This is not a Christmas book Its a book about reinventing yourself in middle age I was 58 years old My 38year marriage had ended, and I needed a new start If I had to begin life over at my age, Id start with where I lived So, it was goodbye to the cold, damp, frequently snowy, and icy East Coast and hello to warm, sunny Southern California Among many things that I had always wanted to do was to drive crosscountry Now was the perfect opportunity it was a double deal: beginning again and a checkoff on my bucket list It was my choice to pretty much leave everything in the two houses we owned (one in Somerset County, NJ, and a beach house at the Jersey shore) and take things that meant something to me or would be useful as I was setting up housekeeping as a single When I rolled out of the driveway for the last time, clothes were in the closets, dishes in the cabinets, linens in the linen closet, and even spices in the spice drawer Fortunately for me, I was able to hire the most amazing women who ran estate sales and helped to pack up the few things that were going with me In one sense, it was an estate sale since the marriage was dead The process all worked very well, and my helpers, who became my friends, did an outstanding job relieving me of some of the burdens of putting things in boxes It was hard enough to make the decisions on what to keep and what to sell But there was one minor problem I had this favorite Christmas decoration, a birch log and twig reindeer with a red nose, that was too fragile and was pretty much impossible to pack So, thus began Travels with Rudolph He became my loyal companion and, at times, my navigator (Rudolph, with your nose so bright, wont you guide my car tonight) Above all, Rudolph was an excellent listener I hope you enjoy my travel tales with an inanimate object as my copilot and beginning a new life 3,000 miles away from everyone and everything I have known