Going back to Seattle after three months in Ojai to help with Emory Read more
  • The World is Out There

List of countries

  • United States United States
Categories
Camper, Couple, Family, Home
  • 1.3kmiles traveled
Means of transport
  • Flight-kilometers
  • Walking-kilometers
  • Hiking-kilometers
  • Bicycle-kilometers
  • Motorbike-kilometers
  • Tuk Tuk-kilometers
  • Car-kilometers
  • Train-kilometers
  • Bus-kilometers
  • Camper-kilometers
  • Caravan-kilometers
  • 4x4-kilometers
  • Swimming-kilometers
  • Paddling/Rowing-kilometers
  • Motorboat-kilometers
  • Sailing-kilometers
  • Houseboat-kilometers
  • Ferry-kilometers
  • Cruise ship-kilometers
  • Horse-kilometers
  • Skiing-kilometers
  • Hitchhiking-kilometers
  • Cable car-kilometers
  • Helicopter-kilometers
  • Barefoot-kilometers
  • 8footprints
  • 9days
  • 29photos
  • 0likes
  • A rough start

    January 4, 2024 in the United States ⋅ ☁️ 46 °F

    Our last day in Ojai after 3 months! We came down to help out with Emory’s birth. We had dinner with Chamory (Chelsea, Sam, and Emory) and got in our last hugs and kisses and goofy talking. She is so responsive and I predict will be quite bright and happy.

    Up at six a.m. mostly a good sleep but dozy after 4:30. We get our final preparations done and pack up the trailer. The Buen Camino has been stationary for 3 months and wants to move! As we prepare there are some cars coming down the road and they have to wait for us to pull out. During the rush Peggy cut her finger on one of the collapsible traffic cones and it was a tough time. We agree better communication is in order and not to rush. It was a good drive down to Ventura, not too much traffic and also through Santa Barbara.
    Read more

  • Lunch at the Camp Roberts Wayside

    January 4, 2024 in the United States ⋅ ☀️ 54 °F

    We take a break on our drive at the brand new wayside. We find about the soldier who Camp Roberts is named for, a WW I infantryman whose tank fell into a large crater filled with 25 feet of water. There was only time for one person to escape, so he pushed out his partner and got a posthumous Medal of Honor and a military camp named after him. The state National Guard are now the owners. Not too much of a crowd, so Olive got a good walk, we had lunch and I had a brief nap on the bench.Read more

  • Mayo Family winery

    January 5, 2024 in the United States ⋅ ☀️ 63 °F

    Up and out of Hollister by 9. Hitch bolts needed tightening all around. Bay Area traffic was light. The hills were beautifully green. Into Mayo Family Winery by 5 and took a while to set up. Generator set up was late. Generator is hard to get over the gate which had to stay up because of the hitch. Wine tasting…wines were so so. Dinner at Yeti Himalayan restaurant.Read more

  • Rio Dell

    January 6, 2024 in the United States ⋅ ☁️ 48 °F

    Had a hard time firing up the generator at Mayo Winery parking lot. Eventually, I decided to reconnect and it was the gas line to generator connection was not all the way in. Once that was set, it started up fine after the fourth pull and just in time as the battery had just hit 50%. We managed to get on the road by 8:50 am. The road was pretty good, but by Healdsburg a heavy rain started and followed us all the way up, stopping just as we pulled into Rio Dell. A few short stretches were surprisingly narrow 2 lane, but most of the way we had four lane. We had a close call in Willits trying to get diesel filled up. I had to back up with the back of trailer hanging back into a four lane highway. Luckily, not traffic was not busy. We took the alternate route for the Avenue of the Giants, finding out that we had to turn around and go back to Hwy 101 to the next exit down due to road closure. We are at a very soggy turn in the Eel River having come through a simple neighborhood. Olive likes to sit behind the console of the truck with her head on top for the random pet when the road is clear. Had our lunch on the drive, turkey, pepper jack.Read more

  • Coos Bay Oregon

    January 7, 2024 in the United States ⋅ ☁️ 46 °F

    We left Rio Dell at about 8:50…a wet, soggy, foggy place…I had to get on the ladder and squeegee off the slide outs. The drive was soggy too, always water on the road. We passed through Arcata which brought back a lot of memories. Maybe we should have stopped, but a long windy road ahead of 242 miles. The Oregon Coast is awesome and we will be back. Spectacular vistas with very heavy surf. Quaint little towns. Peggy had memories jostled as we came through Gold Beach on the Rogue River where she used to come with Homer and Pookie for fishing and agate hunting. We wound up in a brand new property right on Coos Bay. Really spectacular. We agreed to come back for multiple days.Read more

  • Salem, OR

    January 8, 2024 in the United States ⋅ ☁️ 46 °F

    Well, we decided that Coos Bay to Centralia would be too long. So, we kept our stop in Salem. The Oregon coast continued to impress, though it was wet, windy, with lots of turns ands elevation changes. The Dunes were amazingly large. It probably took us over and hour and a half to transit. Also, Cape Perpetua was really neat and worth a future visit. Highway 20 from Newport to Corvallis was a good choice as it was only about 850 feet in elevation, no hint of snow, but we were in a Snow Zone, requiring us to be carrying chains (which we had bought while in Ojai).Read more

  • Centralia

    January 9, 2024 in the United States ⋅ 🌧 43 °F

    We were a little more relaxed in leaving Salem, as we knew it was a short drive to Centralia. We made it through Portland taking I-5. Loren missed the turn and wound up on the I-405 which is a short loop in downtown Portland that luckily rejoins I-5 before heading over the Columbia River. However, Peg began to feel poorly and decided to telehealth to get some help. Unfortunately, they wouldn’t talk to her while I was driving, so we had to wait until the next rest stop. Arriving in Centralia, we set up camp and got Peg to a Rite Aid for a prescription. They couldn’t issue the prescription because they didn’t have our insurance so we had to go back a few hours later, but we were able to get some supportive medications and she started feeling better. Donna (a high school friend of Peggy’s and one of our bridesmaids) and Joe Bouchard live just outside of Centralia and we joined them for a dinner of chicken pot pie, mead, and cream puffs.Read more

  • Emptying the Trailer

    January 11, 2024 in the United States ⋅ ❄️ 34 °F

    We arrived back home yesterday and were able to partially empty the trailer before we ran out of room, so back up to Lake Stevens to get the remaining clothes and to set up. The batteries were way too heavy to remove so we consulted the ORV Facebook group and called Apache camping and talked to a technician. The consensus was, connect to shore power, maintain all connections, and continue to check battery water monthly. We collected all the damp towels and set up DampRid canisters: 3 in the living space and 1 in the garage. The morning was cold enough to have frozen the water that was still in the tonneau, so it had to be rapped with a mallet and pushed in. On the way up to Lake Steven we encountered slushy conditions around the Everett area and the I-5/Hwy 2 split.

    As we worked, grapple started falling, first lightly and then turning into moderate hail. The roads were quite slushy, so I set the Ford to 4H and slippery conditions. So glad that we did not have to deal with this and a trailer, but we had to shorten our stays in Rio Dell and Coos Bay.
    Read more