Home at last...

Thomas and I left Portland after a great week and a half on Tuesday at 2 pm.  We took turns driving, stopping for an hour in Ontario, OR for dinner, then another hour in Rock Springs, WY for breakfast.  We hit a single file line of red lights in Fort Collins, CO and detoured down 287, slowing us down and nearly causing us to miss Mr. Sushi in Lakewood before they closed from lunch.  Phew!  Fifteen minutes to spare, and they served us graciously.  Another pit stop at Harbor Frieght before heading on to the stop and go traffic between Castle Rock and Colorado Springs.  Admittedly, we were passing through during  rush hour.  From there we checked out Home Depot in Pueblo (where we're heading tomorrow for supplies for an 8 x 16 addition) to price lumber.  And then, only then, could we sail into New Mexico, arriving home at 9 pm!     Twenty-nine hours in all, and we just walked out of the truck, left everything packed snug and safely inside it and the trailer, and settled down for the night....   The last couple of days have been wrought with the business of unpacking, settling in, and trying to establish ourselves.    After an awful series of phone calls on Tom's cell to get a phone line and internet service, we will now wait until Thursday of next week for the service call to set up both through Qwest.  There is much specualtion that they will figure out where we live and have to eat their words about offering internet in the area, which could only mean waiting another week.  Every customer service agent of every business has sung a different tune!  Alas...    And tomorrow we will make a run to Pueblo for building materials, a stop on the way back in Trinidad for groceries, and maybe a stop along the way for a new cell phone for me.  So much to do, and tomorrow is already Saturday!

stressed?

These past few days have been a wonderful blend of friends and family and social time mixed in with preparation and planning and errands.  As the time draws even nearer, two days, an hour, and twenty minutes..., I am feeling the question of "is everything ready?" surface in my shoulders and gut.  I can list all the things I forgot or forgot to do in NM before we left.  And now I am wondering if we really will drive off in an hour, settle in at the mountains, and not need to come back to Portland for forgotten things.  We'll see!   The weather forecast a couple days ago projected sun and more sun.  Today it predicts rain.  I admit I am diappointed.  I would prefer sun, though I keep hearing rain is lucky.  So now I offer it all up and trust that God is good.

I heart Hoodies

Hoodies in Portland in June...   Given the rain and cool evenings, everyone needs a hoody in Portland in June - the slang term for a sweatshirt with a hood on it.  However, what we really WANT are the hoodies off the vine.  Mt Hood strawberries are so delicious that we have eaten them four days in a row.  Yum yum yum!

family time

The last couple of evenings have been a blessing like no other.   Last night my brother Auggie called to say if we didn't have dinner plans, he was coming over to make something.  He was already in the kitchen with Jean when we returned from the Bear Hut (made a trip up with beer and for cleaning).  There was a pot of simmering beans, a bowl of "marinating" slaw, a cutting board of avocados, and a pile of fish on the counter...he was making fish tacos!  Yummy!!  I have never had his fish tacos, and I don't know when I will get to have them again.  But I will remember the tastes and the laughter and the glad spirits of all of us.  It was a treat to have Miki & Marty join us, too.  Dad, Nick & Jen were missed, and Cole, of course.  But they all missed the finale of Mt. Hood strawberries.   Tonight, another treat, though this time missing Auggie, Nick, Jen, and Cole, was dinner with Thomas' parents and sister's family.  We had a feast, much laughter, tons of storytelling, and strawberries again.  The guys hung out upstairs drinking whiskey, while we women told more stories and entertained Maya and Sara.    Truly, what a treat!  We are grateful for the safe travels of these our wedding guests, first to arrive.  We pray for the safe travels of Daniel & Julie and all our other friends and family.

first tears...

