NMC020 Driving to Florida

Rosa Linda

Recorded: June 14, 2016
Location: On the Road: Alabama & Florida
Subject: Driving across country to move onto the boat.

Hello friends!
Okay, I am not going to lie. Sometimes I wonder why the heck I have been working on this podcast for so long. I started recording episodes more than 5 years ago, before moving onto the s/v Dawn Treader was even on our family’s radar. About 3 years ago, I hired an editor to help me edit the recordings into iTunes and Stitcher-worthy episodes. Over the past several years I have been working with a team of people to refine the website and the posting process, to create transcripts and show notes, and to do so many other tasks related to this podcast. Throughout this process—like any creative type, I suppose—I frequently find myself filled with doubt over the value of what I am putting out into the world. But then, something suddenly breaks through the darkness of my own self-judgement and I am reminded of the light.
For me, this episode is that light breaking through.
Unlike most episodes here on New Mexi-Castaways which are recordings of my own voice as I process whatever is going on around me (which I affectionately refer to as, “Rosa Linda’s Ramblings”), this episode has several voices, as I interview my kids and our nanny (Miss Linda) while we drive across country. These recordings were done in Alabama and Florida from our very crowded Ford Expedition. This will be the first time you will hear from the kids about what they think of this adventure of moving onto a boat. As is frequently the case on this on-the-go-podcast, the audio quality isn’t perfect, but I hope it will still bring a smile as we finally make the move from New Mexicast to New Mexi-Castaways.
Have a great week everyone!
Lots of love,
Rosa Linda

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Episode Transcript:

