Margo's Blog

What a wild ride today after an early morning cab ride to Don Meuang Airport in Bangkok with the exciting intention of being in Hanoi by 9:00 am. As usual the scene is really wild in these crowded spaces in Thailand, like a big city airport; it’s familiar, but not.

Traveling from one place to another is a major part of this quilt of places we are patching together. Bus travel takes time partially because the roads can be rough, and windy, and mostly because buses take time.

We have taken the access road to Konglor Cave, and for as much of an amazing tourist attraction this is, wonder about how bad the road is, and why it doesn’t get fixed. There are no big tour buses making the trek; it appears to be us “loopers” on our motorbikes, and the occasional van…

So how does any adventure in Thailand or Laos begin? In a tuktuk with a bunch of 20-year-old adventurers. What is wrong with this picture? Absolutely nothing, I guess. We (being me and Adel who has come to travel for a couple of weeks) met some real sweethearts, and then got off at the bus…

I signed up for this incredible experience long ago, as Willow and I were planning details of the trip. A woman who advised us on travels in Thailand and SE Asia, recommended it as a must do experience. So I have had this wild excursion planned for long enough to have many fantasies worked out,…

We move on to the next amazing thing that Willow found as she explored the web so many months before. Her determination in finding meaningful studies in places that would also be good for Birch has truly paid off.

Oh my God. I knew this would not be easy, mostly because I have been a semi-retired woman who only does the work that she wants to do with massive breaks in between any exertion! Weeks stretch out in front of me that are entirely my own, and I use empty time to take flights…

Willow has not started school yet in Chiang Mai, so we had two extra days in the country, and then some sight-seeing time in Chiang Mai. We are amazed at the constant nooks and crannies of all sorts of restaurants, shops, coffee houses, 7-Elevens, massage businesses, temples . . . but the traffic is ridiculous…

So I have taken a day off which seems the only way to blog for me. Man alive, my days have been full and my head too. Yesterday which was our last at Earth Homes Farm, I did qigong for the first time of this trip. I must find a way to center in myself…

Okay, so I have the intention to blog about my experience on this extraordinary trip that I am taking with young mom, Willow, and baby, Birch. Not exactly sure how that will happen, but I do hope to find the time and the words. There is no lack of inspiration even with our time so…

Right now I am sitting with blankets tucked around me on the couch at home in Minneapolis! What a change from palm trees, sand, fine as flour, and warm, beneficent air. Oh well, I am still feeling immersed in the moist and warm experience, though such a long hurtling drive north does sober a person.…

Alice’s and my vision was to get to a coffee shop to sit and blog for a while with the wifi flowing, but wifi is less plentiful here, and so are coffee shops. We went to Doe Doe’s Coffee Café in Bay Pines, Florida…one of Google’s hot tips. It was fantastic: Google thinks so and…

Onward to the next leg of this journey! Alice has arrived with polka dot sneakers, a clown suit and a red bathing cap! We pulled in to Fort Desoto County Park, which is at the southernmost point of Tampa Bay where it flows into the Gulf. I cannot believe a more beautiful spot. We went…

I have been visiting with good friends the past week, and sleeping in beds! My Coleman stove gets a break. It is a very different time when puppets take a back seat, and blogging too, I guess, while I paddle around on a kayak, swim at the beach, collect shells, and talk, talk, talk with…

I just did the dishes in the dark and made a small attempt to get organized since I will be moving on tomorrow after three nights at St. Andrews State Park in Panama City Beach, Florida. There is water all around this park and on one side, the Gulf of Mexico. Today was sunny from…

It is moving day again after 5 nights at Davies Bayou at the Gulf Coast National Seashore in Ocean Springs, Mississippi . Yesterday was the weird day that started with a humid 66 degrees at around 6:30 AM, and within the hour the wind started to blow and the temp dropped 20 degrees right off.…

March 2nd and a Monday morning, and I figured out what the heck I am going to do today. It is a drippy day having rained last night, but not enough to wet the inside of the trailer. I missed my sunny day opportunity to caulk the trailer leaky spots. I have been marking the…

Well the next leg is upon me! Peter is on the “City of New Orleans” chugging his way back to Minnie! I am so appreciative that he came along on the first part of the journey…..not sure I would have gotten this far without him! We had fun, and he bolstered me big time. I…

Peter and I have landed at Fairview Riverside State Park in Madisonville, Louisiana! This state park is on the Tchefuncte River which flows into Lake Ponchartrain. We are near the north side of the lake! After getting help to back the trailer up onto the parking pad at site 44, we settled in by starting…

Well, Peter and I are on the road zooming south and seeking warmth! We decided to get as far south of Memphis as we could this evening since there are threats of freezing rain and sleet in the forecast. It has been freakin’ COLD down here so far, and perhaps not even above 50 degrees…

I am heading out of town on an adventure with my puppet trailer…going south, so as I finish up a puppet residency out at Highland Elementary School in Edina, my plate is full of preparations for the road! I have converted a tall and narrow cupboard with three drawers and some shelves into a rolling…

Big Projects Brewing I have been collecting used materials for a puppet trailer that I will be building with the expert help of inventor/ engineer Willis Bowman. So far I have lots of lumber pulled from piles at a soon-to-be riding stable for disabled riders, siding from an old granary from Moonstone Farm out in…