Back in September, we met Bob and Jadie, part of a wonderful family who lived in New York State.  After meeting them at the campground in Leitchworth State Park, they were so interested in our trip that they invited us to park the camper in the back yard of their house for the night.  Both families stayed up late into the night discussing our trip, their plans to take a similar journey, and all the benefits and pitfalls that go with making then leap.  While letting us stay for the night was just a small gesture on their part, their kindness stuck with us for the whole trip.

Well, two nights ago, we chose to return the favor.  While entering the local public library this evening, we noticed a couple of motorhomes out front.  Once inside, I saw a family that showed several characteristics of us last year: kids in hiking boots in the city; parents intensely using the free wi-fi connection; all had a slightly dazed look that said: “I have no idea what’s coming next.”  We recognized that look as we saw it in the mirror every morning for almost twelve months.

We asked if the RV out front was theirs, and our suspicions were confirmed: it was a family from Belgium traveling the US in a motorhome (their blog in French is here, Google translation to English is here).  After discussing our trip and offering them tips on where to go and what to see in the Pacific Northwest, we offered to let them stay with us.  I am not totally sure that they were not frightened by our manic tales of the road, but they accepted and soon were parked in our driveway.  They had three girls who were about the age of our youngest and their littlest one took a liking to our dog Bell.

They (hopefully) enjoyed a quite night in our neighborhood, and the next morning, they headed off to the John Day Fossil Beds in Central Oregon, on their way to Yellowstone.

What surprised me the most about this small gesture was that we made it.  A year ago, prior to the trip, the thought of inviting a family we had just met to stay in our home (well, in front of it anyway) likely never would have occurred to us. And if it did, we never would have acted on it.  We experienced several small and large offers of help or gifts on the road.  A few times we were in desperate need of them.  Other times, we were not in need of any help or assistance, but we accepted the offers for what they were: Simple gestures of kindness.

The trip is still fresh in our minds and the effects it had on us are still percolating through our consciousness.  It changed us in ways that we are still discovering, and I hope that will never stop.

As some of you may recall, prior to our leaving on our year-long adventure, we found a family of squirrels living inside a porch column.  We were told that having squirrels nearby is considered a lucky sign or symbol.  However, it didn’t feel that way since the squirrel family dined on our wood, made a mess, and destroyed part of our column…just what we needed – more work and more expense before we left.

Imagine our surprise when we returned to our home (just a week today) only to find that we now have a family of robins living in our tree.  Yep, our animal menagerie continues to expand.  A mom and dad seem to be raising three little chicks and we have watched with rapt interest as the parents come and go, with worms and other insects in their mouths, as three beaks rise up to get their dinner.  One night at dusk (when I should have been unpacking), I watched the mom flying in circles trying to catch a moth.  It was fascinating!

So what does seeing this latest animal sign/symbol mean to us now that we have returned.  Well, as best as I can tell from sources on the internet it is mostly positive news.

Apparently, some American Indians felt that the robin’s eye was symbolic of prophetic vision, clarity, and great wisdom.  During ceremonies when understanding and sound judgment were needed the robin was utilized.  We are still determining both our career goals and our future in general, so perhaps the robin will guide us on these issues.

The robin is also a symbol of spring and the reminder to get moving and to enjoy life.  Apparently, it also is a symbol of joy and cheer.  It certainly has made us happy to watch this cycle of life play out in front of our eyes.  The fact that it picked a home on our front porch means our home is safe and has a positive energy too.

Unfortunately, like yin and yang, I found some disturbing symbolism associated with the robin too.  Apparently in Great Britain and Ireland if a robin pecks at your window or enters your house, a death will soon occur (yikes).  So basically, I going to ignore the bad symbolism and concentrate on the positive.  And keep the screen door closed!  After all, isn’t the positive attitude why they picked our house to begin with?

