In this post, I'm providing a complete photo dump that is usually only available to members, in addition to our regular travel post-type, below. Enjoy!
At the bottom of my story here, I've left instructions for how to research and get in touch with your local Indigenous communities. I'm making it a point to find out the basics of Indigenous roots of each place we stay in, with the goal of un-settling my own view of land and how it came to be "settled." BUT it would be super exhausting for me to try to do in-depth research or to create a relationship with the original stewards of every place we pass through, so I'm counting on you. See a place you live in? Do more research, make a donation, give land back, get in relationship. OR just use those steps to do the work in your home town NOW. Thanks :)
And if you're a nomad yourself, check out this Rooting Ritual you can do to get more connected to the Native land you travel over.
Lenape Nation | colonized as Rose Valley, PA
We're on the road again! We kicked off our Eastern PA/New England road trip by heading to a friend's wedding in Rose Valley, PA.
The first night in town, we stayed inconspicuously at a cute river-side park next to a Holiday Inn that we found listed on iOverlander, though Anthony didn't sleep too well for fear of getting towed (we were fine). The park was at the site of a former fort next to the Delaware River, built by the New Sweden people, who were allegedly friends and partners with the local Native tribe, until the Dutch came and drove everyone out (including a lot of killing). There are some photos of the information at the fort in the album above. Diego enjoyed taking walks in the park and, as always, attracted a lot of attention from the many people there to watch the sunset (or play Pokemon Go).
The night of the wedding, we parked at the fancy Inn where other guests were staying, and put a sign in our dashboard saying we were there for that wedding. Luckily, the sign kept us from being towed, and we successfully stealth-camped in a fancy Philly hotel parking lot! We were A-OK until we left at about 11am the following morning, bound for Canton, CT:
Massacoes Land | colonized as Canton, CT
One thing to note about ambulance travel is that it always takes longer than the GPS reports to get anywhere. On this particular drive that was supposed to take 4 hours, we ended up in a 6-hour car ride - sitting in traffic around New York City and then discovering that vehicles our size CANNOT travel anywhere but on main New York highways/expressways. "Parkways" are where our GPS wanted to take us, but there is a very low height limit due to the number of historical bridges along those routes that have low clearance. We found ourselves on that highway for a stretch of time (because there really are no markings restricting trucks or the reason why until you get ON the road) and found ourselves narrowly making it under a bridge with a 10'8" clearing - we are 10'5" :O
ANYWAY, our destination was the home of MY dear life coach, Ronit, who I had yet to meet in person. She is a lovely, warm human who welcomed us with her partner, Matt, and two adorable doggos. Once we got there, we carefully parked our 22' vehicle in their ~20' driveway and called it OK. We spent the evening taking the cat for a walk and touring the ambulance, and I was thrilled to get to learn about her personally since we only ever talk about me in coaching sessions! She made me a beautiful gluten- and sugar-free chocolate cake for my recent 30th birthday, and the four of us shared in a cacao ceremony in their room that is designated specifically for ceremony like that!
In the morning, I walked Diego and picked purslane along the side of the street, putting it in my sandwich later for lunch :)
Pennacook Abenaki Land | colonized as Rochester, NH
Next, we moved on to Rochester, NH, where we would park and sleep in my uncle's driveway for two weeks! While Lyra (the telehealth contracting I'm doing) was picking up for me, the days were pretty uneventful besides some kayaking, short hikes, and movie-watching we snuck in together.
I'll talk about our trip to Acadia National Park the weekend between our two Rochester weeks in the next section, but we did have some time to do activities the last weekend we were there, and my sister Kim had flown in for that second week as well!
During this trip, Anthony worked on some new projects in the truck a lot. The last little bit to do to make our lives SO much easier is making space for extra bin storage + a fridge underneath the bed. The fridge is here at the time I'm writing this, but back in NH he was just working on the pull-out shelves that would slide out from under the bed. They look great! There's a picture of the full (not quiiiiite finished) setup in the photo album.
As Anthony was working, and on cooler days, we liked to keep the back doors and windows of the truck open so that we could avoid using AC longer and so Diego could enjoy looking out the screen at the birds and people walking by. WELL as Anthony built the shelves, we didn't realize that Diego was able to squeeze past the bins and out through the back! TWICE he got away with this, the second time getting past our make-shift back-panel that we thought was secure enough to keep him in. AND the second time, he had escaped to make good on his threat to the backyard garter snake - we heard a little girl yelling and that alerted us that Diego was in the backyard, playing with the snake, and reportedly had been bitten. Unfortunately, Diego hasn't been allowed to sit in the truck with the back open, since. His bite (if it happened) is fine - don't worry. Just a little bit of excitement for that day.
Back to the weekend we got to spend time with my sister and my aunt and uncle...
On that last Friday, I had some time after morning meetings, so my sister picked a trail we could hike up in the White Mountains of NH (home to Mount Washington, the highest peak on the East coast). We went on a quite challenging (one of the trail names was "goat hill"), very WET, and extremely mosquito-ridden 6-mile trail. Afterward, Kim counted at least 80 mosquito bites, while I had 50 on my legs and many more on my back and neck. This hasn't really changed all through our recent travels...we are constantly covered in mosquito bites even now, and are kind of getting used to just being itchy.
We also spent a couple of lovely days out on the beach - one at an actual ocean beach, also touring the local town and lighthouse, and another morning at a lakeside beach. Overall, the trip was a success!
Wabanaki Land | colonized as Acadia National Park
As I mentioned, on the weekend between the two weeks we spent in NH, Anthony and I went up to Maine to visit Acadia National Park.
