Yes, the rumour is true: we're moving to Wisconsin. (The reason you haven't heard the rumour is because I'm starting it now.)

New Jersey is beautifully sunny. The friends we've made here are connected at our core.

But we just can't afford it.

Moving into [...]]]> I love it when I can make a title out of nothing but song titles.

Yes, the rumour is true: we're moving to Wisconsin. (The reason you haven't heard the rumour is because I'm starting it now.)

New Jersey is beautifully sunny. The friends we've made here are connected at our core.

But we just can't afford it.

Moving into our own home would cost, between first month's rent and security deposit (typically a month and a half's rent) we'd be looking at $3,500 or so to move into a place, not counting utilities, internet, etc.

And then $1,000 minimum a month for a place that was a little too small, or an apartment (hard hard hard for me.)

In Rice Lake, where my Mom lives, we can get a 2 bedroom house, single family dwelling, not condo, duplex, whatever, with a garage and basement, for $525. One month deposit. Some places want a utilities deposit, so it's about $1,400 total to move in. Yeah, utilities, etc. But internet can wait, 'cause the Rice Lake Library was our hangout for a month at a time when we've visited my Mom.

It's been a wonderful (non)winter in Jersey. Just as when we left Montreal, Albuquerque, Denver, St. Paul, and Vancouver, there are people we'll love and miss for the rest of our lives.

But it's time to go.

If you're between Philly and Madison and could bear 4 overnight guests during the 2nd week of April, please give us a shout.

If you've been considering some web work, writing a book, or getting some admin help, and just haven't gotten around to it, we'll need to earn about $1,000 in the next 3 weeks to make this trip and land on our feet without excess stress. Again, give us a shout.

And if you're in Rice Lake and have a spare bed, book case, or chair you'd be willing to let us have or use, um, yeah, that; give us a shout.

Last week our family had dinner with the Vroman family. Jon Vroman is the Co-Founder of the Front Row Foundation. Their mission is to help individuals and families who are braving critical health challenges “experience life in the front row.” They do this by providing front row seats to concerts, sporting events and live performances of our recipients’ choice.

Fiona in her Front Row Shirt

I first became acquainted with Jon through our mutual friend, Hal Elrod. Hal had been a client of mine and referred me to Jon since he also needed some things done that I could assist him with. That was a few years ago and we just got to meet in person for the first time this past week.

Jon and his family reside in South Jersey not far from where we're currently staying. So they invited us over for dinner. Our family, including my son James, had a wonderful evening visiting with Jon and his wife Tatyana. Fiona enjoyed meeting their young son Tiger. We also briefly met Tatyana's mother visiting from Russia. It was a delicious meal and we all had a great time conversing on a variety of topics.

Before we left, Jon took us to the Front Row HQ. Here Fiona was able to put on a cooking show with Tatyana's assistance while Jon filmed. And we all went home with Front Row bracelets, bumper stickers and shirts.

Fiona and Tatyana's cooking show

This is one of the greatest things about our travels - getting to meet in person many that we've known only online. I think we've met about 30 people in the last two years that we previously had known only by phone or email.

Jon filming the cooking show

A fellow traveler, Nathan Agin, made it to Philadelphia last week and we made arrangements to meet him in person finally. We've known Nathan for over a year and have chatted by phone and Skype and worked together on some projects. Since we're still in South Jersey, we were able to meet in person in Haddonfield.

Joel D Canfield and Nathan Agin at Jersey Java and Tea

Nathan has been traveling for over a year nearly free or for very little. He can help you with phenomenal savings on travel. Check out his website for more details.

Always having a working oven. Homemade bread is a huge part of our diet, but I also miss baking a pie or brownies or enchiladas.

My music room. Having all the practicing and recording equipment all set up and ready at a moment's [...]]]> I miss the big comfy chair where I used to fall asleep meditating every night.

Always having a working oven. Homemade bread is a huge part of our diet, but I also miss baking a pie or brownies or enchiladas.

My music room. Having all the practicing and recording equipment all set up and ready at a moment's notice.

Books. Most of my books are in storage (about 8 boxes) and once in a while I go looking through the ones I do have along, and the one I'm looking for isn't there.

The best library in the world: Rice Lake Public Library. At the time it seemed a bit of a nuisance that my Mom doesn't have internet access and we had to walk across the parking lot to the library, right on the same block. But I miss Fiona having a place to play and read all day long; the librarians who really enjoyed having us there; a nice table to spread our work out, and our choice of being upstairs where the kids were, or down in the basement (with its very own WiFi network.)

