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John and Kimberly HavilandJohn and Kimberly
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John and Kimberly Haviland

Traveling the states to find our new home and having fun along the way! Message
  • TravelerDestination Unknown
    Day90

    Perfect Ending

    August 2 in the United States ⋅ ☀️ 99 °F

    Well, when the alarm went off at 4 AM… I almost shut it down. I am so glad I didn’t! Sunrise at the Grand Canyon fills your soul!

    After taking it in, we went on a few short hikes and grabbed some breakfast… It was still only 9:15am! We decided that the sunrise was hard to beat. It felt like a fitting end to our journey.

    We will head to Sonoma County to grab my car, clean out Sassy and put her up for sale.

    We still don’t know where we want to relocate… Nothing felt quite right. We will be spending the winter in Reno to spend time with Susan. Hopefully we will head to Southeast Asia for a few months sometime early next year.

    We thank all of you for following us through our roller-coaster ride. Knowing you were out there caring about us, meant the world!!

    Stay tuned! We’ve only just begun!    Read more

    Traveler

    Hopefully we can catch up before you leave! We’ll be back Sunday night! We loved following along and can’t wait to continue along the journey with you wherever you may end up ❤️

    8/5/22Reply
     
  • TravelerDestination Unknown
    Day89

    Grand Canyon Day 2

    August 1 in the United States ⋅ ⛅ 79 °F

    There isn’t a whole lot to report. The Grand Canyon speaks for itself.

    We took the Bright Angel trail 1.5 miles down and then back up. The sun sure gets hot early and you can definitely feel the elevation.🥵

    Had a drink in the Village and took advantage of the laundry facilities. Grilled up a nice steak dinner for the first time in weeks. Perfect weather!    Read more

     
  • TravelerDestination Unknown
    Day88

    Grand Canyon!!!!

    July 31 in the United States ⋅ 🌧 70 °F

    We are at Mather Campgrounds in the Grand Canyon National Park. We haven’t actually seen the canyon yet. Took most of the afternoon to get our bearings and empty out all of our tanks in the van.
    We had reserved two nights, but after entering the park, decided to extend it for two more. We will be here hiking and exploring until Thursday morning.
    Beyond excited!    Read more

    Traveler

    Nice seeing such happy faces.

    7/31/22Reply
    Traveler

    Enjoy the sights. Try and see a sunrise over the canyon, I can imagine that being a wonderful moment. Take pictures of course and text me one so I can make it my desk top picture. You two are lucky to be able to share these moments together.

    8/1/22Reply
     
  • TravelerDestination Unknown
    Day87

    Lazy Day in Flagstaff

    July 30 in the United States ⋅ ☁️ 66 °F

    Flagstaff is a great little city! High scores on the walkability factor. Endless little restaurants, bars, breweries, coffee shops, candy shops, trinket shops. Lots of quaint little patio areas to eat or drink. The train runs right through downtown proper (a lot)…which I adore!

    John went ahead and explored the area on foot while I stayed in the van and caught up on some phone calls. By the time I was ready to join him, in true John fashion, he knew exactly where to take me and all points of interest. We went to a super cool bar owned by a woman for over 20 years. She had a lot of Flagstaff knowledge and history. Very fun and reasonable drinks!

    Unfortunately, this wouldn’t be on my radar for a permanent home. Perhaps you’ll find me petty, but I’m not a fan of the crowd here. Lots & lots of ‘I don’t need to wear deodorant’, skirts made of hemp, ‘we’re going to save the world, what are YOU doing?’, types. Not a fan.

    Very happy to have snagged two nts at the south rim Grand Canyon Mather Campground. Heading up tomorrow morning. We have never been and I’m very excited!!!!    Read more

     
  • TravelerDestination Unknown
    Day86

    Busy Day!

    July 29 in the United States ⋅ 🌧 66 °F

    Man does it feel like we did a weeks full of exploring in one day! Felt like a relatively successful one as well!

    Who knew that parts of Arizona were stunningly beautiful??! Quite a surprise to us. Temperatures consistently 75° to 85° during the summer. Some light - moderately heavy snowfall, that quickly melts in winter. Lots of potential. Unfortunately, as expected, not a lot of river or lake availability.

    Here’s a rundown of our discoveries. We started the day in Show Low and slowly traveled west/northwest throughout the day:

    Show Low: Nice landscape. Nice little town. Too remote.

    Heber: Landscape getting more forested. Super cute local businesses. Good vibe. Nice people. Still too remote.

