Cannon Beach, Oregon- It's Finally Cool!

 T and I made our way over to the coast. It was finally COOL! No AC required. We stayed at a campground just about 1/4 mile from Cannon Beach. Definitely walking distance. After setting up our camp site we went to get some clam chowder and fish and chips at the local pub-ish restaurant. We had a great conversation about Jesus with a couple that sat next to us. We've prayed for God moments along the way and this was one of them for sure. T has Fridays off in August, so we took off the next morning to tour the Tillamook cheese factory. It was an easy drive down and back before Bec, Brock and Valerie arrived. We LOVE their ice-cream, cheese and yogurt!

Once the Killinger's arrived, we walked down to the beach to get our toes in the sand. And Valerie decided she was going to get her whole body in the sand. Not just a little but ALL of her!🤣 The ocean calms my soul. I love to hear the water roar and get my feet in the water. The ocean for me is what the mountains are for Terrell. Like a big AHHHHHHHH. 

As you can see, Valerie LOVED the water and the sand. She was immersed in the feel of the sand and splashing of the water. I'm telling you, delight describes her. She was delighted in the people, the water, the sand obviously, taking in all these wonderful new experiences. She got herself a good bath when we got back. 

We explored the town and shops on Saturday and most definitely got in our steps. Had some more clam chowder- second bowl, second place, and coffee at the local coffee house. After making a delicious tri-tip dinner and a fun round of our new game, we hugged Bec, Brock and Valerie goodbye.

Coffee? Yes, please!

Sunday, T and I hiked a few miles at a gorgeous trail not too far from our campground then went back to our camper, grabbed our stuff to sit at the beach, and rode our bikes over. You be proud to know I road my bike without falling off all the way there and back! I was pretty pleased with myself if I do say so. 

Monday was a "normal" day. Laundry, packing, working. getting ready to go kind of day. We ended the day with a campfire that was more smoke than fire! No clue what wood that was but it wasn't super awesome.  On top of that, I find I'm anxious the day before we leave to go to the next stop and even the actual travel day I get uptight. Kind of like when I fly, I have anxiety then too, anticipating leaving and arriving. All the mental prep and physical prep that goes into traveling. We're learning how to pack up this giant camper, what we absolutely don't need, what we absolutely do need, and how to make clean up quicker. Some campers around us make their site look like home. All sorts of pomp and circumstance. We're not there yet. Right now it's about efficiency. 

I'm really glad we wandered over to Cannon Beach. It's charming, way cooler than the rest of America, and the beaches are beautiful.  

Off to our next stop... Port Angeles and the Olympic National Park.

Vancouver, WA- Family Time

Next stop, Vancouver, WA to see the Killingers. We took a few days to stay with Bec and Brock and of course play, play, play with the baby. Valerie is truly delightful. We parked the RV at Brock's folks place for the few days, which was fabulous. Not so fabulous was the learning curve that the fridge needs the propane AND a trickle of the electricity to stay on. Who knew?! We went over to check on a something, grab a few things and found the trailer dead as a doornail. We quickly had to improvise. We couldn't get the slides open either, so I crawled through the tiny opening onto the counter to get to the fridge. We grabbed the cold things, threw them in a cooler we had, threw out a few things that spoiled and made the best of a hard learning. We tried to connect to the electricity in the shop but had the wrong connector. Amazon has seen a lot of business from us this summer! Once we got the right connector, we drove out to get the trailer fired back up. Let me just say, traveling and life on the road definitely has some learnings for sure.

I was able to care for Valerie for a few days while Bec worked. We played, chatted- she's quite chatty! and we thoroughly enjoyed her! Her vocabulary is blossoming and what we don't understand, I suspect we will soon.

One of my favorite chiropractors is in Vancouver so I scheduled a couple visits to see him and get a massage while we were there too. My left hip has been acting up for months. These few visits helped immensely. The weather was great too. We were able to enjoy their backyard and play a new game with Bec and Brock, go on evening walks and crash a bit. Our next stop in chasing cooler temperatures is Cannon Beach and they're joining us for a night. Whoo Hoo!

