Fun 101

Today concludes the end of week one on our glorious month-long road trip! We are writing from Olympia, WA before we head west to the Olympic Peninsula! So far, so good ... we're having a blast and seeing lots of amazing places. We've taken a few pictures to share .. enjoy!

First tunnel with the bus!

Jade loves the ocean!

Doh!

BD says hello!

View from a top the bus at our second campsite in Tillicum State Park, OR

Rabbit in upper right corner ...

Picked around our campsite and served in pancakes!

Waiting for the tsunami ...

...

Jade smelled like "a lobster", as Zach said, so he gave her a bath ...

and she was NOT happy about it ...

Mountains meet the sea at Cape Lookout State Park

Sheer cliffs hiking out to Cape Lookout

Zach observing from a safe distance!

I think this is a Sitka Spruce ...

Love that coastal rainforest!

Triple rocks! Triple rocks! 100 paces to the old restaurant and the treasure!

(Cannon Beach, OR)

OH NO! THE FRATELLI'S ARE COMING!

There's no such thing as a straight face when Zach is in the picture

The Peter Iredale got stuck on this sand bar at the mouth of the Columbia River in 1909 ...

we got to see it in Fort Stevens State Park

And what trip to Northwest Oregon would be complete without a stop in Astoria to see Mikey and Brand's house? We didn't take a picture of the house 'cause we thought that might be rude ... so we took a picture of this sign to prove we were there!

We also met up with Zach's cousin Nate and his fiance Val yesterday for dinner and beer. It was great to meet them on my part and we enjoyed hanging out with them. It's not every day you see family so far from home! Come visit us in MT, guys!

We've met lots of good folks along the way, stopped in neat towns, and enjoyed ourselves thoroughly thus far. We're excited about Olympic National Park and will be sure to post pictures when we work our way back to internet service!

Kelly and Zach

Added 10/07/09 -- I forgot to mention that we went to the Rogue Brewery (most expensive brewery we've ever been too!) and the Tillamook Cheese Factory (good cheese, amazing ice cream!). Sorry Brian, we didn't go to Dooger's ... fuel is expensive :(

All Forward!

Well, it's Saturday and we leave on Monday! This may be the last time we update before we hit the road. We have a semi-set route (anything can change!) and it goes a little something like this:

From Lake of the Woods, head to the Oregon Coast. Drive up the coast to Cannon Beach and Astoria (Goonies!), then around to Portland.  From Portland, cruise up to Olympic National Park and Seattle, then off to Spokane, Glacier National Park, and back down to Big Sky! (Plus lots of potential side trips!)

If you're going to be anywhere close to any of those places during the coming month, we'd love to stop by and say hello :)

WE ARE SO EXCITED AND JUST CAN'T HIDE IT!!!!!

I thought I'd post some more pictures of life at the lake before we say farewell ...

 

Bus outside of Klamath Falls

Our awesomely shaded parking spot

Hollow logs

Zach installing our new power inverter (we can run on batteries now! another step closer to solar!)

Hearty tomato plants!

Zach cooking with our tomato bounty

Jade loves sticks (and I love taking funny pictures of her!)

Cool building built by the CCC in the 30's

Chasing and digging

That's not a dog, it's an ostrich!

 

Wednesday Night Ride comes to Lake of the Woods! (We really enjoyed having you guys!)

Morning after

Couldn't do this without him :)

There's some fungus among us

We'll be sure to post while we're on the road ...

'Til next time!

