Looking Back - 4/12/2022 Kirkland WA -> Silver Falls State Park OR

Silver Falls State Park, OR

Road Trip Kirkland WA to Silver Falls State Park OR

Today we look back on our first drive.  Since we retired early, we do what we can to save money so we don't have a ton of data on our phone plans.  The goal is to post little updates on the road and then look back when I have an unlimited connection.  

The day started with us waking up in our empty (well we left a couch and a bed) apartment.  We heated up coffee that we had made the day before (the coffee maker was packed and went into storage the day before) and looked forward to the adventure that was going to unfold over the next year or so.  After coffee, we packed the van and got Francis settled.  We didn't have an incentive to get to our destination early because we couldn't check in until 3pm.  

The drive was about 4 hours and we took a few stops to let Francis do his thing.  

One of the many beautiful Washington State Rest Stops

One of the things I like to do is track which highways I have driven on.  I am experimenting with recording all of our drives in the My Tracks App.  It seems to be going pretty well.

Our drive for the day

We arrived at Silver Falls State Park just in time for check in.  There was a lot more snow on the ground than we had expected. We had been getting weather from Sublimity OR and it turns out the comparison is Apples to Oranges.  

Francis can sense the snow on the ground

The snow continued to fall lightly as we set up camp.  It was our first time setting up camp with as many crates as we have.  The plan is to put the crates without food and without valuables under tarps overnight.  They fit in the van when driving, but when we set up the bed we have to move them out.

Setting up camp in the "snow"

Once camp was set up we took a short walk.  It was very wet snow so we decided to just stick close.  Silver Falls State Park is known for its 4 mile 10 waterfall hike but we decided to skip it this time.

Clear walkways were nice

Snow capped logs on the river

Oregon State Parks have heated bathrooms!

Miles of Smiles

The beer we shared stayed cold

We whipped up dinner as the snow continued to fall and then hit the sack just before the sun went down.  Before bed Donna usually reads and I type up my trip notes for the day.

Here are some photos we took last year during real spring when it wasn't snowing.  It's really an incredible place and you should totally go when it isn't snowing.

Mind your head

The trails lead behind the falls

You can see The Backside of Water

Last year outdoor masks were the norm

Made it to Curry County OR - On The Road Quick Update

Humbug Mountain State Park OR

This morning we were able to dig out, chain up, and get out of there!  Today's learnings include how to put on snow cables, how to NOT take off snow cables, how to correctly take off snow cables, and how much we have missed a good In-N-Out Burger. 

Rolling Out

That's What A Hamburgers All About

Rain Is Easier Than Snow 

Tomorrow we head to Northern CA!

Seattle, It Isn't Goodbye, It's See You Later

Kirkland, WA

The Final Day 

We have arrived at our final full day in Washington.  We are sitting in a largely empty apartment waiting for Podzilla to come and pick our stuff up.  We are also waiting to do a walkthrough with our apartment manager to try to maximize our deposit return.  I went and go doughnuts at our favorite place this morning, Factory Doughnuts, and we are eating them while drinking our coffee.  Seattle is known for its good doughnuts but those are fancy cake doughnuts that are good for The Instagram.  We like the good old fashion deep fried raised doughnuts so that is what we are eating. The box says it all!

We do deserve a doughnut!

While enjoying our favorite doughnuts, we also think about all of the other great things here in the Seattle area.  We have great Friends, there are great breweries, there is great nature, and the weather makes everything green and misty for most of the year.  We will miss here but we look forward to all of the other "heres" we will experience on our journey. 

What Francis is doing right now

Thinking back

We have been here for 5 years (2 in a high rise in Seattle proper and 3 in Kirkland) and enjoyed our time.  We were going through memoires yesterday and thinking of all of the good times.  

We took multiple camping trips to the San Juan Islands visiting all the islands you can visit by ferry.

I got invited to watch the first public training day for the new Seattle Kraken Hockey Team.

I was invited to see 2 games and we won them both!

The 2nd game had a much more elaborate introduction sequence for the team.  

We got to use our Library card to get into various museums around Seattle.

Francis enjoys the woodsy dog park here in Kirkland.

We volunteered for the local Greyhound rescue helping turn out the dogs (play with them in a field) once a week on Monday nights. 