    Now we started driving through serious mountain areas. So pretty! We couldn’t believe it was Arizona!

    Payson: Ok, this will be an easy one for those of you in California to understand. Think South Lake Tahoe, but minus the gazillion tourists and the gorgeous lake. Enjoyed a great breakfast for lunch at a tiny café with a big sign across the front window that said, “We love our law enforcement and military veterans!” Super friendly people. House prices are a bit high for being so remote.

    Prescott: In love!!! The landscape and surrounding area have all the best bits. The downtown proper has that old frontier mountain town vibe. Lots of fun food/bev options. To the west there are rolling hills with more open meadows. And just north of town there are cool red rock and granite formations for hiking. There are two tiny reservoirs on the edge of town. One we could paddleboard in, but neither one of them have water clean enough to swim in. There are a couple of tiny lake options… But they would be a bit of a drive. Still thinking about this one.

    Decided to skip Sedona because we would love it and not be able to afford it. Besides, even less water!

    We are staying in the Cracker Barrel parking lot. I much prefer these over Walmart because they feel safer to me. Not here! We are usually one of 2 - 6 campers parked in the back lot. This lot is jammed full of everything from ginormous motorhomes to Honda Civic‘s full of pillows and blankets. Sometimes I’m glad John has his nug!    Read more

    Traveler

    I believe Payson is where Aunt Irene and Uncle Bob had their cabin that they use to stay in from April through October. Pup sitting so don’t have my address book with me but 99% sure.

    7/31/22Reply
     
  • TravelerDestination Unknown
    Day85

    Durango, CO - Arizona

    July 28 in the United States ⋅ 🌧 70 °F

    We left Green River Utah this morning and headed towards Durango Colorado. Drove through some beautiful country. The town of Cortez is located about 40 minutes west of Durango. I really loved the area, but the McPhee Reservoir is dried up to almost nothing. 😕

    Durango is a super cool town! John loved almost immediately. Very quaint downtown with lots of fun food & bev options. The Animas River running alongside is pretty!
    Unfortunately, the landscape felt a little to ‘closed in’ for me. I like to be able to see ‘out’ and Durango is pretty much hemmed in on all sides by mountainsides. Makes me feel a bit claustrophobic.

    Durango and Cortez would be a little too remote for our future travel plans. It would be over a 6 hr drive to Denver International.

    We left Durango heading towards some of the mountainous regions closest to Phoenix International. Massive storm systems pounded in the distance all around us. The skies were breathtaking!!! The clouds, colors and patterns were artwork. Thankfully we skirted all of them until late evening. We only drove through 2 short monsoon cloudbursts. A little bit of white knuckling it for 10 minutes or so.

    We will crash in the Walmart parking lot in Taylor, Arizona tonight.    Read more

     
  • TravelerDestination Unknown
    Day84

    Déjà vu!

    July 27 in the United States ⋅ ⛅ 93 °F

    Loved seeing Susan’s new apt. They have done a great job with it! Super comfy. Now that we’ve snuggled up with our girl for a bit, we’re feeling up to task!
    Yes, you guessed it…we decided to head south and explore Flagstaff - Prescott, AZ just as the governor declared a state of emergency urging residents to shelter in place due to flooding & mudslides!
    Oh boy! We didn’t even know that July was their monsoon season. 😬

    Neither one of us is thrilled that we are backtracking over hundreds of miles, but at this point, there’s do it or don’t. John keeps griping about his “déjà vu’! Back in May we showered at the same Planet Fitness, got gas at the same gas stations and stayed overnight in the same town. Tomorrow morning we will be in Moab AGAIN. (See what he means?)

    We are staying at a truckstop in Green River, Utah tonight and will visit Durango, Colorado first. Of course, they are getting tons of rain as well. At least we will be able to see the area?
    Wish us luck!    Read more

    Traveler

    JUST DO IT!! Keep that positive mentality you guys are awesome❤️

    7/28/22Reply
    Traveler

    Enjoy the weather, lightning storms will always provide a unique show.

    7/29/22Reply
     
  • TravelerDestination Unknown
    Day81

    We’re just a mess!

    July 24 in the United States ⋅ ☀️ 91 °F
    111

    We headed back east to check out Sisters, Redmond and Bend. Sisters is a super cool little town and is very touristy. Headed to Redmond which is a lot bigger and has a nice downtown area.

