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Our Last Few Days In Spearfish

All good things must come to an end, and this includes our sunny, relaxing, and super-fun time with family in Spearfish. One of the primary reasons we decided to move into a Turtle in the first place was to be able to spend more time with our family and friends! We’re lucky to have so many people we care about, but unfortunately they all didn’t want to move to Portland so we could all see each other all the time. (This was not without a fair amount of recruiting on my part.)

Who wouldn’t want to live near these two adorable buddies?

Because we’re all so spread out, when it comes time to allocate a week or two of vacation every year, choosing to visit one person’s hometown is always at the expense of another’s. As we floated down the river two summers ago concocting this absurd idea about living in a Turtle, we mentioned how cool it would be to visit our friends and spend more than a few rushed days with them. To not have the looming feeling that we need to pack all the fun in right now before it’s all over. To be able to see them in their natural habitat, living their life, and we just happen to be neighbors and can go to lunch, or take a hike together, sit around drinking coffee, whatever!

So we’re just loving that this quality time we dreamed about is really happening! While we were in Spearfish, we got to attend Andy’s niece and nephew’s band and choir recitals, soccer games, First Communion, and both of their birthdays. (We timed the trip just right to ensure we’d get lots of cake.) We got to make meals with his mom and sister, drive through Needles Highway, listen to lots of the Hamilton soundtrack, do art projects, play board games, have a few beers on the patio at Crow Peak, eat ice cream at Leone’s Creamery (YUM!) and work on home projects together. Everyday things that make for great bonding and fun memories.

These memories include:

Amazing South Dakota sunsets. Amazing.

Lots and lots of freedom to explore and climb trees!

An unending frisbee course.

Free time and clear weather for Turtle projects.

A special “Cat Tea” that Andy’s niece invented and brewed up for Gracie. A zesty blend of catnip and warm water. 🙂

A birthday party at the Spearfish Gymnastics Academy, where we got to jump on trampolines into a pool of foam cubes! And then the kids buried Andy.

More sunsets and exploring.

Lots of time together outside.

More frisbee! We played a lot of frisbee.

Andy’s absolutely to-die-for salmon recipe! Thanks to Roger and Mary for sending the salmon with us! It was very well-received by all. The most moist and flavorful smoky salmon you can imagine.

It was a such great time together! Happily, now that we live in the Turtle, we don’t have to wait another year or more to do it again! 🙂

Needles Scenic Highway: Take Me Back!

A few years ago, Andy and I visited South Dakota for Christmas, and I arrived excited to see Mount Rushmore, which is the only part of the state I knew anything about. Little did I know how much more there is to do and see here! During that trip, we also went to:

Wind Caves National Park
Jewel Cave
The Mammoth Site
Deadwood
The 1880 Train in Hill City
Loads of other things I’m sure I’m forgetting

Now that we’re back in South Dakota, we realize that the list of things we missed exceeds the original list of things we did! And this past weekend, we went to one of my new favorite spots:

Needles Scenic Highway. I loved every moment.

Andy, Will, Ellie, Scout and I hiked up into the needles and admired them close-up. They’re made up of granite, and most of them are studded with flashing, shiny hunks of mica and huge quartz crystals. As we walked through the towering pillars, every surface sparked and glittered in the sun. It was magical! Remember that movie Legend? Yeah, it was like that. Magical.

Finally I was told I couldn’t stay there for the rest of the day, so we drove on through Needles, and Maggie suggested that on the drive into Rapid City, we take Iron Mountain Road. It was beautiful, and we saw all kinds of wildlife. Scout even saw a buffalo!

We had plans to see The Producers in Rapid City that evening (yay!), so we weren’t able to see more of the area that day, but we’ll be back to check out neighboring Custer State Park. I’ll post photos when we do!

For now, though, here are some pictures of Gracie brushing her hair. Just because.