The "big" hike we did in Acadia was up Cadillac Mountain, where views the whole way up were gorgeous and looking out over the sea and surrounding islands. It was about 8 miles total, since we went up the North side and down the South side to a nearby campground, then caught the free shuttle back to the visitor's center where we had parked. I posted several reels with our experiences here on Instagram.
Before going back the whole way to the visitor's center, we stopped in the little town for lunch - because OF COURSE Anthony needed to try a Maine lobster roll, which was $25 market price at the time, so thank goodness I'm not the biggest seafood fan.
The weirdest thing to me about this National Park is that it is the one most surrounded by little towns that I've ever been to. Usually the parks are remote and more isolated, but here you could see a town or residential area from any mountain, and it was a quick drive back to town from any point.
We watched sunset at Schoodic point, a beautiful but less-traveled-to sunset destination in a more distant area of the park, about an hour's drive from the main entrance. Anthony got some beautiful photos and we watched seals bobbing between the waves. Diego even got to enjoy it for a while, too!
The second day there, we drove the scenic loop, stopped at notable places to check things out, and walked Diego at several points. He seems to like sitting on rocks and watching the waves, though he still isn't really sure about the big water.
Both nights, we slept at a local Walmart (about 20 minutes from the park) that was well-populated with other van-lifers and RV-ers, so we felt quite safe and welcome. I believe we found that location on the Sekr app.
Wôpanâak Land | colonized as Marston Mills, MA (Cape Cod)
Next, we went to Cape Cod to visit our friends Jess and Laura - we realized that we have both been friends with Jess now for about 10 years! Those two are super into Jeopardy, so we watched a lot of that and played a lot of Jack Box (great games, if you're not familiar).
I only had one free day while we were there, so we attempted to go to the National Sea Shores...to no avail. Here are some things to know - there is VERY limited parking at the beaches within the official national park. You cannot see the ocean from the roads. It costs $30-$70 cash to go to "residential" beaches, and even though they're on the national sea shores, they don't all operate within the park, so a national park's pass won't get you in. Next time, we'll plan better. But until then, we had a lovely time with friends, and Diego had daily showdowns with their pool shark (see in photos).
Pennacook Abenaki Land | colonized as Brattleboro, VT
Because neither me nor Anthony had never been to Vermont, we decided to book a Harvest Host stay at a sugar house in Brattleboro! We stopped in Providence, Rhode Island on the way to grocery shop and eat lunch so that we could get Arnold to check that state off the list, plus Anthony hadn't been there before, either.
The sugar house was a tiny little structure up in the mountains of Vermont, up a narrow dirt road for the last part of the journey. They're not in season right now (they tap the maples in the winter), but they had maple syrup for sale so we bought some to give as a gift to my inlaws. We were also the only guests staying so we had our pick of their parking sites and had a peaceful stay.
In the morning, we went to a local farmer's market. We felt a little grimy since neither of us showered recently and we didn't bother to dress nicely to be out in public. Fortunately, turns out that Vermont is made up mostly of hippies just like us, so we did not stick out at all! I've been told that state is very "earthy" and that I might like to land there someday. We'll say that it IS on the list. At the farmer's market, we got some produce to compliment our groceries, picked up some cheese for friends, stocked up on natural soap bars, got coffee from a local vendor, and got lunch from an Indian food stand. The market is ALL zero waste, so all of the vendors' packaging has to be compostable, which was awesome. I am looking forward to possibly spending more time there in the future.
The last stop we made in VT was to a roadside market on Hogback Mountain that was said to have beautiful, 100-mile views. It was gorgeous! Unfortunately for some reason my photos of that aren't uploading properly, but I'll definitely be putting them on Instagram. Most of the mountains were actually in MA or NH since Brattleboro is so close to the borders, but nevertheless it was a gorgeous view and cute little market. We headed out to a Cracker Barrel in CT where we would stay that night.
Paugussett Land | colonized as Westport, CT
On our last leg of this trip before heading back to Maryland to be with my inlaws, we stopped through Westport, CT, where Anthony's mom spent her childhood. His grandparents had built their home there (now, in a neighborhood where homes go for millions of dollars) and we sent them photos of what it looks like now, as well as the kids' elementary school, the local beaches (which now cost $70 cash to park at - we didn't do that) and some features around town.
Diego loved getting to spend most of the mid-morning and afternoon in a local park, just chasing sticks and bugs and watching the dogs that were also visiting. Surprisingly, the residents of this affluent neighborhood were quite welcoming to us in our big red ambo! That is not always the case for us, as people get pretty suspicious, nosy and worried about "what their neighborhood is coming to" when they see us parked for too long.
Stay tuned for next time, our adventures in Maryland and Virginia!
Steps to connecting with your local Native community (source: According to Weeze Podcast, Giving Land Back to Indigenous People, with Nazshonnii Brown):
1. Find out where you live, on native-land.ca.
2. Do your own research on the history of your land, which tribes occupied it, and what peoples are there currently.
3. Contact the Indigenous tribes who may have occupied that land (according to native-land.ca) and ask permission to enter into conversation. Something simple like, "Hi, I've learned about [X] from [website, museum, etc] and I have a few questions about confirming the Indigenous people to attribute this land to, and how to help with current re-matriation efforts or anything else that serves you. If you are willing and have the time I'd love to hear how to best offer support."
4. Be in relationship, and don't make it about you. If you're invited into community, bring coffee and tobacco as a gift for the elder making the greeting with you (source: Corinne Rice-Grey Cloud)
5. Instead of donating towards this post, go make a donation to the Tribe whose land your are settled on.