Honestly, I am hoping that this is the last animal symbolism that we are going to get for a while.  Between the squirrels, mice, spiders, and now the birds, I am done figuring out all the messages that life is trying to send our way, and I am more interested in just getting the work done…no more messages needed!

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Almost home…..

One year ago yesterday, we started our journey and it is about to come to an end. We are in San Francisco and will be back in Bend by the weekend.

Most people have one or two New Year’s Resolutions that they make each year, and in a similar vein, we had several goals that we wanted to achieve during our year-long adventure.  Before we left, we had an idea of how the trip would go and what we wanted to see and do during our year on the road.

One of our goals was to see all 50 states (okay 49.  We decided Alaska was a no-go from the start, although, we had been there before).  Yes, we even thought that we would park the “beast” at my mother-in-laws and fly to Hawaii (we were going to leave our dog there too).  Alas, this big plan was not realized.

Somewhere around the second month, after touring Oregon, Washington, Canada, Montana, and Wyoming, we realized that we did not have enough time to visit 49 states, so we thought if we got to 35 states we would be in good shape.  The states are smaller and easier to see on the east coast and the driving times between them is usually short.  Ultimately, we visited 37 states (see our map) which is pretty good.  As a side note, we also visited 27 capitol buildings and over a 25 national parks, 29 national monuments, 3 national preserves, 18 historical parks, 5 national historic sites, 2 national battlefield parks 1 national military parks, 8 national memorials, 5 national recreation areas, 4 national seashores, 1 national seashore, 2 national scenic rivers, 1 national preserve, 2 national parkways, 4 national trails and 2 national cemeteries.  We went to over 30 museums and too many other cultural venues to count.

We also decided that we wanted to learn Spanish and how to play the guitar.  Let me just say, “may llama es Brenda”; “como esta”, “bien, bien”, “Cuanta Questa” – yeah, we can speak a little bit (“muy pequito”) but to converse in Spanish is not happening anytime soon. I took four years total of Spanish in high school and college so I cannot even speak to what my problem is in learning a foreign language.  But this was yet another unrealized goal (put off until next year:).  Okay, our guitar playing is even worse than our Spanish, enough said!

We were also optimistic that we would get our youngest child swimming fantastically and riding his bike like a speed demon.  Yep, we didn’t meet these goals either.  However, he took off out of the gate reading and has been doing a fantastic job there – his reading is at a fourth/fifth grade level and his vocabulary is at a sixth grade level, so perhaps he is more of an academic than sports star.

John and I did lose a fair amount of weight on the trip another goal.  Sadly, some of the pounds have returned during our longer than expected visit in California (more on this later too, read “Hovering in California”).

My friend Suzanne gave us an ominous warning which we clearly did not heed.  One of her specific suggestions, based on her six-month long RV trip, was not to pack too much stuff.  Oh boy, I wish we had listened to this suggestion more…now we have to live with the consequences.  Perhaps it would not matter if you were returning to the spot where you began, so you could unpack at your home, but we always planned on selling the RV in California so the stuff we still wanted would have to be shipped back somehow (more on that later).

Imagine going on a year-long trip.  How many bags would you pack per person, one or two?

We had two adults, two children, and one dog and we had to pack for hot weather, cold weather, snow, and rain, so we were going to have quite a lot of clothes based on weather conditions/seasons alone.  But, we packed too many clothes – I would have rather purchased clothes as needed.  A good tip is to dress in bathing suits and or easy to clean travel clothes so they will dry quickly if they are on a clothes-line.  Back east, the humidity is so high that it does not allow typical, everyday clothes made of cotton to dry.

We also packed an entire kitchen so we could cook on a stove, in an oven, in a microwave, on a camp stove and on a campfire.  If I had to do it again, I would have left the dutch oven, crock-pot, and reduced some of the other cookware and utensils that we packed.  The Dollar Store (they are everywhere) carries supplies cheaply (for a dollar to be exact) if you find that you left something that you absolutely need.