Scout and Gracie Take On South Dakota (Also, Amy and Andy go to Devils Tower)

Well here we are in South Dakota! We spent a week in Billings with some friends, Blake and Martha, and had a month’s worth of fun in that one week!

We met little Harper for the first time, climbed up the Rims, had relaxing chats in Blake and Martha’s sunny back yard, took some nostalgic drives around town, the boys almost watched Blake’s dog get smashed, Martha and I snuck out to watch some bluegrass, and Andy and I were taken to many of the tasty new spots that have sprouted up in Billings since I grew up there. (The last time I was in Billings, the exciting action in the restaurant scene was the second Chinese spot to arrive in town. Yikes.)

New and delicious places of note: Cafe Zydeco for Cajun food, Carters for a very cramped but cozy Missoula-esque brewery experience, Angry Hanks for a more modern and airy brewery experience. . . and while we’re on the subject, let’s never forget Great Harvest for a killer sandwich on freshly baked bread, and of course the best sweet in history, Caramel Cookie Waffle. Okay, so next time you’re in Billings, if you go hungry, you can’t blame me!

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Image Sources

On our way out of Billings and into South Dakota, we went just a little out of our way to go see the first National Monument, Devils Tower.

Fun fact for us nerds: Originally the spelling was Devil’s Tower, with an apostrophe, but while signing the documents to make it a National Monument, Teddy Roosevelt accidentally omitted the apostrophe. Nobody ever corrected it, so the official spelling is now Devils Tower. The more you know!

It’s a really amazing natural formation with a few theories regarding how exactly it was formed. There is a 1.3 mile walking path around the monument, and with us taking our very sweet time, stopping to watch the squirrels and climb around on the boulders, it only took us about an hour. It’s really neat to see how different the formations are on all sides.

There are a number of Native American tribes living near the tower, and it’s considered a sacred site where they worship and perform dance rituals. I loved seeing all the prayer bundles hanging from the trees.

In the photo below, if you look closely on the tipped-over column, you can see some teeny-tiny people making their way up the side of the formation. Devils Tower is a popular spot for climbers. Crazy!

Not to be outdone, Andy also found a miniature Devils Tower and climbed it.

Ok, enough about Devils Tower. On to South Dakota!

We are presently staying at Andy’s sister Maggie’s house outside of Spearfish, and our new backyard is surrounded by trees, spring flowers, and deer families. It’s absolutely gorgeous. Plus we’ve had lots of sunshine and barefoot days!

If you’ve been following along with us on our adventures, you can probably guess who’s having the best time in our new spot:

Yes, Scout and Gracie are absolutely loving life out here. These kids have the run of the place!

Gracie climbs trees and tags along with us on walks through the hills.

And Scout has two best buddies, Will and Ellie, who love to throw his frisbee and play with him all day long. He’s going to leave here spoiled!

Then again, so are we! We’ve been having so much fun with everyone here. But there’s so much to cover, we’ll just have to save that for the next post. . .

(Oh, and if you want to stay apprised of what we’re up to in this crazy Blue Turtle, don’t forget to click the “Follow” button on our page, and you’ll be notified every time we post! We like to have our friends all accounted for.) 🙂

Broken Down In Bend, OR

Though the title of this post is a bit of a spoiler, what it doesn’t reveal is what an awesome week we’ve just had! Breaking down has never been so fun.

We spent our last day on the coast in Newport, and turned eastward on our way to Bend. My brother-in-law’s sister Becky and her husband Mike recently moved there, and we were looking forward to seeing their new place and having some time to catch up with them. On our way, we stopped in Corvallis where Andy went to graduate school, and had lunch there and toured the campus. Then as we continued on over the Santiam pass, we got a surprise:

SNOW!

It was lovely. More so for me as the passenger, but Andy did a great job driving and enjoyed testing the tires on new terrain. The Turtle did well on the snowy passes, though at one point we stopped to chain up just to be sure we wouldn’t slide around too much as we climbed higher.

The snow slowed us down quite a bit, but we made it to Bend in one big blue piece. Becky and Mike made us a delicious dinner and we had a great evening!

