me ASAP, even if you see that something is being finalized.

We will need to put our focus on upcoming stops once we hit the road, and hope to have the majority of the schedule confirmed over the next few weeks before we are off! 

To those in Hawaii and Alaska - WE HEAR YOU! Trying to make it happen. 

Have a wonderful week! Be safe!  
 
The Mobile Observatory Project tour begins in 19 days! 

The RV is currently being retrofitted, to be completed by the end of May! SO SOON! Thank you to Farber Specialty Vehicles for coming up with some great ideas for the RV - including the exterior design that you see on the main page.

We've been very pleased with the progress; the computer station that was recently installed looks GREAT! It will soon be sent off to be sanded down and painted... can't wait to see the final product!

Outside of waiting for this 36-ft beauty to be done, we are working on all the logistics and planning of the tour, from getting our home ready to rent out, to finding and confirming locations for us to host a gathering/event. We could not be more excited for the opportunity to visit Canada as well (where I was born and raised) and have our passports ready to go! Ben hopes to be able to show some young minds their very first sunspots :). We've been given so many tips and pointers from many (please keep sending them our way - the advice is truly appreciated!) 

To those who have kindly offered to host our family- we will be reaching out soon to narrow down timelines. Thank you for your generosity and kindness! 


Please feel free to direct any questions to [email protected] or [email protected]