Sunday, September 28, 2014

The Heralds of Rest

Odometer: 74131.9

Hello, good readers. I write to you from the rolling hills and lush forests of Montana! We are just outside of Libby, MT, and we are loving it!

But let me backup:

Yesterday, we drove up to Sandpoint, ID, and walked through the town, drove through many neighborhoods, and, in general, experienced the place the best we could.

Last night, we settled in a Wal-Mart parking lot, because the couple of locations we scouted out didn’t look promising. It is well we stayed there, though, for around dinner, a man came walking around our RV, looking closely at it. When he noticed us inside, staring back at him, he jumped in surprise, waved, and motioned towards our door, and then as if to knock. I went outside and what followed was an hour long conversation with a fellow Sunrader owner.

He looked over all we had done and was amazed. He took some notes, saying that he needed to make similar changes (in some cases) to his RV. We discussed the road ahead, for us, since he had just come out of Glacier National Park, and we are headed in that direction, and he recommended an alternate route. In the end, we parted happily.

So, today: We crossed into Montana, and it is gorgeous. The alternate route turned out to be incredibly scenic, and we saw fantastic views.



We stopped to have lunch at a day use area (The Big Eddy), and the dogs ran around, having a grand ol’ time.

We rolled into Libby just after 5pm, and everything was closed. (Small towns, eh?) So, we ventured forth into the charted wilderness, settling on a lovely spot with a great little view.

We hope to be here for a few days, enjoying our time, hiking, and finishing up a few tasks on the RV itself. Cell service makes this prospect all the more agreeable. (Hurray for posts and contact with the outside world!)

I will leave you with this simple thought: Is Home a place? A group of people? Or a feeling when all is right and comfortable? I say Home is where God wants you to be, be it a place, with a group of people, or in a certain emotional state.


Thus, I say goodnight to you, from Home.

Friday, September 26, 2014

Stress and Not-Russia

Odometer: 73970.9

Stress is an interesting thing. It can assault us when we least expect it. I, for one, have been stressed off and on since last night. The first reason: our inverter, which allows us to charge our laptop, camera, and several other things, broke. I tried to fix it, without success. Walmart, Best Buy, and Target all proved to not have good replacements, so we had to settle for a lesser substitute. (This is why we were not able to post last night. Our laptop was dead and, at the point it was realized that it would not be fixed, I didn’t feel like typing up a post on one of our phones.)

That aside, I foolishly have allowed other things to stress me, when I shouldn’t, but that is water under the bridge, and not of interest!

To our travels!

Yesterday, we departed Walla Walla, and drove up to Clarkston (and Lewiston) and took most of the day driving around, walking the downtown and looking in on houses for sale. (This was for fun, not because we want to live in C/L). In the evening, we took a walk down a greenbelt boarding the Snake River, allowed the dogs to go for a swim, and enjoyed a sporadic sprinkling of rain drops.


Today, we woke early, tried a new cereal, and headed off in search of a dump station. We found one easily, emptied our dirty tanks, filled our clean one, and were on our way!

We scaled the steep grade to get out of the C/L valley and were rewarded with an amazing view.




We drove through Moscow, without leaving the continent, and made it up to Coeur d’Alene. We stopped through a park near North Idaho University and one of the many lakes that fill these mountains. The park was lovely, and the puppies had a blast playing in the lake.


Finally, we finished our day with the acquisition of a temporary inverter, a wonderful meal, and a not quite as late as usual post.

So, as you can see, we are having fun and doing our best to not let the little things get us down.


We hope that this finds you in management of your little stresses and enjoying the larger things in life.

Wednesday, September 24, 2014

Uneventfully Beautiful

Odometer: 73711.5

The last couple of days have been relatively uneventful, but quite fun.

Yesterday, we had a minor tire leak repaired, and the technician sent us off, insisting that the fix wasn’t worth any payment, and that was just the first item of the day.

We drove a “back” way along the highway 84 corridor, near the Columbia River, heading east, and it was gorgeous.

We worked our way along the river, finally stopping in a National Forest roughly 15 miles south of the river valley, and stayed the night in a great spot.



Sadly, it didn’t have cell service, hence no post. :P

It began to rain during the night but that didn’t stop us from taking a short hike and running the dogs until they (and we) were exhausted.

This morning, we did a second reorganization of the RV, installed a couple of lights (both fixtures and bulbs) that we had been considering, and reveled in our work.

Just after lunch, we set off for Walla Walla Washington.

The Columbia River was beautiful, but, sadly, the surround country side, slowly slide back towards the golden brown we are so used to in California. Don’t get me wrong, that is beautiful in its own way, but Morgan and I were loving the green, and we are looking forward to it, again, as we head further north.

Well, it is late, and my lovely wife is already asleep as we rest here in the first Wal-Mart parking lot of this trip. So, I will bid you good night.

Sleep well, and may the beauty you find in the coming day speak directly to your heart.

Monday, September 22, 2014

Potable Water? Meh.

Today has been an interesting day.

To start, we flew up the coast, though we never truly left the ground. The views were gorgeous and the times we stopped revealed amazing scenery and yielded fun experiences.

We reached Portland in good time, and went in search of a dump station. Much ado later, we were able to dump at a local municipal plant.

We ran through a Costco for dinner (hot dogs) and to pick up a special item, which they didn't have. So, after finding that another Costco did have it, we went there. Mission accomplished.

At that point, we were ready to call it a day. So we went to a Love's travel center to fill up on fresh water, and stay for the night; little did we know what we had in store.

First, this particular Love's does not allow overnight parking. Second, their water isn't potable... No big deal, there is a Chevron a little back down the road, and a TA travel center besides, surely one of them will have what we need.

