Now we've done it. Truly done it. We have officially left home, and are venturing out with no end destination. The family farewells were emotional, as predicted, with quiet tears being wiped away and brave smiles being worn. Jason spent last Wednesday morning double-checking all of the RV's systems and mechanics, while I tidied up the inside. Though a bit off topic, I should note that we have finally committed to a name for our dear Winnebago Brave RV. With the help of family, friends, and a Facebook Poll, there was a resounding cheer for the name "Wanda". So Wanda it is! Thank goodness for the movie 'Fried Green Tomatoes' so I can forever yell, "Towanda!" every time we need to head back to the RV. Your welcome.
While Jason was completing some last minute checks, he found our water holding tank to be leaking at one of the nozzle joints. He and his dad were trouble-shooting and went to the local hardware store for the part. It didn't fit. No where in town had the part. This dilemma was the first we've had with not having a residence, and therefore not having a permanent mailing address to ship our online orders to. While we're in Hermiston, we are docked at Jason's parents' house, so we use their address for all our needs. Unfortunately, when we're on the road, that convenience is no longer with us. For a first time issue, it was fairly easy to remedy. Conveniently, our road trip led us to the home of my very dear friend since 7th grade and her family down in Arizona. Stephanie allowed us to ship the part to her, and when we arrived on Saturday, it would be waiting for us. Pretty slick. But it did get me thinking about how we will need to accumulate our necessities while out on the road in the future. Do RV parks, State Parks, local Post Offices, etc. allow for one-time mailings or packages to come through? I'd assume they would. Suppose I ought to look into that before we leave the luxury that is Stephanie's mailing address.
It was over 1,100 miles from our current location in Hermiston, OR to my BFF's house in Surprise, AZ. Jason, yet again, worked his magic and plotted our course with stop-overs. We would stop twice along the way. Our first stop was a little less welcoming than Jason had planned out. We were going to stop at another free Harvest Host spot for a quick sleep, then back on the road. Unfortunately, we got a later start than anticipated (we should probably get used to that), and we wouldn't get to the Host spot until after they had closed. Harvest Host offers free one-night stays to RVs, with the customary expectation that the RV residents will spend money on the farm, wine, museum, or whatever business you're using the parking lot of. Since we wouldn't arrive until after this particular host's museum closed, we would need to hang around until after 10am the next day for the museum to open so we could honor the HH agreement. Staying in a parking lot isn't really awesome, as one would imagine. There's no hook-ups, which means we're using our on-board limited supply of gas and water to sustain ourselves for the night. So to hang around even longer in the morning, it just didn't make sense to stop at that Host.
Jason carried on a bit longer, we ate dinner at a small bar & grill where none of us were up for getting our picture on the wall by eating their 1lb BLT sandwich, drove a few more miles down the road and pulled over into a gas station lot that had plenty of parking off to the side in a big gravel pit. Not an overly welcoming stay, included with a straight-from-a-horror-movie flickering light above the gas station island, but we got through the night - with the assurance of Jason getting up frequently checking on the lights pulling in or strange noises of things passing in the night.
We have a family member that told us about how he did road trips when his kids were little. This man is an EARLY bird - I'm talking 4am and he's reading the newspaper. The rest of his family weren't so...umm...chipper about leaving the house at 4am. So he sold this idea to his two young boys as an adventure. Something cool and exciting that they never, ever get to do: sleeping in the car - overnight! The dad pulls the car into the garage, his two boys get to "camp out" (how exciting!!) in the family car's backseat, and he slips into the driver seat at too-early-o'clock to hit the road without ever waking his precious little cherubs. Status level: Genius. Jason took a note out of the Genius' playbook and made the same offer to the boys and I in the gravel pit of that gas station. If we kept everything put away and locked down, didn't push the slide out, and changed up the sleeping arrangements a little bit, then he can get up as the rooster crows (or earlier as it turned out) and start driving. It was a unanimous vote, and Jason was able to drive a solid 2.5 hours the next morning before we were all awake for the day.
Our next stop was over seven hours of driving away, but as we were about to find out, it was incredible. Jason found a fantastic RV park/campground in Cathedral Gorge State Park where we had electric hook-ups. There wasn't water we could hook-up to, but there were free on-site showers and bathrooms a half-block walk away. That State Park is remarkable. I had no idea the beauty we were going to see during the very dry, flat drive we had getting there. We stayed two nights at the Park,
and all agreed we could have easily stayed a week or two exploring and taking in the hikes and adventures displayed all around us. The full day we were there, we took about a three mile hike around the rocks and through the basin of the Gorge. Having just completed their school work, I played teacher of the year and incorporated our lessons during our walk. Cord is learning about the first colonies and Ryan is learning about the history of how our current government came to be.
Naturally, we all talked about where we would create our settlement there in the Park and what type of government we would organize. Gold star for me.
We spent two enjoyable days at Cathedral Gorge before setting off for Arizona. Alas, we were headed for warmth! Fall was coming quick back up in Oregon and the cooler temperatures were creeping in. Unfortunately, we are not equipped for cold temperatures when it comes to our clothes. I purged all of us down to tropical, living on a catamaran in the Caribbean, simplistic wardrobes. The boat buying portion of our goals with this lifestyle is taking longer than any of us realized, and we need to head south so we aren't acquiring winter clothes and stuffing this RV even more. After a smooth seven or so hours of driving, Jason got us to our destination for the next week: Surprise, Arizona, at the Gentner Residence.
Stephanie Steelman and I have been friends since 7th grade. I was the extra daughter in the Steelman household. I went on their family vacations with them (I even went one year when Stephanie couldn't go), I cried at funerals with them, I talked through trauma with them. As we grew up, through marriages, babies, and multiple moves, Steph and I are still close. Calling or texting when life gets hard, or needs celebrating. If the boat market will start cooperating, then when Steph's oldest son graduates high school this year, they will come spend a week or so with us on the catamaran sailing serene waters. Stephanie, along with her husband, two daughters, and son have been exceptional towards us during our stay here in
their home. Wanda is parked right out front, and Steph has us hooked up with her house for electrical. This family has brought our family of five into their lives without a single complaint or hesitation. And her family is BUSY! But we're along for the ride with them, and I'm loving it. There's bowling league, softball tournaments, cross country meets, practices, pool time, fancy ice cream shops, home-cooked meals, snacks, candy, fun talks about school drama, and homecoming dress shopping. It's just like when I was little. Stephanie brought me in, and I melded into whatever her family was doing. Though her name has changed to Gentner, I continue to be a part of her family. And when her family is off to work or school, she keeps her house totally open to us. Kitchen, laundry, bathrooms, showers. We have full reign, and she insists on not having it any different. This is the type of neighborliness, friendship, humanity, however you want to label it, that I want to be submersed in. That I want to share and show my boys. And this week will continue to bring us memories with the Gentner clan, along with another meetup with a set of relatives that I have come to truly adore - Nana Kelly and Grandpa Larry, we're ready for our next adventure with you!
Until then, here's to gorgeous Gorges, enduring friendships, and continuing on the less beaten path.
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