The next day, the plan was to go to lunch with Becky and the kids, but as we pulled out of the driveway, the Turtle coughed and died right in the middle of the road! When we got home, Mike towed us to a spot by the driveway, and there we sat while the boys got down to some troubleshooting.

Gracie did almost nothing to help fix the Turtle.

If you’re planning to break down in Bend, I very highly recommend doing it in front of Mike and Becky’s house. We had an awesome few days! Becky is an incredible cook, and spoiled us with delicious meals and even baked us a batch of cookies to take on the road! We got to see more of Bend by way of trips to various auto supply stores, and spent lots of time with Mike and Becky chatting over yummy Bend brews. Scout and Ben quickly became best friends and Scout followed Ben everywhere he went. I think they exchanged emails before we left. Though Andy and Mike were feeling discouraged about not being able to discover the source of the Turtle problem, we managed to have lots of fun in the meantime!

Bend has a bunch of breweries that we like and had wanted to check out, but thought we’d miss due to our original timeline. Well, we had time now! We went to have a beer at Crux on Thursday, and even after seeing bagpipers out front, it took us a minute to realize it was St. Patty’s Day!

It was a gorgeous sunny day, and we gabbed with the locals while watching the adorable little step dancers in their sky-high curly wigs.

A day or two before, we’d also had lunch and a beer with Becky and the kids at Sunriver Brewing, then checked out 10 Barrel Brewing just up the road. We read books, tried Devan’s seriously tricky 1st grade math puzzles, hauled rocks, threw toys for the dogs, and played with paint swatches. Fun!

So you can imagine our disappointment when the Turtle got fixed on Friday morning! Mike and Andy had replaced the ignition coil, the ignition module, the ignition switch, and even put in a new distributor. After all that, it turned out to be a plug that had been pulled loose but didn’t disconnect fully, so it was nearly impossible to see the problem. But now we have lots of new parts under the hood!

We were so sad to have to say goodbye. We loved getting to spend more time with Becky and Mike, who were so hospitable and lots of fun to be around. Thanks so much for everything, you guys!

Oh, and Scout says hello to Ben. 🙂

The Oregon Coast: Seaside

We’re almost all caught up here! Hooray! We’ve only just left Seaside, so one more post update and we’ll be reporting our adventures in real time again.

We left Astoria on Sunday the 21st with Lisa and Rhema and drove down to Seaside to have lunch before they headed back to Portland. After lunch at Seaside Brewing, Andy and I checked into the RV park where we’d be staying. We were treated to another day of unseasonably beautiful weather on the coast that lasted almost an entire week!

We were so pleased with our spot—the bright indoor pool, hot tub and sauna, and the bike-able proximity to town—that we decided to stay a while longer. Not to mention the fact that one of the main reasons we went back to Seaside instead of going north to Long Beach, WA, is that we’d had our hopes set high to catch some crabs, and we could get our in-state shellfish licenses if we stuck around!

We rented crab pots and rode our bikes up to the 12th Street bridge to drop them in.

If this isn’t evidence that Andy’s the cutest, then I don’t know what is. He duct taped a box onto his bike rack and wrote the tide tables on it, marked the minimum size for keeper crabs, and illustrated a reminder of the difference between the males and females. You can’t keep the ladies!

Halfway through our stay, Andy ordered some crab traps online so we could leave them in longer. With the rings, you’re supposed to check them every 20 minutes or so, but with the traps, if a crab comes in, he’s there to stay! Andy strapped them onto the crab box with bungee cords and we tried again.

This guy.

Throughout our stay, the locals were eager to share their advice on the best crab bait. Fish heads, chicken, squid, frozen turkey legs, cat food, herring. . . the list goes on, but we stuck with chicken. We were also told that this month has been especially bad for crabbing, proven by the fact that we didn’t see anyone catch any, despite all the traps hanging from the bridge. Sadly, we had no luck crabbing either, but we have high hopes for Wheeler! (That’s right, we’re heading south now. . . details to follow.)