Kelly and Zach

2.5 Weeks Notice

The summer season is over at Lake of the Woods and our time here is drawing to an end. We have 2.5 weeks of work left (last day being September 27th) and when we're done, we're going to hit the road for up to a month as we travel back to Big Sky, MT. We haven't decided which route we're going to take and may end up doing a bit of random work along the way to help us ramble on. During our last days off, we took a mini-trip into town with the bus and changed a tire (ouch!) and filled up the 90 gallon tank (ouch again!). We're just getting ready but was good to pretend to be on the road for a couple for days :)

Our mobile-garden is currently very confused because it was below freezing last Sunday night and now it's 80 degrees today. I've had a hell of a time trying to keep the zucchini pollenated ... but our cherry tomato plants are weighed down with green 'maters, so we expect a nice harvest from them in the next few weeks. I know it's really early to be planning for next year, but I'm so excited about all the food that we can grow in containers while we travel!!! I picked up an amazing book entitled "The Bountiful Container" and cannot stop reading and dreaming and planning! (HIGHLY recommended!).

Life in a bus is better than I could have ever imagined. Every day I am thankful that I am such a lucky person ... to be living my dreams with the best companions in the world is more than I could have ever hoped for. Thank you all for being so supportive, encouraging, and just plain cool :)

As ever,

Bus, Us, and BD

New Paint Job!

Well, we've got a BIG posting for you guys ... lots of pictures ... enjoy!

(Please note that we load the pictures smaller on purpose. We know it takes a lot of time to load them if you're not on a fast connection and we want everyone to have a chance to see them! If you would like to see the photos larger, simply click on the picture and VOILA! Thanks!)

First road trip with the tow-behind vehicle

Death of a slackline

Splat ...

Zach and mom, Brenda, inside a redwood tree

Taller than buildings!

Tree hugging

Brenda enjoys a view from the bench in Remembrance Cove

Group shot! (We exchanged with a foreign couple ... heehee)

Taking a peek at the Wall of Sound

Giant!

Now it's red ...

NEW RUG!!! (Please excuse our mess ... we had just got back from town with groceries!)

Gearing up ...

Zach moving our little vegetable garden

Does this look like a guitar to you?

Taping

NOW IT'S GREEN!!!

(Can you see us?!?)

Kelly's daily walk to work, part one

part two

part three

part four

part five, the conclusion (this is the view from my building!)

It took us TEN HOURS to tape, sand, clean, and paint the bus and a couple of hours the next day to finish up a couple of things. Since we painted it with a brush (airbrushing would have been SOOO expensive) we'll have to go back and fix a couple of spots. We used a Rustoleum-type industrial paint and so far so good! We're heading to town on Monday to get a tire replaced and fill up the gas tank ... we're already getting ready for our trip back to Montana! We plan to leave here after the first week of October. We really wanted to make a road trip out of it but may have to just take our time on the straight road back. Oh well! We definitely have a place to park the bus this winter and Zach has a job that he will be returning to when we get back. I'm not sure what I'm going to do just yet. We've got some major winterizing to do before the snows hit, so that will keep us busy once we start getting those good paychecks again. Until then, we'll simply enjoy the beautiful lake right outside and get the most we can out of the upcoming fall season!

Kelly and Zach

Update

Hey everybody! It's been a little while since we've posted anything, so I just wanted to say a few things really quick.

Zach's mom came into town for a week (by train from Maine!!!) ... we went to the California coast and saw the redwoods ... also took a boat out on the lake and a bald eagle flew right over our heads as we were swimming ... it was a wonderful visit and we're so glad she made it back safely! (We'll post pictures soon!).

I just got back from a tour 'round the Southeast ... went to NC and TN to see my extended river families (lots of good beer drinkin', lots of rafting (even a run at 2am!), a mountain bike ride at Tsali) ... spent time in GA and AL visiting with family and ate LOTS and LOTS of REALLY good food! ... airline forgot my luggage in Baltimore during my journey back to OR, but they were really nice and actually brought it to me at work the next day!

My Dad flew up to Maine this past Monday and is hiking up to Katahdin today ... he starts the Appalachian Trail heading south tomorrow! Send him good vibes everybody! I'll keep you updated on his progress ...

My mom gave us a new memory card for the camera (THANKS MOM!), and hopefully we'll be adding more pictures now that we can actually take them.

Whew, whirlwind update ... we'll write more soon.

Kelly