What followed was an hour of searching and besides one: "I've never heard anyone say it wasn't potable." and a: "They told me it wasn't potable, but I've been using it anyways. I'm not dead yet, eh?" we did not find any water for our tanks, despite visiting three gas stations, two truck stops, a Camping World, an RV park, and Googling all the surrounding rest stops. (I should say that there was a rest stop, forty miles south-east of us, which did claim to have drinking water... we were not inclined to take that drive after dark.)

Thus, all our wanderings were for not, and we were left with the distinct impression that everyone in Portland drinks suspect water, or water that is actually perfectly fine, but no one is willing to legally claim it is potable. Thus, when pressed, they will say something along the lines of: "I doubt they still used pipes with lead in them when this place was built, what? Twenty years ago? They knew better by then, right?"

*Sigh*

So, here we sit with our fresh tank at 4%, hoping the dawn will bring an outpouring of drinkable water.

That is all for now. May your water be truly drinkable, and your quests meet with better success than ours.

Short Renovation Montage

Pause the video to get a closer look. My slow connection speed has limited me to this, for now. ;) Enjoy!



Sunday, September 21, 2014

A Day of Rest

Odometer: 73186.1
     The Lord blessed us with a day of rest, today. We woke to what sounded like rain, but wasn’t. Fog was thick on the forest, and it was condensing in the trees above our RV and dropping down sporadically. It was a glorious start to a wonderful day.
     We continued with breakfast, quick showers, and the unexpected pleasure of a call from Morgan’s dad. She was able to catch up with him while I buckled down the RV for our departure (on foot).
     When food was eaten and call completed, we took off down the road with nothing but ourselves and our puppies.



The puppies loved the trek.



We passed under many beautiful trees,



walked down a road that seemed to be from an Arthurian tale,



and let a helpful tree take our group picture. (He didn’t know how to zoom.)



All in all, it was a beautiful walk, and when we returned, we set about a multitude of little tasks, mainly the reorganization of the RV. Such things take several days to perfect once on the road, no matter how well they are done beforehand.

And that is it. We stayed close to home and found ourselves enjoying a true, unhindered day of rest.

May your own Sabbaths be plentiful, restful, and fulfilling.


P.S. I apologize to disappoint but network connection out here is such that my short compilation of the RV Renovation would not upload. Thus, I must wait to upload it another day, hopefully tomorrow. Thank you for your patience!

Saturday, September 20, 2014

Day 2 – Into the Wild

Odometer: 73186.1

     So, as can be assumed, we are alive and well. Our adventures have continued apace, and I am writing to you from just off of a forest road in the Suislaw National Forest. Where off that road? Well, let me tell you how to find us:
     First, you turn onto the well maintained gravel road and begin your trek up to the mountain ridge.
     Then, once you have lost all faith in the road, and find yourself on a thin path bordered by steep down-slopes, you know you’re heading in the right direction, at least you hope you are; there is no turning back now. Fear not, you only have 3 miles to go.



     The road rises and falls, ferns and blackberry bushes kindly cleaning the outside of your vehicle. Are you in the National forest yet? No.
     After three miles of sporadic potholes and the rise and fall of the mountain ridge, you enter the “forest” despite the thousands of trees you have already passed.
     Are we there yet? Nope; you see, as soon as the National Forest, and legal camping, starts, the occasional level sections cease to appear. The search begins.
     Finally, the trees open on both sides, revealing a view of the valley to the west and a nice little pull off to the east, and you will have found our spot! :-D

     So, was it a mini adventure getting here? Yes. Is it lush and green? Absolutely! (Now, for the ringer) Would any normal RV have been able to get in here? Hahahahahahahahahahaahaha! No.

     The Sunrader outdid itself traversing a rather unfortunate road and found us a temporary home unavailable to the standard motorhomer.

    Other than the off-road-ish trek into the mountains, we dealt with sediment in our gas, because Costco was filling their underground tank while we were pumping. (Side note, Oregon won’t even let RVers pump their own gas. Costco has attendants that do it.) This led to a sputtering engine, a frantic search for a mechanic in small town Oregon that was open on Saturday (there was none), and finally a trip to Auto Zone, where they recommended an additive to dissolve the sediment and help it pass harmlessly through the engine. (They are also the people who figured out that that was the likely cause.)

Thus, our adventures continue. God helped us fix our problem (the additive worked perfectly), found us a good campsite with 3G(this post stands as testament), and we are happy, healthy, and super excited to be on the “road,” again!

That is all for tonight, I do hope that this begins a new trend of nightly posts, in which case they will be short (shorter than this on average) and hopefully informative/enjoyable.

May all your problems be solved easily, and your mysterious roads lead to promising destinations!


P.S. RV Renovation pics will, hopefully, be posted on the morrow, sometime before midday. :)

Friday, September 19, 2014

Renovation at 99.99999999999999999%

Odometer: 72607.1-72896.0

Well, we did it.
Finished!
Completed!
The Exodus begins!

Wait… that sounds like a beginning, not an ending… I really need to work on these plot elements; I always seem to get them mixed up.

So, have you guessed what I am referring to? I suppose the title was a clue. I firmly believe that nothing is ever fully done, but this sucker is as done as it’s going to be, and we are on the road again!

Where are we?
-North of Redding.

That’s not specific; where north of Redding? There’s a lot of land up there.
-South of Yreka.

-That’s as close as we’re gonna get, so deal with it.

So, tired self-dialogue aside, we are excited to be in the northern half of California and hopeful to reach the Oregon coast, and our first multiday campsite, tomorrow!

Do we have pictures of the completed RV? Why yes we do, but you will have to be patient, as internet connections are slow, and I am in need of sleep. We shall have a more detailed post tomorrow, a true kickoff, if you will.


Good night, fair reader, and may your own, personal, eternal projects creep closer to that ever elusive goal, called completion.