Rosa Linda Román (00:00): Hello, everyone. Welcome to New Mexicast. I'm Rosa Linda Román. And before we get started, I want to share what you can expect here on this podcast. First, you should know that my family lives on a sailing catamaran, and this is my personal audio journal. What you're about to hear is an episode from 2016, when we were just starting our journey of moving from our home in New Mexico onto the boat. As a long time broadcast journalist, I wasn't sure how I was going to keep working while pursuing this crazy new lifestyle. This journal is where I worked through a lot of things, both personally and professionally. That means you will hear about experiments with new technologies like Blab and Periscope and testing out systems to make the move easier like Wild Tree meal prep and KonMari for downsizing our stuff. As you can imagine, some of these experiments were successful while some like Blab and Wild Tree don't even exist anymore. But I decided to leave even the failed experiments in this audio journal so you could get the whole story of how we went from New Mexicast to New Mexi-Castaways. If you like what you hear, please stick around till the end and I'll share how you can find out where we are now and how you can get much more content by joining the New Mexico castaways crew. Enjoy! Rosa Linda Román (01:47): Hello and welcome to New Mexicast audio edition. This is a companion to our TV show, New Mexicast, where I share enchanting stories about people in places in New Mexico and beyond. Lately, this audio edition is all about my family's adventure moving onto a sailing catamaran. I'm Rosa Linda Román, and I am in the car with Ms. Linda Kelton. She is our new liveaboard nanny. She's been our babysitter in New Mexico, and now she's joining us. Hi, miss Linda. (Hi.) She's driving so I'm going to interview the other members that are here in a very crowded car. Who is here with me? What's your name? Ziva Goldfein (02:33): I'm ZivaGoldfein and I'm nine years old. Rosa Linda Román (02:36): All right. That's my middle daughter. What's your name? Samuel Goldfein (02:39): I'm Samuel. I'm Samuel Goldfein and I'm five years old. Rosa Linda Román (02:45): Awesome. And who are you? Ahava Goldfein (02:47): I am Ahava Cheyenne Goldfein and I am 11 years old. Rosa Linda Román (02:52): Awesome. So where are we and what are we doing? Who would like to tell me? Okay. Z. So we're going to let Ziva tell us a little bit about our journey up to this point, and then I'll talk with the other kids as well. So, go for it. Ziva Goldfein (03:05): So right now we're driving with a car, packed with stuff from New Mexico to Florida for our move and quite we're in Alabama. We, past few days, we've drove to Alamogordo to see my dad, who he was just finishing up work. Then we drove and saw Carlsbad caverns. (How Was that? Tell me about that.) That was amazing. It was a one that kind of, one of the kind of experience it was my first time going. And I was, it was really unique. Rosa Linda Román (03:39): And let me see. So Samuel, what did you think of Carlsbad? (I Was scared.) So what was it like, describe it to me. What, what, what did it feel like when you walked in that cave? Samuel Goldfein (03:50): I was not scared when I walked in the cave, but I was scared when I went in there Rosa Linda Román (03:55): When you went further in and it was dark and cold, right? (Yeah.) How about you Ahava? What did you think of Carlsbad Caverns? Ahava Goldfein (04:06): It was amazing. It was really breathtaking. Yeah. next time I would, I would want to go again and next time I would want to bring some supplies, like a jacket, water, snacks, a flashlight, a camera with an empty SD card and Daddy Rosa Linda Román (04:27): And my husband was not allowed, allowed, was not able to come with us because he had to work. Ziva Goldfein (04:35): And then after, this is Ziva again. So, but then after Carlsbad, we drove to Houston. Wait to Fort Stockton, then to Houston and stayed with Ms. Lana a family friend. And then finally, now, then we drove to Ocean Springs I think it's called, Mississippi. And that was last night. And now we're going through Alabama right now. And we're heading to, (Where are we heading?) Florida. (Where In Florida?) Gainesville. (What Is in Gainesville?) The Florida Gator. (Why Does that matter? )Because My mommy went to the university there. Rosa Linda Román (05:26): That's right. Ziva Goldfein (05:30): And then, so, and then from there, we'll say we'll drive to see my dad and the boat in Fort Lauderdale,.(Actually in West Palm) West Palm. Yeah. (Cool.) I'm excited! (Awesome. ) Rosa Linda Román (05:42): Thank you. (love You) I love you! All right. Who's next? You guys want to tell me something about the trip? Ahava Goldfein (05:49): Oh, I'm setting up the Gonoodle account now. (What Is Gonoodle?) It's an awesome thing that I learned about in fifth grade. Well, sort of, well, we did the program in fifth grade and, I'm setting it up now. So right now we're going to vote. Do you want me to do this on here? We're going to vote for a character .There's Tangy Bodangy, Bartleby Trunks, Gulps Woda, Blob Ross, wait, Little Rufus, Plunky Robinson, Om Pedalhead, Oogle's Fitselman, Chris Shabaab, or Freckles Sinclair, McPufferson, Penny G. Rosa Linda Román (06:33): So what she's talking about is a game to entertain. They used to do it in between math and as a break at her class, she had a really awesome teacher in fifth grade and to shake things up when the kids would get like frustrated and need a break, they would turn on Gonoodle in between activities. So Ahava is setting it up for her and her siblings on the iPad and on my phone to give them something to break up the monotony of the drive. They've been really great, but it is a very tight, tightly packed in here as Ahava likes to remind me about the trailer. What did you say before? (You should've gotten a trailer?) We only brought what fits in my Ford expedition which is not a lot, but I didn't want to bring a whole bunch of stuff. Rosa Linda Román (07:27): We just finished a process called KonMari, which is based on a book called The Life Changing Magic of Tidying Up by Marie Kondo. And we went through our whole house using this system where you basically hold each item and decide what sparks joy, and only keep what sparks joy. And so we didn't want to bring stuff that didn't support us and didn't spark joy. So we kept what we brought to a minimum and I thought it was a good idea to just bring what fit in our expedition, but considering how crammed everybody feels, it may not have been the best plan. But we're making good progress. We are now on day three full day. We left late at night on Thursday. We got, I mean on Friday, we got to Alamogordo on Friday night, drove to Carlsbad, did that on Saturday, spent the night in Fort Stockton Saturday night. Then Sunday we went all the way to Houston and saw a good friend ,Lana Barker. And she took good care of us and it was really a nice way to