Thanks and SNOW!

Though we missed being with family for Thanksgiving, we were lucky enough this year to share delicious meals with some new friends. Our afternoon began with a visit to “community supper” in our neighboring town of Hardwick. We have volunteered at community suppers two times now, and we try to make it out for the meal whenever possible. Local farms and businesses donate much of the food, and many of the smiling faces helping to cook and clean up are people from a wonderful community called Heartbeet Farm. The meal was fantastic. We were thankful for the abundance of many tasty meatless dishes and happy to feel at home in such a positive environment filled with love and goodwill.

BALLS!

While visiting with Dorothy and Jay, we make and share lots of great vegetarian meals together. We have given a lot of business to Montpelier’s well stocked co-op, Hunger Mountain. At least once a day one of us is paying a visit to stock up on supplies and ingredients for the many dishes we have made. A few favorites have been Steak (seitan) and Salad, Indian Night, Tofu Scramble, Tempeh Reubens (made with Jay’s home made rye bread), and Falafel (from scratch)!

Chicago (Burbs)

After awaking and saying our good-byes in Minneapolis, we got an oil change and drove to Chicago. Our actual destination was Bolingbrook, Illinois, which is a suburb, located 45 minutes outside of Chi-Town. Our drive took us all day. We passed through Madision, WI,

Minneapolis

After awaking and briefly searching for grease with no luck, we set out for Minneapolis. We spent a few hours driving straight there, arriving at Pete and Barbra’s in the afternoon. We have been to Minneapolis on several occasions since Amy has a few relatives living in and around the Twin Cities. Pete is Amy’s uncle and we were to stay with him and his lovely wife Barbara for the next 2 days.

Fargo, ND

Zipping through Montana and most of North Dakota, we finally landed in Fargo for the night. Well, we actually slept right next door in Moorhead, MN after exploring downtown Fargo and searching for food (suitable for vegetarians), grease, and a hotel… no luck. We had found potential hotel deals in the surprisingly not so small town of Fargo, but decided to keep checking out our options and ended up in a low budget hotel with a lot of character. Some features were reminiscent of an old school, or possibly even a detention center. There were cinder block walls, long hallways with fluorescent lights, fluorescent bedroom lights, and an overall feeling of a time from the past (specifically the 1970s). The rooms were clean enough, though, smelled fine, and had all the amenities we were looking for – a bed, bathroom, TV, struggling but existing wi-fi and space to set up some cooking supplies.

Govinda’s of Tucson

Whenever we visit Tucson, we always make it a point to have a meal at Govinda’s Natural Foods Buffett. This time, we decided to make it our first stop since we were quite hungry from our day of driving, and it was on the way to grandma and grandpa’s. We were hoping it would be “Indian Night,” when they dedicate their whole buffet to an array of delicious Indian dishes (otherwise there would be a mix of all different vegetarian dishes). Instead of calling ahead, we decided to go right there, and to our good fortune, the sign on the door read, “Indian Night.” Needless to say, we happily filled our plates and enjoyed the food.

Couchsurfing, Shreveport!

Couchsurfing is a great thing. We have been meeting some awesome people and on our way out of Jackson we did just that. Our next destination was Kaufman, Texas where we would visit the Southwest Vipassana Center to help out between meditation courses. We had about five days to kill before we arrived so we decided to look up some people on CS to stay with along the way. One of them was Matt in Shreveport, LA. Shreveport was only a about a three to four hour drive from Jackson and along our route into Texas. We met Matt, our host, at his apartment after he got home from his job as a lawyer for the US Air Force. We could tell instantly that Matt was a genuinely nice guy, he made us feel right at home.

Clearwater, FL

Leaving Gainesville, we boogied down to Clearwater to visit with Jon’s mom and sister, Jamie, and boyfriend, Joey… and 18th month old niece who we would be meeting for the first time! It was very exciting to pull up to Jamie’s house and immediately we were greeted by a beautiful little girl with outstretched arms wanting to be held… We have been so excited to meet Bella and especially excited to see her mommy and gammy, since it has been over 2 years since our last meeting. We set up in the spare bedroom and were ready to hang out for the week.

Hillsville, VA

I’m sitting here in Athens, GA. Just yesterday we came from Asheville, and before that, Hillsville. Tomorrow we leave for our 10 day meditation course in Jessup, GA. Time is flying by.

Our good friend David let us stay with him in the small, hilly, town of Hillsville, VA. Good times and good food were had by all (of us). When we weren’t four wheeling for firewood, climbing Buffalo Mt., or waiting for the cows to come drink by the stream we were making lots of yummy food to share. Some of the menu items were: (red) lentil chili dal, Kale and rice with tahini dressing, vegan french toast, and the ever-so popular tempeh reuben…