• The kids & I settled into a cozy “school” routine & a more residential life in NYC with Chris, taking advantage of all kinds of cool urban educational resources & getting to know our Lower East Side neighborhood even better.
• Two weeks later, Chris, still unresolved in his work situation, flew west for a much-needed break with 10 college friends for their annual long ski weekend.
• The kids & I set off for a “warm-up lap” in Clementine, staying in the vicinity, so as to return to NYC when Chris did.
• We enjoyed the loving hospitality of our good friends, the Gibsons, in Princeton NJ, finally taking our schooling on the road & “meeting” several trees in the area.
• We then set off to Gettysburg PA & stopped for lunch at my high school friend, Scott Montgomery’s house outside Philadelphia.
• Upon arrival, I unwisely parked the bus on Scott’s very steep driveway, Finn & I jumped out, whereupon the handbrake failed & Clementine rolled a terrifyingly long 200 feet into the even steeper & densely wooded backyard with Lucia & Amelia inside! Miraculously, the bus dodged every tree & found the only possible soft-landing, in a pile of stones & dirt around the neighbor’s pond~~
• Lucia, incredibly, leapt safely from the bus halfway down, while Amelia, still in the way back, “surfed” her to the bottom, neither of them sustaining even a scratch…

• Amazingly, Clementine is also relatively damage-free & her repairs, approved & begun days later, are completely covered by insurance.
• The bus was impressively extracted the following day, up a long swath Scott heroically chain-sawed through his landscaping & we rented a car & were home by the time Chris landed.

There are, of course, many details left out here. Our gratitude that tragedy was averted that day is beyond words. May it suffice to say, that this accident is a powerfully humbling reminder that absolutely nothing is worth worrying about, when our loved ones are safe! May you hug yours close!

I chide myself as I write “We plan to re-launch our adventure as soon as Clementine is returned to us.” Lol ~ old habits clearly die hard, but we do intend to get back on this proverbial horse & are as interested as anyone to see what happens next!

Thank you all for your friendship & support during this challenging time ~ it means the world to us!

Happy New Year from the Sherwood Mulligans!

So… we had an outstandingly well laid plan, to not have a plan for a while, but that plan, aptly enough, has gang aft astray!

Here was our unplan & the email you were going to receive two weeks ago:

“While Chris is otherwise occupied with his exciting start-up business and Declan & Leila are away at boarding school, Amelia (7^th grade), Lucia (6^th), Finn (4^th) & I are hitting the road!

We are busy putting the final touches on “Clementine,” our new orange 1977 VW camper/bus and will be departing Shelter Island in her, for destinations south sometime this week!

We will explore America and focus on reading good stories, writing in journals everyday and arithmetic-ing, by way of the very helpful website http://www.khanacademy.org. By necessity, I’m sure, we will also learn a thing or two about geography, map reading, air-cooled engine maintenance & repair, as well as how to live and make decisions together in very close quarters!

We will seek out the nation’s Most Remarkable Trees, as a unifying theme for this “roadschooling” adventure…  If you happen to love a special tree, tell us about it & we’ll put it on our list!

We will be camping as soon as we reach warm enough weather and learning how to feed ourselves on a budget.  Chris will fly out to us every few weeks and Dec & Lei will hopefully join us for their breaks whenever possible!  My life coaching practice will continue as usual.

We have no definite plan, no destination in mind and no definitive time frame.  We hope to visit many of you along the way and will keep going for as long as we are learning & having fun!

We invite you to join us by way of this blog.  Click below to recieve email notification when we post and we will do our best to keep you apprised of where & what we are up to! If you’d like visitors, let us know & maybe we’ll come camp in your driveway!

Please accept this email as our 2011 holiday card, as our December was a bit hectic ~ lol!

Wishing you & yours the very best in 2012!

Love,

Sarah & co.”

Interestingly, our departure was repeatedly delayed & when we finally launched last Thursday afternoon, amidst the first real snow of the season, a rather large spanner was, at that very moment, thrown into the works at Chris’ business!  

Luckily, we were not thousands of miles away yet & drove straight to NYC to be with him as he sorts out the mess.  Curiously, we are perfectly prepared to hunker down here in our newly re-outfitted Lower East Side apartment, which now includes an extra “mobile room” parked just outside our window on the street!  

Seriously though, Chris has taken a real hit & we are so grateful that the younger 3 kids and I can be with him right now.  We will keep you updated as the dust settles…