Or, a better idea for reading would have been an electronic book:  Nook, iPad, or Kindle.  Plus, it is surprising how much games and sporting equipment are available in campgrounds and festivals around the country.  Weekend travelers pack these things and you can play with them too.  The boys mostly used their beach buckets and shovels, Razor scooters, and one or two board games; this would have been sufficient (a deck of cards is always good since you can play a variety of games and they do not take up too much space).

We also placed our bicycles on our rack.  I wish we had not packed them because, as you may have read, the bikes were mostly all damaged when they dragged on the ground for several miles.  It would have been cheaper to rent bikes from time-to-time (some national parks have them for cheap and/or free).  Also, we purchased and packed two kayaks bought on-line through Craigslist; they both turned out to be totally unusable, so again it would have been cheaper to rent from time to time (my boys got on a few canoe trips for free in the Everglades; canoes could also be rented for $3-5 an hour at some state parks).

We packed too many linens – one set of sheets per bed was plenty since we did laundry and put it away the same day.  I would also just take one beach towel per person and one regular towel per person (preferably items you might want to donate before returning home).

Another plan was to camp on our way back home which is not turning out as planned, since we are heading back at the end of June instead of the end of August.  We packed four sleeping bags and sleeping pads, two large Rubbermaid cartons loaded with camping gear, an outdoor hammock, and other miscellaneous camping items.  We will be camping for 2-3 nights, so the expense will still work out okay but I think I would have left it at home if I thought it through a little better.

Okay, so how are we getting our stuff (some might call it shit, see George Carlin) back home.  At first, we tried UPS but they said that they do not ship private shipments any longer.  We looked at the regular mail but it would require us to ship them all separately.  We looked at sending them on a truck trailer if they were moving larger homes to Central Oregon but none of them wanted to carry out stuff.  The moving companies recommend a company, Ship Smart that specialized in small moves; they were a bit too price-prohibitive for us to consider.  Most of the solutions were going to cost $500-$800 to move our items (300-400 pounds or 8 medium size boxes worth of items).  So, we made the choice to purchase a hitch (installed $300 and reusable for us) and to rent an enclosed trailer ($200 for five days usage).  The trailer will pull double duty since we will use it to move our furniture out of storage.  We looked at buying a utility trailer but it is not as useful in the long run nor can we use it for moving out our storage items.

My best advice is not to pack too much stuff and purchase items as needed on the road.  Remember that there are places where you can rent items fairly inexpensively too.  Also, only bring items that you use all the time at home.  Also think about how your trip will unfold – are you staying in the same place for weeks or months at a time or are driving to a new campground with a day or two because that may also influence what you should pack.  Another important reminder is that you will end up with new items as your trip progresses:  souvenirs, gifts from friends/family/fellow campers, and clothes/items purchased along the way.

One thing that this trip forced us to realize is that we do have too much shit whether we are at home or on the road.  Downsizing and living more simply continues to be one of our goals!

My Sprint account is still cancelled.  They were supposed to temporarily reactivate but have not done so.  I need a new wireless provider.

Well, I knew that this might happen, but I thought I had escaped the executioner.

I tried to make a call on my cell phone this morning and could not dial out.  This did not worry me too much as this has happened before, and was usually corrected with a phone restart or, at worst, a call to Sprint.  During such a call, they informed me that my account had been cancelled for excessive data use while roaming.  The decision was final and there was no chance to get them to reconsider.

While we were traveling, our cell phones were our lifeline to the world back home.  We used them for phone calls, email, blog postings, bill paying and banking, directions, weather, logistics and trip planning.  And, yes, I tethered my phone to my laptop and used it as a data modem.  So when the wireless phone companies complain about data hogs, they are talking about me.  I am guilty and I admit it.

