Sodom Mountain Campground and Driving to Vermont

Tra and Ben

We made it to Southwick, MA to Sodom Mountain and stayed through the holiday weekend. It was nice to not have to drive around for a few days! We got caught in a torrential downpour (aka the shear of Arthur) while walking to laundry facilities- that was fun. The campground itself was clean and well maintained - definitely worth a stop if in the area. Thank you to those that came out - including Eric, who brought us a ton of fresh vegetables for the journey, Adrienne for wonderful little gifts for our the dogs, Tra and Alicia for coming back the following day to chat even more, and to Sodom Mountain Campground for accommodating our guests. 

On the 5th, the weather was PERFECT to look at sunspots -we brought out the telescope and shared the views with those around, and many were amazed to see just how many spots were present. Once the sun went down, we moved on to look at the moon. We shared an amazing dinner with our neighbor campers Steve and Barbara (we loved connecting with them and their VERY highly intelligent Border Collie). 

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OFF TO VERMONT | The drive was incredibly scenic, with little traffic, and the dogs slept most of the way...the  combination made for a pleasant drive. We spent the last couple of days tucked away in the Northeast Kingdom just outside of St. Johnsbury, where we stayed with our very hospitable and kind hosts, Denny and Jon (and their beautiful pitbull mix Maxine and feline Louie).

Denny is in the process of opening nekopenmarket.org, a not-for-profit credit exchange to help facilitate bartering, whether it be for goods or services. Check it out - she hopes to expand this to not be limited to just Vermont, and create a lesser dependence on the monetary system.

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Anthony, Justice, Ben, Dakota, Curtis, Nadia and Harmony

We spent the next morning with some very wonderful kids to share some knowledge about the Sun and planets- some were already aware that water had been discovered on planets, and knew more Greek mythology than we thought was possible at their age. There is hope for the future!

We had a great time conversing with these bright minds; we received hand written thank you letters with pictures from each one (including drawings of solar systems and chocolate bars- important for them that when they travel in space in the future, the chocolate comes along). 

Ben, Denny and Jon

Thank you so much to Denny and Jon for their unbelievable hospitality and kindness. They fed us some delicious meals, took great care of us, and we shared wonderful conversations together and had an amazing time. So much love for you guys, and hope we meet again someday! 

They let us leave on full stomachs (pancakes with Vermont syrup of course for breakfast, and burgers with Vermont white cheddar for lunch) - wonderful house with a lot of love!

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We are currently at our next stop in Vermont, with an incredible view - almost 200 acres of farmland and PLENTY of running room for the dogs! Our hosts run an ambulance dispatch and a garage so they know vehicles, and are giving a check-up for the RV to make sure everything is in good working order before we get ready to cross the border! We got hit with some slight showers, but caught a rainbow afterwards - lovely, isn't it? We are just LOVING everything about Vermont!