A descriptive look at traveling and full-timing with our second RV, a fifth wheel toyhauler.
Laura and Sasha started this adventure in April of 2005
for a two week vacation in a truck camper.
Welcome to November:
Idaho, Oregon, California
November 2009 -Idaho to Oregon to California
Welcome to November, A New Beginning!
Most of the cool parts of the Road Trip will be on the Road Trip pages. This information below came from Facebook mostly.
November 2nd: - Happy Birthday to my Nephew Brenden Lawrence and my friend Mary Beth Dunn.
November 10th: We are leaving Post Falls on November 10, to get new tires put on, then we will check the weather to see if we can make it over the pass - Snoqualmie Pass. If we can get over it, we will visit those in Tacoma. If they call for snow tires and chains, then we will head south.
And the comments:
Jim Hanson Cool trailer. If you are in Idaho, I think I have been to the Flying J off the interstate. Have fun.
Marilyn Thompson Hughey Enjoy. Your rig is beautiful.
Me: We decided to head south, to go to Oregon instead. My old stomping ground when I went to grad school out in Beaverton OR. Although we are not headed that far northwest, we will be going on I-5 soon enough. I think today though, we will stay somewhere inside of Washington State, go into Oregon tomorrow.
Carolyn Steele Segrist I think you made a wise decision, although we would have loved to see you. See ya in a warmer climate.
Me: Definitely! Facebook is great that way!
November 11th: I have updated the website, still have lots more to do, but we did not fall off the face of the US when we went to Post Falls, Idaho. Lots of stuff going on, but it is time to make breakfast in our new camper, so that should be fun. Here at a Walmart in Moses Lake, Washington. Oh, and I have not changed the description yet. We have now changed the home page to reflect our new rig! Soon the rest of the website will have that page too.
Crack of noon club is finally on the road,. 12:03 out of Moses Lake, WA. Where will we be tonight?
November 12: It took forever, but I have updated the website with interior pictures of the New Rig. You can see them on the Norm&Lou page linked below. Thank you for your patience. We are still in Washington at Maryville State Park, on the Columbia River. Beautiful area, listening to Sasha's endless music and me trying to recuperate from a cold.
November 17th: 50 minutes on the phone, I think it is now going to happen. Who would have thought that it would take this long? On another note, we are at Springfield, OR, getting great suggestions on restaurants and grocery stores. There is a Trader Joe's, lots of organic/natural food stores, and of course, a Winco. I am in shopper heaven! We will be going to Lake Mead National Recreation Area for the winter. That was what the phone call was all about. An almost hour for a Volunteer position.
November 19th: Finally, back on the road, going to Grants Pass, OR to get the rig tested and get the truck updated.
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November 22nd: Going to go to some Oregon wineries, then come back and update the website....this should be interesting :)
And the Comments:
Deirdre Watson have fun!
Sasha Jevtich Laura can crash a winery like nobodies business. Today I watched the master at work....I was designated driver.
Ha ha Sasha, but it is usually true...
November 24th: We will be leaving Grants Pass, Oregon tomorrow, finally heading into California, getting some more work done on the truck, and then heading to Texas! Check out the website for updates, I spent all Monday making new articles, from some of the questions that we had, and doing some other updating. Will have the final updates about Oregon before we leave tomorrow.
WHY DOES IT SAY I HAVE NO STATUS - I most certainly do! Check out our website!
We are in California, got stopped at the checkpoint to make sure we did not have any bad fruit - NO kidding!
Lisa Mahoney Bierwirth They do that on the AZ border too - or at least they used too...
November 26th: Happy Thanksgiving Everyone! We will be leaving Chico, CA tomorrow morning, heading for Joshua Tree National Park for the weekend.
Chris Lawson That sounds great. Gobble gobble gobble
Alicia Namoi McGraw Sounds Wonderful. I have a friend down there Robbie so look him up. He is a great Ranger.
Me: Thanks Alicia, I will definitely do that. Hope your Thanksgiving is great.
November 28th: We were planning to be in Joshua Tree for the weekend but it is now the weekend and we are still not there. We are leaving Coalingo, CA, and are heading for Joshua Tree today. Made lots of changes on the website, check it out! Both Oregon and California pages are now updated.
Jimmy Lawson Perhaps when you get to a point where you may afford it trade your truck or motor in for a bio-diesel type and pull into the grease traps of restaurants to fill up for free. I love traveling behind these types of vehicles although when I am hungry (always) the smell of french fries is an unfair marketing ploy emitted from your tailpipe :-)
Me: That is not going to happen Jimmy. We are happy with the plain diesel, and quite honestly, I do not like the smell of french fries. We just did major upgrades to the truck, its now time to use it for at least another couple of years.
Sasha Jevtich Jimmy, I wish it could be that simple. Late model Fords, like we have, don't work on anything more than B-10 Biodiesel, (which means 10% organic). The only trucks I know of that can run on 100% grease are 1999 and older Dodge Rams with Cummins engines. Even then, it's not simply a matter of pouring the grease into the tank, it needs to be refined into fuel.....something you could do at home with 3-5K worth of hardware, but not as full time RV'ers.
Sasha Jevtich One thing we do have that helps us greatly is a 74 gallon auxiliary diesel bed-mount tank. Lets us have far better range and be able to pick where we buy fuel at the best possible prices.....
November 29th: We are parked for the next couple of nights. Limited Access on BLM land near Joshua Tree National Park. Took a while to park. More later with pictures.
November 30th: Headed to Slab City, CA later today. We are boondocking now on BLM land, but have full internet and cell phones - Around 70 degrees today! Pictures soon.
Bo Jevtich watch out for the BLM Police....
Bo Jevtich So saw Josua Tree Park? Very cool and congrats again on Lake Meade/Havasu. Should be nice!
OK, most of the pictures are on the Road Trip 2009 and it's associated pages, Utah!, Idaho, Norm & Lou, Oregon, California, Arizona/New Mexico, TEXAS!. So please check them out.
Check out the next month, December for what we were doing and expenses of December.