    We stared to head east to check out a reservoir but decided to start heading south as we know we like that part of Oregon.

    We drove through Bend because we have already been there . It was crazy how much Bend had grown since we were there five years ago. Super great area with tons of outdoor activities to do.

    Oregon is on our short list of places we like. Unfortunately the cost of living sucks, though it is not as bad as California.

    We ended up just driving all the way down to Reno to see Susan and Christian.

    We have thought about heading south to check out northern Arizona in the mountains near Prescott. We are also thinking about heading back to Colorado to check out Durango in the south west part of the state.

    We have a house sit back here in Reno on August 18th so would need to get back here.

    We are thinking of renting a place in Reno for a while to try a figure out what comes next. We have also thought of starting our international travels after the start of 2023 and not worrying about where we will try and settle down in the US.

    Kimberly and I are sitting in Sassy now trying to see if we will hang out here until our house sit for three weeks or head south towards Arizona.

    We will keep you all posted.    Read more

    Traveler

    Know how happy you all were to see each other after almost three months! ❤️❤️❤️

    7/25/22Reply
    Traveler

    Actually, renting a place for awhile and starting your international travels sounds like a pretty sound idea to me. Take a break from the stress of trying to figure out where to settle. No need to settle anywhere yet. Just enjoy life!

    7/25/22Reply
    Traveler

    Hahahahahahaha omg

    7/25/22Reply
    3 more comments
     
  • TravelerDestination Unknown
    Day77

    McMinnville - Albany, OR

    July 20 in the United States ⋅ ☀️ 90 °F
    1

    After cleaning and packing up the van, we left Portland around noon. We passed by a little town named Dundee on our way to McMinnville. We were both very excited when we drove by, but pulling into town we realized it was nothing but tasting rooms. Too bad there aren’t stores or services available, because it is a beautiful little area!

    McMinnville was a nice little town, but for some reason, neither one of us particularly warmed to it. Driving from there to Salem, the countryside looks very much like Sonoma County, but a bit greener. Lovely mountain views in the distance on all sides. We both liked the area very much.

    Once we got into Salem we happened into a local beer and coffee joint. The owners were on site and we chatted extensively with the lifelong Oregonians. They gave us helpful advice on some of the future areas we are looking at, as well as suggesting some of their favorite places in Oregon. It’s very heartening when we meet up with people like this. We never quite feel like it was by ‘chance’!

    One of their Highly recommended towns was Independence, so off we went. We would not have gone through this town on our planned route. I am glad we deviated, because we both really liked it!

    Our Harvest Host for the night was 15 miles down the road in Albany. Not as cute as McMinnville or Independence, but still a cool place. We had the best Chinese food that we’ve had in decades at a seemingly shit hole (from the outside). Inside was spotless and the food was phenomenal!! The owners did all of the serving and cooking. Very sweet!

    We are parked along the Willamette River at Deluxe Brewery and Distillery. I’m looking forward to falling asleep to the light rumbling of the freight train down the road. Very soothing to me for some reason.

    **Pics are random while driving along. Wanted to show examples of the land. Of course we always forget pics of towns! 🙄    Read more

    Traveler

    My mouth is watering for Chinese food now 🤪

    7/21/22Reply
    Traveler

    😂

    7/23/22Reply
    Traveler

    You are scooting all around my mom n sis. LOL. They just moved from Independence to Salem and mom does her "FUN" shopping in McMinnville. It is all very beautiful. Watch the water from the river though. Generally, there isn't to many people actually IN the water, there is a reason. Text me for more info. If you guys are headed to Prescott, there are lakes there and that was a second spot Paul and I thought we may go....and Sedona is up the road for us woogie boogie folks. lol

    7/27/22Reply
    Traveler

    Funny you mention it. We are crashing at a truck stop in Utah on our way there now...ah ya, RIGHT after The governor declared a state of emergency urging people to stay in place because of the flooding and mudslides😐

    7/27/22Reply
     
  • TravelerDestination Unknown
    Day76

    Still in Portland

    July 19 in the United States ⋅ ☀️ 84 °F
    1

    Last full day of our cat sit in Portland. Yesterday we had a lot of downtime. Snuggled with Zack, watched a couple of movies and put a puzzle together.
    Today we caught up on laundry, started packing up a bit and then went downtown for a couple of happy hours.
    All in all, we enjoyed our time immensely. A great kitty sit!    Read more

    Traveler

    ❤️❤️❤️❤️

    7/20/22Reply
     

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