Tom and I have been getting all sorts of things checked off our lists, even the "to do" to check things off the list.  "/  In our spare time, I helped in the garden, we washed Tom's truck and Dad's car, and I visited Cole.  He is such a cute baby!   Officially, the day started off with church.  Not much else time for anything before it, as we stayed up talking with Dad for two hours after he returned home from Bend at 10:30 pm.  I couldn't find my cell phone charger at 12:30 am, which would have powered my "alarm clock" for church, and evidently Dad heard "quarter after eight" instead of "quarter till eight", so I had ten minutes to look alive.   At the end of the service, Fr. Bob invited the graduates to stand for a blessing.  As none were present, he called Tom & I up for a church blessing instead.  I was surprised, not prepared for it, but moved all the same.  Moved to tears...    The wedding isn't for another six days, but the tears have started!

Magic stick...

So our flower girl is having cold feet.  I am not sure whether the mind of an almost four year old can ever be truly made up, so I am still holding my breath.  Her older sister, on the other hand, told me this afternoon that she is a very capable replacement.  Sweet!   Monica, this sweet little girl, is still a little shy, so we thought that maybe getting to see her everyday for a week might help her change her mind.  This afternoon I was up visiting with the girls and their mom Amy, my dear ol' college roomie.  Monica forgot where she was and rolled down the stairs while drawing on the patio with her chalk.  I scooped her up, as Amy was on the phone, and we found an ice cube for her smooshed finger.  Surprisingly, the worst complaint was her finger, which had a couple of scrapes.  An ice cube wasn't going to do anything but soothe her tears, so I twisted one up like a piece of candy in a paper towel.  "It isn't cold," she said.  A quick splash of water fixed that, though the tears had already subsided.  Her left forearm and right knee also suffered the slightest of scrapes.  I looked for a little lotion, just to take away the dry look of it, but found none.  So a kiss and a few swipes from my magic stick (a Burt's Bees chapstick from my pocket) made it all better, even with a giggle about how "my mom has that, too".  I replied to Monica that it must be because we're such good friends.

a bed I don't have to worry about...

A long, long time ago, Mary, Jennifer, and I made a road trip to Taos.  Our good friend Scotty offered us his parents' place for our accommodations, but didn't talk to them about it.  We arrived, and there was no hidden key.  There was, at that time, also no cell phone service, so we drove to a pay phone to verify that we were going to have to find a hotel, ie we got his voicemail.  Jennifer threatened that we would blame him if we got some disease from a cheap motel...which came to mind as Thomas and I have stayed at various lodging along Highway 101.  Not a particularly happy thought, but it makes me so grateful to be in Portland at my parents' home in the little room with the little bed just for me!    We made some oatmeal on the campstove at our hotel this morning...we can still pretend!  Our campout was great and dry.  It didn't appear, at first glance out the window, that the sky was crying down on us, but it was cloudy as cloudy can be.  Still no sunshine!  We packed up and moved on out earlier than we have all week.    Our first stop today was the Tillamook Naval Air Station Museum.  