Of course, the other appeal to Seaside is beach time. . .

Patio lunches at Seaside Brewery. . .

Outdoor kitty time. . .

The Wine and Beer Haus (they have Stone Ruination on tap, so Andy was a very happy camper!). . .

And having friends come to visit! Lisa and Rhema came to spend the weekend with us again, and we had a blast. Rhema climbed a huge rock.

Just kidding.

The wind was blowing like crazy on the beach!

Rhema gave us some pointers on throwing a frisbee golf putter. I’ve never seen anyone throw a frisbee as far as this guy can!

Every frisbee golfer could use a fetching-obsessed dog while practicing.

Lisa and I were cracking up watching Kona dig rows of holes!

When the weather turned stormy, we visited the Aquarium, played some Cribbage and Settlers in the Turtle, swam, shot some pool, and ate pizza. A great weekend!

Well, a mostly great weekend. When we got up on Sunday morning, Andy noticed that my bike had been stolen! Boooooo. I’m heartbroken. I loved that bike. And it feels so ratty to know some jerk was skulking around outside the Turtle while we slept. Grrr. 😦 Also, what gives?? First my phone and now my bike! *Sigh*

But we’re all still healthy, happy and active, so in the grand scheme of things, I suppose it’s a minor setback. Anyway, as a bike is a necessity for our lifestyle, we picked one up at the bike shop in town, so my heart will heal and I’ll still be able to get where I’m going. Plus, it’s purple!

The following weekend our friend Dan came up to visit with his friend Sarah. They stayed at the most charming hotel called Ashore. It’s quite small, but it has loads of accommodations. A small deep pool, a wet sauna, and a darling wine bar that stays open until 11pm! We enjoyed them all. Plus a night walk through town to check our traps and admire the little coastal homes.

We had breakfast at a place called The Firehouse Grill, and YUM! Perfect fluffy biscuits, fat strips of bacon, spicy sausage, fresh grilled veggies. . . wait, to be clear, I didn’t order all those things—we sampled each other’s breakfasts. It was a relaxing and enjoyable weekend; so fun to see Dan again, and great to meet Sarah! Thanks for coming up, guys! 🙂

We left that morning, which was yesterday, which means we’re all caught up here! We’re back at our middle-of-nowhere tent site outside Wheeler on our way to Montana. But more on that next time!

The Oregon Coast: Manzanita and Wheeler

Where we last left the much-belated blog update, we were boondocking on a stormy cliff just north of Garibaldi. Not a typical Sunday morning in the old life! We keep talking about how funny it is that we’ve gotten used to not knowing where we are every morning when we wake up!

It was Valentine’s Day, and we spent it the best possible way—walking around and admiring the tinier towns on our way up the coast. We eventually made it to Manzanita, one of my favorite towns on the Oregon coast. We had lunch at a super-tasty Mexican restaurant called Left Coast Siesta. They are best known for their well-stocked hot sauce bar and display of over 500 hot sauce bottles, but I love going there for their enormous, yummy burritos.

He was commemorating Valentine’s Day with the heart, but he also loved the burrito. After lunch, we walked down the beach with Scout in the blustery wind and rain.

I was delighted to find the beach covered in Valentine’s love notes written in the sand! Some were sweet, and some were hilarious.

We packed the wet dog back into the Turtle and backtracked a bit to reach our RV site, just south of Wheeler. As we checked in, the manager saw our rig and said that due to our small size, we were welcome to stay in the tent camping sites if we wanted. And of course we did!

The tent camping sites followed a winding road into the trees, and there was not a single soul around. We had the whole place to ourselves, but still had water and electric hook-ups so Andy could work. The best part was that since we were so isolated and there was no traffic or other foreseeable dangers around, we got to see how Gracie would do on her own outside.