I can't really fit five years of memories here in one post.  I guess this is why I am starting this blog.  It is 2022 and I hear everyone has a blog.  I know YouTube or Instagram would be more popular but one of my goals is to write more and those other two platforms don't really fit the goal so a blog it is!

The two takeaways I want you to take away from this post is that in 2022 you need a blog and a library card.

We hit the road tomorrow and won't have fast internet until next Monday.  I am trying to figure out what I will do on the road.  It may just be a cell post that says, "I'm here!  Things are going well!  Pictures soon!"  But wee will see.  I change my mind a lot because I can.

Nomadic Living Begins Soon

Kirkland, WA

It Always Rains When You Are Moving 

It's Sunday morning and we are drinking our coffee waiting for the rain to stop.  We still have a few boxes to put into our PODs Storage Container.  We are down to the last minute items like the coffee maker, the TV, the Kitchen Table, and bathroom mats.  Our 8ft x 8ft x 16ft storage container gets picked up tomorrow at some point.  They will give us a 3 hour window tonight around 6pm.  Normally when someone does this they know when they will see their stuff again.  We don't.  On Tuesday we hit the road and we don't know when we will settle back down.  

The Travel Plan (and how we got there)

We have been planning this Great US Road Trip for about a year now.  The plan has morphed and changed into what it is now.  Originally we had planned on moving to a different state each year.  While planning for that, we figured out we didn't have to race the movers to our next location.  We could take our time and spend what would have been rent money on camping and hotels.  Once that idea felt comfortable and we realized how much it costs to move your stuff every time, we thought about vacation houses in different places instead of apartments.  We could leave our stuff in storage and just travel!  So we aren't totally van life and we aren't totally staying in vacation houses.  The high level plan is to road trip for a week or two, stay in a vacation house for a month, and then repeat the process in a different state.  We have through November planned and booked (mostly).  Here are the details.

April 12 Silver Falls SP OR                 June 30 - July 30 McKinney TX

April 13 Humbug Mt SP OR                 July 30 & 31 Tulsa OK

April 14 McKerracher SP CA         August 1 - September 1 Kansas City MO

April 15 Redwoods SP CA         September 2 & 3 Alley Spring SP MO

April 16 & 17 Cerro Alto Campground CA September 4 & 5 Hawn SP MO

April 18 - May 18 Los Angeles CA         September 6 Lake of the Ozarks SP MO

May 18 & 19 Flagstaff AZ                 September 7 Jefferson City MO

May 20 & 21 Grand Canyon NP AZ September 8 Delabar SP IL

May 22 Devil's Canyon Campground UT September 9 Apple River Canyon SP IL

May 23 & 24 Frutia Campground UT         September 10 & 11 Chicago IL

May 25 Grand Junction CO                 September 12 Mounds SP IN

May 26 Steinaker Lake SP UT         September 13 Salt Fork SP OH

May 27 Elkhead Reservoir SP CO         September 14 & 15 Ohiopyle SP PA

May 28 Breckenridge CO         September 16 - October 16 Baltimore MD

May 29 - June 28 Denver CO                 October 16 - October 28 The Carolinas and Georgia

June 28 Clayton Lake SP NM         October 28 - December 5 Panama Beach Florida

June 29 Amarillo TX                 December 5 - ? To Be Planned Still

The Crew

Jon and Donna 

Retired and looking for adventure!  

Jon and Donna have been practicing for this adventure for years.  After years of working and saving it's time to get the travel party going at full speed!

                                                                                      Francis The Dog

Tired and Looking for a nap!

Francis is our travel buddy.  He loves sitting in his bed in the van or in our Gazelle Gazebo.  He also loves sitting in warm laundry as seen here.  He is The Best Boy and always up for whatever as long as it involves his bed.

  

The Van

2017 Dodge Grand Caravan

With Stow and Go Seats, this van is perfect for our needs.  It gets pretty good gas mileage and can go from "sleeping camper for 2 and a dog" to "drive around your friends" van in a few minutes.

I guess that's it for now.  I will try to update this as much as possible so that I can share our adventures but ultimately this trip is about the adventure and not blogging a ton so don't expect "influencer, this is my job" type blogging.  That isn't us.