It is mostly comprised of a private collection of war planes, over half of which Thomas could identify just by looking at them.  We snapped some pictures sitting in a couple cockpits, but mostly just took it all in.  The whole collection is air-worthy (is that the equivalent for sea-worthy?), and the owner comes to town to fly them when the weather is clear.  Pretty amazing!   Our next stop was the Tillamook Cheese Factory.  Yum!  We wandered through the self-guided tour, watching the 2 lb cheddar loaf production line.  Pretty intriguing how it all works, and now I know why sometimes there is that extra little piece sandwiched across the top (because it was underweight).  The end of the tour is the tasting line.  There were six varieties for tasting, and I joked with Thomas about going through the line another time.  We didn't.  Instead we bought some garlic white cheddar and made our way to the car for lunch.  We got out the crackers and a pouch of tuna...hmm, hmmm good!  After our healthy lunch, we walked back across the parking lot for ice cream!  Truthfully, it was my first ice cream in a week (the ice cream bars his parents sent over our last Thursday in Miami after Thomas got a little sun-sick), which is pretty amazing considering all the signs for ice cream along the beach.  It was delicious - I do love how they get that crunchy icy thing going on in the root beer float ice cream.    Our stop after that was another walk on the beach at Gearhart, where we typically frequented on family beach trips.  (A somber moment: I thought of a family back in Denver that lost two children when a plane crashed into their beach house while on vacation.  It was almost two years ago in Gearhart that the family was torn apart.  They are close friends of my former boss, and I know that they are still grieving and healing.  I pray for them.)  There wasn't a good place to park the truck with a trailer in tow, so I drove right down onto the sandy beach...pretty cool!  We walked along the waterline, Thomas desperately searching for a whole sand dollar.  We snapped some pictures, I ran into the water.  There was a chilly wind on the beach pushing up kites further north.  We turned around and headed back.  Following Thomas with the camera, I tried to capture him squacking at some seagulls, his reflection in the wet sand, and then EUREKA!  He found a whole sand dollar for me (a personal story of God on the beach for me), and I told him it was a sign from God that I should go on following him!  Cheesy as cheesy can be!  With this I dared him back into the water, holding hands and running.  This was not one time to keep following, as he gave me a big hug and drug me further out and held me tight while the frigid water splashed all over my goose-bumped legs and numb toes.  Running back to the car at least got the blood circulating again!   We continued our journer through Astoria and on up to our eighth state - Washington!  We really just drove over this really cool, long bridge and then turned around to drive back, but we can safely say we drove the whole coast and didn't even leave off the curb at the end because we kept going!  We also picked up some salmon for the party after our nuptials.  That in itself was an ordeal, but we kept our eyes on the prize...Portland before dinner.   Mom, Tom, and I went for some sushi and then set about to wedding planning.  Tomorrow it will all begin again.  And for now, I need to go put my clothes in the dryer, so I have some fresh clothes for the morning.