It was the best day she’d had in months! We were also so pleased to see how well she did. I thought with her first taste of freedom, she’d be gone for a whole day before coming back as she remembered her outdoor kitty roots, but she stuck right with us. She followed along on walks with Scout up all around the tent sites, and came running every time she was called. She would even race off with Scout when we’d throw the frisbee for him, and then follow him back after he caught it.

FREEDOM!

The other great part about this spot was that we were a quick 20 minute walk from Wheeler, so one night we walked into town and had some fish and chips and a few beers at the Tsunami Bar and Grill. Our bartender Justin was stellar! He gave us excellent suggestions on beer and food, and was friendly and attentive the whole time. Thanks Justin! (It’s been a while since we were there, so if I got your name wrong, I apologize!)

Additionally, due to our isolation, we could work on projects all day. While we did have some rain, a few days were clear enough to work outside and get the Turtle in ship shape. And as we saw how great Gracie continued to respond when called, she got to spend whole days outside. She’s like a whole new cat now!

Spoiler alert: We’re going to be back in this same spot in a few days! I’ll continue the expedient updates so we will soon be caught up to present day in Seaside, but in the meantime, here’s a picture of Scout trying to get us to play fetch with an enormous stick.

We Made It!

We’re here!

On Sunday we arrived at Pacific City, Oregon for the first leg of our exciting new life.

It was a bittersweet farewell from Portland, which was to be expected after living there for a combined 17 years! Portland holds a very special place in both our hearts, and it would take nothing more than a thrilling new adventure to convince us to leave such a unique and beautiful city.

January 30th was both the last Saturday of the month and my birthday, so shortly after noon we left our cozy slice of Sauvie Island and headed to my sister’s house in Washington. There we got to hang out with two of my three sisters, along with their husbands and all 8 combined kids! I was in sister/auntie heaven. The following morning, after a delicious pancake breakfast for me and a (requested) leftover pot roast breakfast for Andy, we said our tearful goodbyes and hit the road.

About a week earlier , we had purchased a Groupon for the Evergreen Aviation and Space Museum, and stopped there on our way to the coast. If you’re ever in the McMinnville area, I assert that it’s worth the seemingly-high ticket price to check the place out! You can easily spend at least 3 hours there, and more if you see a show in the theater or go to the water park. They have a waterslide that starts at the top of a Boeing 747! (Check it out at http://evergreenmuseum.org)

In the interest of time we didn’t do the water park, but we got to walk inside the Spruce Goose, take a tour inside a B-17, and see an SR-71 right up close.

We arrived in Pacific City just in time for the wild hail storm hitting the coast, and checked into the park. The following morning we were lucky enough to get a bright and sunny start to our stay here! Andy had work to do, but over his lunch break we took Scout down to the water for some border collie beach fun! He was grinning from ear to ear, bounding down the beach and back, jumping up to spring off our legs, and then would bolt away for another lap. It was hilarious!

The rocky coastline makes for a dramatic backdrop! It’s also a lot of fun to climb around on. Scout made it to the top and back five times before we made it halfway up. This really is the happiest I can ever remember seeing this dog. He was having such a nice time he even let me catch a few photos of him.

We have a nice little spot for our tiny house right in the middle of the park. It’s a clean and friendly place, and as a extra bonus, the grounds are home to dozens of wild bunnies!

We also have a great pool and spacious hot tub, which we have been taking full advantage of. Our new schedule allows us pool time before breakfast, during lunch, and after Andy finishes working. Andy gets so excited about pool time that his new work uniform consists of a warm hat, sweater, hiking boots. . . and swim trunks.

On our second day here, we opted to stay in the hot tub for the entire duration of Andy’s lunch break, so afterwards Scout and I took a trip down to the beach by ourselves. The sky was mostly overcast and the wind was incredible! It was stunning and invigorating.

The waves were crashing and pounding on the horizon, and they whipped up the frothiest sea foam I’ve ever seen! A wave would push mounds of foam on to the sand, and then the wind would push it in peaks sideways down the beach. When I tried to pick it up in handfuls, it would vanish instantly in a wisp of airy bubbles. It was magical.

