incunabula.

\ in-kyoo-NAB-yuh-luh, ing- \  , noun; 

1. the earliest stages or first traces of anything.
2. extantcopies of books produced in the earliest stages (before 1501) of printing from movable

Help exchange (working a few hours a day in exchange for housing and food) makes traveling so affordable. I wish I had known about it sooner. I spent less money monthly while I was working my way through New Zealand than I did while living in Asheville. Through help exchange, I found myself staying on beautiful NZ beaches and getting fed three meals full of beets and goat cheese, all because I cleaned their gutters or pulled their weeds or picked up horse crap.

In a few days, I leave for a road trip out west. The beginning stages can’t be planned too much because my plan is always to not have too much of a plan. If a new friend says, “You’ve got to check out the barn on the hill with the thing at the place!!” I will want to do so. Here’s the incunabula route. The tallest and most thoughtful fella I know from NC is going to do the drive to Napa with me (where we’ll work on a vineyard for two weeks) and then he’ll fly back to NC while I carry on in the frozen tundra. I’m hoping people will still need their gutters cleaned in the wintertime…