Before the proverbial ink has dried on our contract cancellation, we've scoured the internet once more, and found a promising 30 acre property—it's just a few miles from the one on Maple Hill road! (How did we miss it the first time through?) Without much consideration for the logistics of yet another cross-country drive, we're mobilizing for another round of land-hunting in Vermont.
We're unsure if this spontaneous departure is a spark of genius and a case of "following our dreams", or just a quixotic fit of complete and total irresponsibility. Tyler is up to his eyeballs in work, but I'm going to do all the driving—he'll be busy programming in the passenger seat for the entire ride.
It takes two full days to reach Vermont, including an evening at my parents' house in Illinois, and a night of fitful dozing in one of New York's brightly-lit travel plazas. While I sleep, lulled by the drone of a hundred parked semis, Tyler stays up through the night, ransacking the internet, searching for possible homesites to fill our land-hunting spreadsheet anew.
Crossing the state line on the morning of day three, we breathe a sigh of relief. We've made it! We're both wearing exhausted grins as we cruise over the lush green hills of western Vermont. The welcoming countryside is dotted with apple orchards, cows grazing, and many a farmer tending to their fields. It feels so good to be in here!
Though the leaves have yet to turn the fiery shades of ochre and crimson that New England autumns are known for, fall is most definitely on its way, bringing with it cool, crisp days and aqua skies. Farm stands abound, displaying the bounty of the season for sale: cheery orange pumpkins, mums in all shades of purples and reds, and an abundance of fresh, juicy apples. There is beauty everywhere we look.
For now, our waffling about the imprudence of this plan has subsided. Tyler has managed to accomplish quite a bit of work in the last two days, and we're overjoyed to be in Vermont again. Now it's time to focus on finding our home—it's out here somewhere!