DaedTech Digest: Notes from the Road in Vermont
It’s Friday, which means it’s time for yet another slow travel blog/digest post. If you’d like to catch up on the category, you can read previous editions here. I’ve mainly been answering questions people ask me about the slow travel lifestyle. But, since we just packed up did a mini-move to Vermont, I figured I’d chronicle the experience in more live fashion.
On the Road: Heading to Vermont
As I’ve described in the past, we have a house on a lake in Michigan. That feels to us like an idyllic spot, so we tend to stay there in the summer, almost slow-traveling at a property that we own.
So for us, there’s summer and then there’s 9 months of slow travel season. And now, it’s slow travel season.
So last Saturday, we packed up for a month of travel, pulled all of the boats out of the lake, and got ready to go. Sunday morning, we packed up the car, wrangled our cats. and hit the road. Since the drive to Newport, Vermont takes around 15 hours, we split it into two days, stopping at a cat-friendly hotel in Rochester, New York.
Once you’re past Eastern Ohio, the whole drive along the southern coast of the Great Lakes becomes a pretty one. The trip treated us to rocky countryside, leaves starting to change, rolling hills, and lots of woods and small towns.
Settling in for a Month of Slow Travel
And now, here we are, settled and resuming normal life. Unpacking typically takes an evening, with complete settling in happening after a day. With slow travel, there’s always the initial supply run as well. This consists of groceries, whatever you’ve forgotten to pack (there’s always something), and stuff you discover you need. For instance, I forgot to pack a keyboard and mouse, so I bought those at a local Walmart, along with a wifi range extneder because the router here is kind of iffy on one side of the house.
Once settled, we really try to absorb the local everything. Amanda went out to a local grocer last night and got gourmet Vermont maple syrup, some kind of locally made steak/chicken rub, and even this maple-flavored sparkling water, which I admittedly view with some skepticism.
We’re on a lake, so, in spite of some rainy weather since arrival, I’ve made a point to jog along its shore and into the town. We’ve gone for day and night walks, discovering a worryingly friendly skunk that lives underneath a neighbor’s house, and getting to know what shops and restaurants are nearby. And, I took immediate and full advantage of the view I have for the next month while enjoying my morning coffee.
Picks
And with that, let’s do some picks.
- Last week, Amanda found this app, GoodRX, which let her get a prescription for like half the price. I can’t speak directly to it myself, but that sort of savings means it’s probably worth a look.
- I’ve signed up for a trial of ahrefs, a keyword research and SEO tool, and I’ve found it to be extremely helpful in finding good post topics.
The Digest
And, hey, look at that, the internet has published some actual blog posts that I’ve written this week.
- For NDepend, I wrote a post about the code smell of shotgun surgery — what it is, what causes it, and how to fix it.
- On the Gurock blog, I wrote about holes that your group might have in its overall testing strategy.
- And finally, here’s a video Amanda and I did about running a remote business.
Happy Friday and, as always, have yourselves a good weekend.