break up the trip. Then we made it last night to the Ocean Springs, Mississippi. Oh, so here's, here's Gonoodle. Can they hear it? Hang on, start it again. So this is an example of what she, what Gonoodle is, and they it's imagine use your imagination to picture these people are like dancing along with this. Singing (07:27): Rosa Linda Román (09:24): That's so great. So basically we, they get antsy and Ahava trying to help them have something to keep them busy. So we'll continue chatting along the way. I just wanted to check in and kind of give you the audio sounds of how the trip is going. We will be glad to get there, right? Ms. Linda, (Do what?) We'll be glad when we get there.? (Yes) We'll be glad when we get there. I kind of feel like it's like that book I was telling you about that says it's much, much better is it? Is that the one, or it could always be worse? It could always be worse. And the idea is you're, we're so crammed in here, our boat is going to feel spacious. All right. We will check in in a little bit. Bye. Theme music (09:24): Rosa Linda Román (10:17): All right. We just got off the Florida turnpike heading South on I 95 at Jupiter. And that means we're about 20 minutes away from our boat. So I wanted to talk to the kids and just kind of wrap this up about how the trip has gone and how everybody's feeling right now. Rosa Linda Román (10:44): Hey Z? (Yeah?) Okay. So it's recording. (Okay.) We're about 20 minutes from the boat. (Yay.) And I want you to talk about the rest of the trip and what it's been like. Ziva Goldfein (10:57): It's been fun. I'm going to be really, really, really, really, really, really glad to get out of this car and finally be on the boat and I'm hungry. Rosa Linda Román (11:04): And we're hungry. Daddy's going to have Cuban food waiting for us. So tell, talk about some of the things that have stood out for you on this trip. What did we do today? Ziva Goldfein (11:19): We went to the Gator, um, University of Florida. We went to see the stadium and... Rosa Linda Román (11:30): It's called what? What's the Gator Stadium called. Where do Gators live? Ziva Goldfein (11:37): Florida? The swamp. It's called. It's called the swamp, but I forgot the guy's name it's named after. Ben Hill Griffin, But it was fun. And we went to Carlsbad at the beginning of the trip. And, yeah, it was fun. Rosa Linda Román (11:58): What are you most looking forward to about the boat? Ziva Goldfein (12:03): Not sleeping in the hotel on the floor anymore. (Yeah. Looking forward to just being there.?) Uhuh. Rosa Linda Román (12:09): All right. What about your sister? Can you interview her? (Ahava can interview herself.) Ahava? Ahava Goldfein (12:16): Yeah? (Can you talk with us for a minute?) Sure. (I do love beet). Hi. He just said "Goooo roast beef." Rosa Linda Román (12:33): Okay. So Ahava, we are maybe about 15, 20 minutes away from the boat. (Yay.) And I wanted to get your impressions as we're finally getting close. (I want to be there) Something about the trip and what, what has stood out for you? Ahava Goldfein (12:52): Well, It got me into journaling, for one. Rosa Linda Román (12:55): Very cool. You've been writing everyday haven't you? Ahava Goldfein (12:57): Well, I think for everyday. Rosa Linda Román (13:04): Yeah. What did we do? What things you talked about Carlsbad Caverns on the recording before, what else stands out for you? Ahava Goldfein (13:14): Well today we went to the University of Florida and to the actual swamp. Actually, but we didn't get to touch the grass . Rosa Linda Román (13:22): You didn't get to touch the grass. (No.) No you did not but you got to go in the stadium, right? (Yeah.) So cool. So what else, what are you looking forward to about getting to the boat? Ahava Goldfein (13:43): My room. (Yeah.) Yeah. I need to clean out my room because a lot of this stuff I need, I need to,KonMari a lot of it lets just say. Rosa Linda Román (13:56): Oh, explain that to people. What is the KonMari? Ahava Goldfein (13:58): I need to decide whether it sparks joy or not. Rosa Linda Román (14:01): Because last time we were on the boat was before we did the KonMari process, right? Ahava Goldfein (14:06): Yeah. Well, we took all the clothes off, but just like miscellaneous stuff in my room that I probably don't need. Rosa Linda Román (14:14): So you think you're going there with a whole new outlook? (Yes.) Not to mention, you're actually moving onto the the boat unlike just a visit. (Yeah. )Cool. Anything else you want to talk about? (I'm extremely hungry.!)Your sister also said. You know, Daddy's going to have like pollo tropical waiting for us. (Yay.) That'll be good. See if you can get your brother's attention. Ahava Goldfein (14:40): Hey Samuel wake up. Samuel Goldfein (14:41): I am awake. (See?). Rosa Linda Román (14:46): Can you turn your headphones off. Just pause it. (What?) We're about 15 minutes away from getting to the boat. Samuel Goldfein (14:59): Horray! Hurry! Rosa Linda Román (14:59): No don't put your headphones back on! Ahava Goldfein (15:01): He put his headphones back on. He's like "horray" and then he put his headphones back on. Okay, bye. How do I turn it off? (Just hand it to me.) Okay, here you go. Rosa Linda Román (15:10): Okay. How about you Ms. Linda? Oh, I have it upside down. Okay. So it's a little crazy, cause we're, we're really at the end of how many days has it been? Linda Kelton (15:20): Oh, goodness, Saturday, Sunday, Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, five full days. Rosa Linda Román (15:24): Yeah. Five full days of driving with kids and crammed car. And how do you feel now? Linda Kelton (15:34): I feel great! Rosa Linda Román (15:36): Because we're almost there? Linda Kelton (15:37): And tired. Yeah. I'm excited though. Rosa Linda Román (15:43): Yeah, we're excited too. All right. Well, we are getting there and we'll update everybody once we're actually there and settled in, but yeah. I see PJ, PGA Boulevard, which means we're about five miles away from our exit, which is awesome! Okay. So, thanks for listening. We'll catch up in a future episode and give you more about the actual move onto the boat. This is Ahava, Ziva, Samuel, Linda, and Rosa Linda saying, thanks for listening. And we're out of here. Bye. Everyone say bye. (Bye, Bye, Hi.) Say Bye. (Bye.). Theme music (15:43): Rosa Linda Román (16:56): Thanks for listening to my audio journal from 2016 as our family prepared to move on to the sailing catamaran Dawn Treader. If you want to see where we are at the moment, just search for New Mexicast on Instagram, Facebook, Twitter, or Patreon, or for New Mexicast TV on YouTube. Also, if you want to see the videos and photos of the things I'm talking about on this podcast, please consider joining the New Mexi-Castaways crew. You can do that at NewMexicast.com/crew. Thanks again for listening and for supporting our enchanting adventures. I'm Rosa Linda Román, and this is New Mexi-castaways.

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