We endlessly marvel at how unbelievable it is that after working so hard over the last year, our vision has finally become a reality. It was incredibly hard work, but our dream to make our lives more about quality time together outside is now our real life! We’ll keep you posted on the goings on of the upcoming week, but so far it has been made up of relaxation, lots of laughing, and especially much more time for days like this:

Scout and Gracie: First Class Co-Pilots

Happy Holidays everyone! I hope it was as relaxing and refreshing for you as it was for Andy and me. We drove the Turtle and spent Christmas day with two of my three sisters in Battle Ground, playing games and eating (and eating and eating, oof!) and playing with all 8 nieces and nephews who were present. We missed you others! We then urban camped in Portland so we could spend the rest of the weekend with friends, playing games and bowling. It was great.

I was so thrilled to receive a few requests for this next post—not only because it’s exciting that the blog is really keeping us connected to our family and friends, as we’d hoped—but also because the request was to highlight Scout and Gracie! I love to talk about these two; they’re the very best animals of all time. Aside from yours, of course.

If you find it absurd that we have a dog and a cat in a little 21′ Class C RV, you’re in the majority. Especially considering Scout is a Border Collie with all the sheep-herding energy that entails, and Gracie is what you get when you cross a panther with a circus clown. But we knew that sacrificing their beloved back yard would pay off when they realized that every time we open the door, they get a new back yard with exciting new smells and lots more time in the day to play!

We’ll start with the bigger success story. Scout has been loving the new life. I’ve been working from the Turtle most days, which means I’m available to take him out for more frisbee time and walks. Gracie, on the other hand, has had a harder time. While we’re on the island, she’s confined to the Turtle since we’re right next to a road where some people drive by at 45 mph. Better safe than sorry for now. Their very different personalities have dictated much of how we have dealt with their needs in this transition.

So this is Scout in his natural state—begging for frisbee time.

He absolutely hates having his picture taken, so it’s really difficult to capture his sweetly relaxed moments. The moment he sees you raising the camera up toward him, he darts away! We’re not sure why this is, though we think it has something to do with clicker training, as he has a panic reaction to snaps, beeps, and clicks. Every now and then, he’ll bolt into his den, cowering and fearful, and after some detective work we’ll realize it was because we were clipping our nails, or chewing gum. . . you never know with this guy!

We got Scout when he was 2 years old (he’s 4 now), and he’d already had three owners, so we have a lot of unanswered behavior questions. Consequently, we are just happy when we can sneak up on him and grab a half-blurry photo as he exits the room! The only exception is when we hold the frisbee in front of him. Frisbee trumps all fear for Scout. So you can guarantee that in any picture of him where he looks like a proper dog, there is a frisbee being held behind the camera.

When we have no Bribe Frisbee, we end up with far more photos that look like this one:

Or they’re like this one, where he is slinking out of the shot like a feral African wolf:

Or just the back of his head.

But when he’s not avoiding photos, he’s just a loving, hilarious, playful, awkward, sensitive, strange dog. He’s the best adventure companion, and is up for anything!

And then we have Gracie. I call Gracie the Gateway Cat, because even people who insist they have no positive feelings about cats have to admit that they love this weird girl. She is curious, and lovey, and adventuresome, and bizarre, and is essentially the Dennis the Menace of the animal kingdom.

She’s always getting herself into trouble! The world is her playground. She’s also earned herself the nickname “The Anti-Project.” Any time we begin a project, Gracie is there to interfere in some way.

When you’re trying to change a lightbulb:

When you’re trying to do the dishes:

When you’re trying to change the bobbin:

When you’re trying to carefully measure and cut fabric:

You can imagine that with this much energy, we’ve had to work out a few modifications to make indoor life tolerable for Gracie. I bought a number of toys to keep her active, and we play much more together than we did when she played outside all day at the old house. I will also admit here that we bought her a tiny harness! I agree that it looks absurd to take a cat out on a leash, but on those days when she sits at the door and yells and yells about it, we’ve just got to let her out. We connect her leash to a thin length of paracord, and it seems to tide her over until we travel somewhere she can run off leash.

