Need a GPS, Our New Roof Rack!

Hi friends,

Happy April Fools Day! One month left to departure time, and what a busy month it is going to be! Still many preparations to make before we leave, but the time is almost here.

A GPS unit will be an essential piece of gear for us to navigate the U.S. - if you have a GPS unit that you'd be willing to loan us for May and June, please let me know. I know they're not that expensive, but I wouldn't have any need for one outside our cross-country trip so I really don't want to buy one. It doesn't have to be a fancy one, but something made within the last few years would be great. Please send me an email if you have something we can use, at OurRenewableNation@gmail.com.

Speaking of essential gear, I just visited Evergreen Motors out in Greenfield, MA for a check-over of the veggie system for the Beetle to make sure we're all set for a 2-month trip. Daryl fitted us with a cargo carrier for the roof that answers the question 'where are you going to put all your stuff?' It's great - lots of room for storage and it looks like it was made for a Beetle! If I had more time I'd paint it to match the car, but with a month left to go we're a little pressed for time.

I do have a few contest updates: the $200,000 grant competition on JustMeans that I've been talking about is in the final round and our friends at Sea Change Radio did not make the cut. Thanks so much to all of you who went on JustMeans and gave a vote - the top competitors made last-minute appeals to their huge networks and got a ton of votes. Onward to another contest, I made a short video for the JustDoOne video contest with a suggestion for an eco-action: make a short video about an eco-action that you do and put it online for family and friends! That's how we got our start and it's been an amazing journey. The contest winner gets $5,000 which would go a long way to covering our project budget - they'll be judging the contest over the next month so we'll keep our fingers crossed. This was the first video where I was in front of the camera instead of Carrick, and I got a new appreciation for how hard it can be to get the lines right! Carrick makes it look so easy


Remember to save the date for our upcoming dinner / acoustic concert fundraiser on Saturday, April 25 at the UU Church in Grafton. The spaghetti supper will be from 5:00pm-7:00pm, and the concert will begin at 7:00pm, and will feature singer-songwriters Katrin and Greg Hare. I talked to Greg the other day and he played his new song for our project over the phone - it sounds fantastic! We're very excited to have Katrin and Greg play at the concert. We hope you can make it - we're asking for $10 for the spaghetti supper, or $10 for the concert, or $15 for both.

Be well,
Colin
www.OurRenewableNation.org