Rain, rain, go away...

If not tomorrow, at least in time for the wedding?!?! Thomas and I departed from Grants Pass early - somewhat early - on Wednesday morning headed for the Redwood Highway! I was excited for Thomas to see the redwoods, and the morning was dry and sunny. We loaded up and hit the road. Thomas drove us into our seventh state - California! Back to pumping our own gas, except that we didn't have to get gas down there. The redwoods were amazing! Needless to say, the rain started not long out of Grants Pass. We got out at Jedediah Smith State Park and the Stout Grove. I have great pictures, but forgot the cord to upload them. It was really exciting, despite getting a bit soggy. Thomas and I also saw some crazy looking slugs! From there our journey up the Oregon Coast along Highway 101 began. The winding coastal roads, the ocean always near by, towns every ten miles, and the rain...all constants of the last couple of days. We stopped at a light house, had a fishy lunch, and looked out rain streaked windows at the tumultuous ocean. We desperately hoped a yurt would be available at one of the state parks, but alas...no such luck. We did have the luck to have enough dry weather to set up our indoor "tent" again, shifting the contents of the truck around, including tarping and covering the mead from rain. As we walked the fee up to the station from our campsite, the mist began. It was kind of romantic, though, right? We walked on to the Umpqua Lighthouse, as the mist shifted into a drizzle. It was neat looking out into the ocean, and I secretly hoped for an unprecedented whale sighting. But then the drizzle turned into a solid rain. My rain jacket no longer served me well, as the water streamed solidly off the jacket and down my backside...wet pants, yuck! Everything was soaked, but gratefully we had already set up camp. Wet pants, wet shoes, and no place to go but the sleeping bag to get toasty and dry. We still had good spirits, and we had reason to suspect the weather might change for us. I don't remember who told us, but someone said sun was coming. After a few (losing - for me) games of Backgammon, we called it a night. The rain pounded the roof like a herd of elephants, and I could only hope that this was the cloud's last efforts to drain the rain. I had all sorts of wonderful and complicated dreams, and I wasn't eager to wake up, especially as the sky out of the camper looked gray. A little longer, a little longer, and then I actually saw blue! Thomas and I began to stir and shift gears. We set about to heating water for oatmeal and cocoa, and - don't tell - a few blue jays with their pointy profile squacked for oatmeal, too. One came in, and two other dive dombed for their share. Silly birds! The dry spell literally lasted long enough for us to get everything loaded, the trailer hooked up, and the truck rolling back towards the highway. Seriously! We felt blessed to have been granted a dry morning of breaking camp, but had hoped the rain would stay away a little longer. Today we set about to visiting the Rogue Brewery and the Oregon Aquarium in Newport. We had many visits to "waysides", the little pull-offs of ocean vistas. One such vista included the sea lions swimming and basking in their fame. Another included the water breaking over outlying rocks and creating a beautiful spray. It was all so gorgeous, but the best was an accident. Not an accident accident, but a wonderfully unanticipated oasis in the sand. I won't pretend that we have been been on a luxury vacation. We are trying to balance frugality and fun, as we are both unemployed and about to tie the big knot! So as we cruised into Lincoln City, we were on the prowl for seafood dinner. We were trying to be judicious, when "seafood grill" appeared on the left side of the road. Getting across the street was tricky, but we made it, parked, and set ourselves on course for dinner. We knew we were in trouble when we walked in the door, but what sealed the deal was "dinner won't be served for half an hour, but we would suggest some wine and a few appetizers". The appetizers were each about $20. We let the waitress know we would "take a walk until dinner was served" and slipped out the door to seek dinner elsewhere. Tillamook was the furthest we wanted to drive, but there were still some towns in between. We jumped off 101 for the scenic route through Pacific City, and the grace of God led us yet again to where we wanted to go. Pelican Brewery was right on the beach with a beautiful view, delicious beer, and non-fried seafood options! Yummy! We shared a seafood quesadilla and a bowl of seafood bouillabase, and we left smiling! I highly recommend it. So the other blessing was the rain let up after dinner. We were so close to the beach, and even though we had stopped yesterday to just walk down onto the beach to say we'd been there, we still hadn't gotten our toes wet. We removed our socks, donned our sandals, cuffed our pants, and headed out about 7 pm tonight to dip our toes into the Pacific! It has been years since I have been able to swim in the ocean, so I was giddy, to say the least. We collected some heart shaped stones (five of them) and snapped a few pics for proof. I felt so young! Again, like clockwork, the rain started within five minutes of getting back into the truck. We opted tonight to stay cozy inside instead of camping our last night. It kind of seems ridiculous to pay $20 - $30 for a camping site in the rain at the state parks, especially when we've been so spoiled to live in states where you can find places to pull of the road without paying anything. Ah well, the hot shower felt great and melted away the rain showers! And I control the thermostat, so I am warm and dry!

A beautiful gap in the woods!

