I woke today to the news that the autonomous ship project Mayflower II that I’ve been involved with Launched from Plymouth England this morning.… If all things go well Ocasio shit in a couple of weeks and land in Plymouth Massachusetts. It’s retracing the root of the original mayflower…

It’s a beautiful ship that’s completely autonomous… It has a ton of technology on it… I will post a live dashboard of its location you can follow along tomorrow

I also got a lovely note from one of my friends who is running the project… And a sandstone placement Aboard the ship. Here is an excerpt from it

Where did you place the SamStone ? (please be as specific as you can e.g.: near a landmark, an address or a long/lat)

Mayflower Autonomous Ship

Please tell us more about where and how you placed it

I put the Sam stone in a pouch and placed the pouch inside a box we made for the personal items our team members and their families wanted to send inside the Mayflower Autonomous Ship across the Atlantic Ocean to the USA. This is a ocean science platform, and an autonomous vessel. Let’s hope it makes it. I’m sure Sam’s memory will bring us good luck, and his adventurous spirit is an inspiration. The boat’s location can be tracked here: http://www.mas400.com

My friend included the following pictures

I’m so glad sam is represented on this beautiful ship…

Good luck Mayflower

Nite all, nite sam

-me

Yesterday was a big day for me… It was my first science show post Covid.… I woke early and trove up he’s in Union high school in Hardwick Vermont… It was the students last day of school… And I was there to be part of the entertainment. I also got to talk to a few of the kids who have been one of my star robot teams for first robotics.…It was so good to be back in the classroom

I have the kids do a short tribute shout out to my very good friend Scott who is in his last stages of pancreatic cancer… Scott is the guy who helped me get started in technical outreach… He’s help me reach so many kids… What a wonderful soul

I got invited to walk out with the teachers to Send the kids off to their summer vacation after what must’ve been the hardest year ever for them

It’s so so good to be doing science with kids again

Thank you Scott for all you’ve done !

Nite all, nite sam

-me

Dine, Tim jen and I decided to take a float down the Winooski this morning . We put in up river at the Bolton put in then paddled past our house to Richmond . That was about 7 miles .

We saw some great birds: an osprey, a blue heron, a bunch of ducks and some awesome vultures

It was cold when we started and hot when we ended .. which means perfect Vermont weather !

This afternoon I went to Chris’s to help with some fire effects.. dual fire cauldrons .. for this weekends Cirque de Fuego show

.. it was super fun to (safely) improvise the design of these things here’s the gas rig ready to be plumbed to the cauldrons

Tonight we went over to our friends michael and rebecca for vegan dinner and great conversation

A great end to the weekend

Note all, nite sam

-me

Nice quiet day today. Begin by going with my friend Gizzo over to our friend Julianne ‘s. Julianne son James died last February From cancer. James had requested that he had a Jedi fire pyre As a celebration of his life. He was a huge Star Wars fan…His mom has asked us to build simple pyre That we will use to re-burn James ashes…

The ceremony will be on July 10 on the property of our friends the Davises… I’ve been super kind to let Julianne and her family use a small Rocky point near a stream behind their house

It’s beautiful and It Looks like this.

I’m honored to be helping my best

When I got home ‘Diane and I took off for an 11 mile bike ride up West White Hill to Huntington where we stopped at grocery store for an ice cream and a drink… We rode our bikes back through Dugway which is just about to be reopened after about a year and a half of being closed due to a washout

I guess that wasn’t enough exercise for Diane…

She and ‘Kyle went for a hike afterwards Well I worked on a project at home

Paul and Ellen and Giorgia stop by for a quick hello which was nice

Dan and I ended the day with sushi takeout

I really nice slow day… Just when I needed it

Nite all nite sam

-me