I had written about Sprint’s threat to cut me off back in November and knew that it was possible, but figured that since driving into the Western states (where the Sprint network has better coverage) my chances of being cancelled were reduced.  But this was not to be.  I was told by Sprint that three letters had been sent to me (never received any of them) notifying me that I was in danger of being cut off, and this morning, my service had been cut off.  I received no prior phone calls, no emails, no texts, and the letters that were “sent” were never received.

So what exactly was my sin?  Sprint is currently advertising that they have unlimited data, but this is not really the complete truth.  Users are permitted unlimited data use while using the Sprint network, but apparently there is a cap on data used while roaming, which is something that they don’t really advertise.  When I bought the phone, I recall specifically asking the sales representative at the Sprint store if roaming data was unlimited.  I was assured it was, but obviously that is not true.  It seems that Sprint limits roaming data to 300 MB per month, and I have no doubt that I blew through that multiple times throughout the trip.

When I heard the news, I was incensed.  I have been with Sprint off and on for about 10 years, have always paid on time, and have (generally) been happy with their service. And now I was being told I was no longer welcome as a customer.  But after looking into alternatives, I am actually happy with their action.  They are losing money on me as a customer, but they are allowing me to cancel my wife’s contract with no early termination fee.

The funny thing is that now that we are returning to Bend, we will become the type of customer that they want: We will have a land line that is our primary voice line, as well as broadband internet service from our cable company.  I will probably put my wife back on a pay-as-you-go mobile plan, which will drastically cut her phone bill.  We will not even get close to our limit on mobile voice minutes, and will have very minimal data usage. Oh well, this their loss.

So what have we learned?  First, cell phone salesmen are liars and most cannot be trusted.  Second, read the fine print.  Even though the salesman told me I have unlimited roaming data, and the Sprint website told me I have unlimited roaming data, the fine print in the contract overrides all other verbal and written information.  Third, customer service is a thing of the past.  Even though I will cut my wireless phone costs through Sprint’s action, I am still miffed about being cancelled with no notice and no chance to appeal.  But that is the way that businesses are run these days.  I have heard people talk about loyalty to a specific company or store these days, but I tell them to make sure the company or store is loyal to you,  Loyalty needs to be a two-way street.

By the way, can anyone recommend a good wireless phone company in Bend, OR?

This was in the news today:

World’s Oldest Cave Art Found—Made by Neanderthals?

While on our trip, we visited about a dozen sites with petroglyphs and pictographs, although the ones we saw were only about 800 to 1500 years old.  Most of the sites we saw were made relatively recently, reportedly, by Mogollon, Pueblo, Hopi or Anasazi, or by the Archaic People who predated them.

The boys learned that pictographs are rock paintings, while petroglyphs are pictures that are etched, carved or chiseled into rocks.  On this trip we saw mostly petroglyphs, but both are pretty amazing.

Funny story: Most rangers, scholars, archeologists and Native Americans attribute rock paintings as have religious, ceremonial or historical significance.  But there is a good chance that some petroglyphs/pictographs are just ancient graffiti.  You know, a couple of hunters waiting around, having a conversation like this:

Hunter #1:  What are you gonna do?

Hunter #2:  I dunno, what are you gonna do?

Hunter #1: I dunno, take a nap maybe

Hunter #2: I’m gonna draw that elk that we tried to kill today on this here rock.  I will call it “The One That Got Away”

Let’s face it, in a lot of ways, men have not changed much in the past few thousand years.  If you ever want to frustrate an archeologist, ask them if a site might just be ancient graffiti.  They usually turn red and get flustered, then give a lame explanation as to why that is not the case.

I thought I might post a few of the best shots we took:

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It has been on the market for a couple of weeks, but I thought I would put the links up here, in case anyone of our millions of readers are interested.

Craigslist ad is here:

http://orangecounty.craigslist.org/rvs/3069621065.html

And the RV Trader ad can be seen here:

http://www.rvtrader.com/listing/2007-Winnebago-Access-Wf231c-104278034