Gracie is either operating at 100% or 1%, and when she’s done causing trouble, she sleeps like a log! The adorable positions she finds herself in are so sweet.

We just love our strange pack. Enjoy the new year with yours! Ok, got to go to take Scout out for a frisbee break now! 🙂

The Very Beginning

The question we hear most often is, “How did this plan come about, anyway?”

The story goes like this:

Andy and I had been living in our little house in John’s Landing for a few years, and loved the space, the neighborhood and all our good friends there. We were lucky in that we were right on the bike trail that gets us all around Portland, we had walkable access to restaurants we loved, good coffee options, and our favorite tap room that allows dogs! (If you’re ever in John’s Landing, check out NW Growlers; everyone there is so friendly and there are loads of dogs to play with. Also, a sweet little pig named Q-bert who doesn’t seem to mind that Scout is obsessed with him.)

Scout and Q-bert: a friendship for the ages.

Sweet little Amos, the bartender’s dog, who our friend Lisa asserts was made in a button factory.

But the highlight of our location was that we had beach access right across Macadam Blvd., barely over a block from our front door! Our summers were spent walking back and forth from home to the Willamette River Trail with our tubes on our backs and Scout pulling anxiously on his leash for some frisbee time in the river. We’d plunk our tubes in the water, paddle out a ways, and drop anchor (a rock for me and a chunk of lead for Andy). There we’d float, drink a few beers, get some sun, and chat with the friends we’d often invite along. Most hot days, Andy would get home from work, change into his swim trunks, and we’d be on the river in 10 minutes, staying until the sun went down. Our front porch looked like a beach house with the float tubes at the ready and a consistent layer of sand!

Andy and our friend Jason enjoying the spot.

Stop taking pictures and throw the frisbee already!

So one day, Andy and I were bobbing around on the river and enjoying ourselves throughly. Andy made a comment about how he wished he didn’t have to go to work at all, and wondered how we could make that moment a lifestyle. What we had a hard time being able to justify was why we spent so much time working for the majority of our time, just to have small slivers of quality time outside, enjoying each other’s company and playing in nature!

I found this quote which summed up our conversation perfectly:

We started tossing ideas around, and I think it was Andy who mentioned living in an RV and traveling. I wholeheartedly agreed, and we began making lists and plans!

Just a hilarious picture of Scout riding in the car.

What was working in our favor was that I had recently graduated, and Andy was in a position at his job where he could potentially work remotely. He had also just sold his house in Seattle, so he was no longer tied to that project and also had a little walking around money. So we began making plans. One day about month later, I got an email from Andy with a link to a Craig’s List post for a cute little 1985 Class C RV. We went out to take a look, and once Andy determined the bones and major working parts were in good shape, we bought it!

This was just 10 minutes after we bought the Turtle, when we pulled in for a little lunch and celebration!

Our original plan was to just work away on it in our free time, and move in when the project was complete. But as the year went along, we realized that it was going to take us exactly the amount of time we gave ourselves to complete it. With an infinite deadline, we’d just work and work until it was perfect, which would take an infinite amount of time! We also realized how much project time we were going to lose once the Portland rain and shorter days hit.

In the spring of 2015, we decided to make the deadline the end of September. As we all now know, that deadline did get pushed back by a month, but after months of hard nonstop work, we did it! We had to remind our friends what our faces looked like afterward, but it was worth it. With a deadline, we pushed ourselves much harder, and made quicker decisions. It made it easier to prioritize tasks, and helped us not to dwell on small details. We still have some things we’d have like to have completed, but the Turtle is comfortable and livable, and let’s be honest, at this point we wouldn’t know what to do with ourselves without some projects on the list. 🙂

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