Today is Tuesday, I think. We ended up in a hotel room in Grants Pass tonight because it has been raining hard. It just seemed like a pain in the you-know-what to try to 1) find a camping spot and pitch a tent in the mud or 2) move all the contents of the truck bed into the cab carefully in the rain and set up the "tent" under the truck topper. So anyway...hotel it is! On Monday we leisurely left Bend after some wandering, a stop at a thrift store, lunch at the Deschutes Brewery, and gassing up. Our destination was Crater Lake, but we stopped to see the Lava Cast Forest along the road first (quite amazing!). We got a bit detoured when we headed for the north entrance of the park only to find it closed. We weren't upset because the detour was beautiful...an unexpected waterfall and beautiful mountain vistas. We swung in through the west entrance after weaving in and out of the the tall trees, hills, and ridges. The gentleman at the gate was courteous, though it was frustrating to hear from him that the north entrance was opened in the afternoon, but the highway signs weren't updated. We drove straight away for the visitor center before finding our campsite, only to find that the center closed at 5 pm - and it was about 6 pm. Bummer! Next we got to the Mazama campground only to wait for 20 minutes to speak to the agent who would assign us a site. His response was not great, though it made for a great night. The campgrounds were not open, nor would be any time soon. Granted, at 5000 feet snow magically appeared on the side of the road, which I hadn't anticipated or even thought would effect our plans. Why didn't anybody tell me that the snow in Crater Lake isn't gone for sure until mid July, if then? Bummer! The guy to "check us in to a site" was a bit arrogant, which really turned us off, and $146 for a two bed lodge suite was not part of our plan. We had seen a number of camping sites along our detour, which were all below 5000 feet, so we headed back in that direction. Huckleberry Mountain was our winning turn. After climbing a road back into snow, we had a brilliant turn around with the trailer behind us. At the bottom of the hill, there had been another road running parallel to a creek, so we headed back down to it and found ourselves in an enchanted forest. I kid you not, the views were unparalleled; the trees both massive and dense at times, and then long and spindly climbing up the ridges; the rushing creek loud; and little havens of grass patches tucked into the trees revealed all sorts of places we could settle in. The light was perfect...still some sun in the sky. It was difficult to choose to stop at any of these little havens when there was still more road, and we had no idea when and where it would end. At last, we realized with the help of Gary the Garmin that the road would empty back out onto the highway soon enough. And like a stroke of a magic wand, there was a road that peeled off to the north into a large open space. At first wandering we found wild strawberries, a purple trillium, and probably half a dozen mushroom varieties. There was another large clearing with a fire circle just above the roaring creek. Wow - it seemed like a fairy tale place where, as a child, we imagined our backyards into or which we wrote about in our school journals. I could see myself as a grown girl wanting to build a treehouse and live on the strawberries. Unfortunately, it did get much more cold than I was ready for, so I didn't sleep as well. Waking up, I was lucky that Thomas started the truck and nearly carried me, sleeping bag and all, into the warmth of the cab as he broke camp...true love! After a morning walk around the Rogue Gorge, we found breakfast before we headed back to Crater Lake. It really is glorious, and we hope to return some year late in the summer when we can hike and enjoy the trails. Today the snow was still quite deep, so overlooks and the West Rim Drive were as much as we could enjoy...and we thoroughly did! Headed west to the beach, we stopped at multiple waterfalls to stretch our legs and bask in the beauty of God's creation. The rain started about Glide, OR and didn't let up. So tomorrow...we head off for Thomas's first sight of living redwood trees and then crawl our way up the coast of Oregon. The rain is not forecasted to let up till Portland, but we have raincoats!

sushi cravings

Thomas and I went out for sushi last night.  He's always craving raw fish, and I told him back home in Miami, if he catches fresh trout, we'll have to create a new roll with it. So the restaurant took some creative licenses with the rolls.  A few had goat cheese in them, one had tempura jalapenos, another had mango...creative, yes.  It was a popular place, quite a long wait for our food.  Once it did come, we set off to stuffing ourselves (it was our first real meal on the road).  Meanwhile, an older couple, guessing late 70s, were seated at the table next to us.  He was pretty stooped over, and she was quite sociable.  The waitress hunkered down for the long haul.  She explained quite a lot of the menu, and knowing that they would be waiting for their meal for at least half an hour (that's how long we waited, and the place was a lot more full), she suggested appetizers - soup, edamame, a salad.  The woman wanted nothing of it; she just wanted to order it all at once.  The waitress described dish after dish.  I kept giggling to Thomas.  Once an order was placed, they turned to us and watched us eating a sushi roll.  She asked what it was, and I called it by name "Yakuza Roll".  She wondered aloud, "Oh that's a roll; I thought it was bread."  Of course, the traditional roll with dinner isn't raw fish rolled up in rice and seaweed;  it's a starchy white round of bread, perfect for stuffing with butter and jam or mopping up sauce.  She then admitted that it was their first time trying the restaurant.  We finished up our dinner and wished them well.  They were blowing on their little bowls of steaming miso soup with the funny shaped spoons, feeling adventurous, no doubt!  As we walked back through downtown, I told Thomas that I hope I am that adventurous at that age.