I miss the other three seats in the van. Took 'em out to make room for all we needed to pack, but now when the whole family goes anywhere, we take James' car which is far less comfortable and fun to drive. And when there's a reason to play chauffeur, we can't.

And that just might be it.

Once we have our own home, we'll have to sort out retrieving our stuff from storage, at least a full van's worth, meaning nearly $1,000 in travel costs. Which would only be after $3,000-$4,000 to pay the deposit and first month's rent.

We'll cross that bridge when we come to it, eh?

We had our first stick-to-the-ground snow here in Blackwood New Jersey the other day. Of course it all melted by lunchtime. Fiona was excited anyhow.

We've all suffered from terrible colds: sneezing, coughing, aches, fevers, yuck, yuck, yuck! I think we're almost all well. I hope we can get out this weekend and enjoy the sunshine and [...]]]>

We had our first stick-to-the-ground snow here in Blackwood New Jersey the other day. Of course it all melted by lunchtime. Fiona was excited anyhow.

We've all suffered from terrible colds: sneezing, coughing, aches, fevers, yuck, yuck, yuck! I think we're almost all well. I hope we can get out this weekend and enjoy the sunshine and feel better.

It's different now that we're settled into a place for a bit. There's the everyday work of making a living, cleaning up around the house, making new friends.

I'm glad we have a chance to be in one place for a bit. I'm not sure this is home permanently. Once spring comes we'll have a better idea of where we want to settle longer-term. Or maybe we'll do a bit more traveling. Hard to tell right now.

So I'll just enjoy today - a beautiful, sunny day!

In paradoxical leap worthy of Dr. Who, the Spinhead website has reverted to our design from September of 2002, based on Joel's favorite Dr. Seuss book [...]]]> Families who want to travel or are traveling often get asked this question. We have multiple streams of income and the one that's been around the longest is Spinhead Web Design.

In paradoxical leap worthy of Dr. Who, the Spinhead website has reverted to our design from September of 2002, based on Joel's favorite Dr. Seuss book I Had Trouble in Getting to Solla Sollew.

Paradoxical, because Joel has completely updated the 10-year-old code, and converted it to a WordPress theme, making it about as up-to-date as you can get.

Maybe you don't want to go back to the future—but is it time your website at least joined us in the present?

Rick Wilson and his wife and younger daughter, Shanna Mann and her friends (including Debs from New York), and our family gathered at London Grill in Philadelphia to celebrate getting six books published in six months. Rick and Joel [...]]]> Months of working frantically to write six books simulataneously with two different co-authors culminated in celebration on 11/11/11.

Rick Wilson and his wife and younger daughter, Shanna Mann and her friends (including Debs from New York), and our family gathered at London Grill in Philadelphia to celebrate getting six books published in six months. Rick and Joel co-authored Hits or Niches: Why Marketing is Boring, Obnoxious & Annoying, & What You Can Do About It. Shanna and Joel co-authored Why We Lead: Conversations on the Scarcity of Confidence and the Nature of Leadership. Joel's other four books just released are:

Through the Fog - An Irish Mystery Novel (fiction)
Permission Granted: Create Something Remarkable. Start Now.
The Time is Now 11:59 - Heretical Thinking for Tomorrow's Business
Getting Your Book Out of the Someday Box - Because You Know You Want to Write a Book

Joining us were fans from the area and New York. Thank you to all who joined us in celebration, including:

• Joel and Cheryl
• Craig and Katherine
• Rosemary
• Ashley
• Debs
• Chris
• Connie Herman
• Jodi Kaplan (fellow Triiibes member)
• and all the rest!

Thank you to Ryan and the crew at London Grill for your great service and hospitality! We enjoyed a nice dinner, fun drinks and interesting desserts.

For all you bacon lovers, Joel enjoyed the Candied Bacon Ice Cream on your behalf!

Books were autographed for anyone in attendance and those who pre-ordered. We'll be shipping books out to those who couldn't make it in person.

On display as well were copies of client's books that Someday Box had a hand in helping finish. Fred's Abduction by author Pegleg Terry is a favorite of Fiona's.

To all of you who wanted to come and just couldn't make it, we missed you! If you'd still like to get an autographed copy of one or all of the books, send us an email using our contact form and we'll see what we can arrange.