Bec and I snuck away to get our toes done. Very well needed I must say. 

 

Working on the Road- Really?

 Adventuring across America is also working across America for T. 

When we decided to give this life on the road a try, we had to think through everything, including working. Terrell works virtually and we've traveled in the past to Tennessee, Washington and California while he worked, so we knew theoretically this was possible. Now how to make it a reality.

We chose a 5th wheel with a garage so he had a designated workspace and then he could live daily life with me on the other side of that door. He researched desk options. I asked the RV sites on Facebook to share their desk set up and how they travel. Which by the way, there are some great people on Facebook RV sites more than willing to help! After pondering and thinking for a bit, he bought a sit/stand desk with two smaller monitors. It's been great! He brought his chair from his home office, some office supplies, various cords and a trash can. Ta Da! We bought Starlink for internet too. In MOST places it's worked great. The place we're at currently in Cannon Beach is super treed so he had to get creative with where to put the Starlink on the roof this time. It's not an amazing connection but this is the only time so far we've ran into connectivity issues. And from what we have seen with our own phones walking around town, Cannon Beach has connection issues. Luckily this resort has wifi too. 

This man I am married to is such a hard worker. He doesn't complain. He gets up, gets his coffee and goes to work. He can step outside if he wants to take calls, he can stand up to work, he can sit down and turn around to look out the other windows, and he can even wave at me through the glass door. 😎 I am thankful for his FANTABULUS job and the opportunity to do this on the road.

The curtains in the picture are for privacy as well as heat protection. Some places we've stayed have been so hot, these have been life savers. He does have his own AC if he needs it. Behind the curtains is a porch. Another place he could take his desk if he chose. 

So when we break down camp to travel, what does that look like?  The garage turns into storage for our bikes, camp chairs, his work station and anything else we need to store. T takes the monitors down and we keep those safe on top of our bed wrapped in a blanket. He ties down the desk to the wall and tucks his laptop in his backpack. Once we arrive, he sets it all up again!  Like I said, he's a hard worker! 

Our adventure would not be possible if it wasn't for Terrell's job. Quite honestly, it is an amazing company to work for and has been a huge blessing to us. We are grateful.

So there you have it! Working on the road. 

I love this man of mine. 💖

Thanks for listening,

Tuna Jones

RedGate Winery- Harvest Hosts

On our way to Vancouver, we decided to use Harvest Host to stay for a night and try out dry camping. Harvest Host is paid membership (and app) and once you sign up, you can stay at random places all over America. Some have hooks ups, some don't. The only thing they ask is that you support the place you stay. So for us, that meant we got to enjoy some wine at a very cool family-owned winery and had the far side of the vineyard all to ourselves. Now we didn't have electricity, so we used our batteries for lights and had water in our tank already to go.  This was THE BEST experience we had so far. We happen to crash a 40th high school class reunion too. There was live music by the Vindicators and the host was super nice. We will definitely do this again. 

Bend, Oregon

Ok so I am way behind again! This is our next stop sorta. We stayed one night in Caldwell, Idaho on our way to Bend. We LOVE Bend. Lots of great biking for T and hiking for me. Great eateries, coffee houses, and of course the river. The RV resort we stayed at was actually closer to Sisters then Bend. Which in my opinion is even cuter by far and more quaint than Bend.  We were still chasing cooler temperatures.  It was HOT and the smoke was yucky some of the days from the fires in OR. The resort was lovely. These RV resorts are more crowded than camping in the forest but also has amenities like a pool and washer/dryers. I'm keeping this one brief as I reallllly want to get to present time! Just know we stayed here for almost a week and enjoyed lots of moments along the way. 

 And that's Bend! On to Vancouver, Washington for a few days to see our family!