On September 10, 2010, in furtherance of our plan for new adventures, we welcomed "Arkadia" into the world. She emerged from her buildout location in Marion, Indiana...the product of a visionary recreational vehicle pioneer, Dave Hoefer, and his company, Earthbound RV.
The next day, we took official possession of her in Richmond, Indiana, at Tom Raper RVs, where we did our walk-through and "here's how it all works" seminar. In addition to learning how RV systems work in general, we'd had Earthbound add solar panels so that we could be more flexible in our travels and be off the grid as often as possible.
After spending the weekend in Richmond fine-tuning the solar system, we took off on our maiden voyage for a fast trip to the Big E, arriving the day before Mark was performing for five days. We were lucky enough to park backstage so that Mark could use "The Ark" as a place to chill between shows...without thinking that the cats might not enjoy loud music all day. As you can see, they were very upset.
The Big E was fantastic - the shows were attended by very enthusiastic crowds, the weather was great, and the food was wonderful. We stocked up with local cheeses, maple syrup, pancake mixes, catnip, and of course, Whoopie Pies.