Bend...

That's where I am tonight! Thomas & I left home in Miami, NM yesterday midday.  We drove, drove, and drove.  We did have to return a library book in Denver, but I drove from Denver to Rock Springs and gave up the keys to Thomas around 12:45 am.  He got us through the wee hours and swapped somewhere in Idaho.  I have to say that I have never followed the road west from Ontario towards Bend, and what a gorgeous day and a beautiful drive! So...resting up in Bend and headed to Crater Lake tomorrow!

Oh and one more thing

Oh yeay, and when we drove away from the house towards pizza on Sunday night, there was a rainbow at the east end of the mesa!  What a wonderful sign!

Day 1 and then some

My, my, my...the days begin to blur.  Not really, but I wasn't really sure what to call this day.  It is Wednesday - if I have been tracking properly, though I haven't really been tracking at all.     Technically Thomas & I began the move to Miami long before the end of May.  We even spent the night on May 1st, when we moved quite a bit in to the house and storage buildings.  But Sunday was the official Day 1 of having no other place to go.  Gratefully, we were accompanied by our good friend Jennifer, who not only came down and unpacked a whole lot of boxes after unloading them from the trailers, but she also hauled a load herself.  It was a lot of fun driving down the highway together, though a pair of walkie talkies would have made it much more entertaining.   Sunday was exhausting: cleaning out the apartment, loading up Tom's trailer, my car, and Jennifer's car, emptying the freezer and fridge, shortly after cleaning the freezer and fridge, and lastly sweeping and mopping the whole place.  Phew!  That should have put us all in the mood for a nap, not four hours of solo driving.  Jennifer and I arrived around 5 pm, followed soon after by Tom's pop Mike.  I felt so foolish, but I greeted him with a "howdy neighbor!" and a "good thing you're here because the fridge kicked on when I twisted the nob, but now it is doing nothing."  Sure, sure, it was just a month and a half of inactivity that gave the freon a hard time getting going, but I panicked that I had the opposite of Midas' Touch - instead of turning things to gold, I just broke them!  We hastily unloaded what we could before heading to Tom's parents' house for pizza.  From there Jennifer and I walked to Marie & Dave's for a hello, while Thomas got his first turn on Pop's new backhoe.  Oh boy!   So the day is not over yet.  Aside from the other unpacking and making of beds, the grand finale was yet to come.  Shortly after oohing and aaahing at the beautiful sky full of stars - more than you'll see anywhere! - I jumped in the shower to wash the weariness off.  Gratefully, the hot water heater worked well, a little too well maybe.  Uponturning the nobs off, the shower continued to run, so I turned a little further.  I was too tired to really process that the running water was just draining off the shower nozzle, so the extra little oomph snapped the plastic inner workings of the hot water nob, and I found out the hot water heater really does work too well.  I struggled to switch the water from the shower to the faucet as the water got hotter and hotter, just in time to scald my foot instead of my head and back.  Calling out a few profanities, Thomas and Jennifer came running to find out what was the matter.  Much grumbling and futzing later, we found the water shut off valve just outside the front door.  Sadly, many other efforts were taken first, and the water gushed for a good 30 minutes as we tried one thing and then the next.  What a night!  I felt terribly sorry for stirring up so much trouble, but I am sure it would have happened to anyone.  Tuesday morning we made a trip to Raton for our first supply run, including a new handle mount.  Oh brother!    So far there haven't been any other minor catastrophes, but there have been a fantastic family BBQ on Sunday, lots of unpacking, a wonderful first homecooked meal, a first movie, lots of beautiful sunsets, and a couple of nice walks.  More to come...   PS - this message is brought to you by the graciousness of Mike & Alice, who are letting us use internet this week.  We'll get ours set up when we get back, but no sense messing with it (or paying for it) since we'll be gone three weeks...