Box of Chocolates

"Life is like a box of chocolates..."

When you last heard from our intrepid caped crusaders they were *In Search of Rain* heading from Portland, Oregon to Port Townsend, Washington on the Olympic Peninsula. That was a month ago.

We're in Arizona today.

Here's the short version of how we got here:

1. Dosewallips State Park along the Hood Canal in Washington

Spirits are high. We're drinking champagne to celebrate Ross' completion of his job assignment and our freedom. The weather is great. We go out for hikes and bike rides.

2. Point Hudson Marina RV Park in Port Townsend, WA

Finally we've arrived in Port Townsend after dreaming about returning to the Olympic Peninsula; this time with hopes of maybe finding our forever house and settling down. Off we go to look at real estate thinking we've beaten the Zoomer and Boomer relocation crowds to this somewhat remote corner of the Pacific Northwest. Did I mention we are naive, rose-colored glasses kind of folks? The reality was sobering and disappointing with overpriced, dated houses going to the highest cash bidders with the fewest contingencies. We expanded out search from Port Angeles to Sequim to Marrowstone Island to Hansville, and while we found some interesting spots, none of these locations elevated our spirits enough to overcome the housing market concerns. And we DID find rain! And we found wind, dark skies, and cold. Robin adapted better to the weather conditions than Ross did. The weather and market conditions just made him gloomy. We started making plans to head south.

We were blessed in our stay here to be warmly welcomed by our new friend Laurie and her dog Tanka (introduced by our dear friend Lisa in Bend). Laurie gave us the lay of the land as another transplant from Bend. We left knowing we have a new friend there, whether we come back or travel on.

3. Camp Gloomy Blue in Ross' Head

This year has sucked way worse than 2020. And 2020 was the suckiest year ever. This year we decided to stay in Bend, go back to work, renovate our condo, buy an investment property, renovate our investment property, leave Bend, sell our condo, and sell our investment property. Did I mention we're in the middle of a pandemic? Meanwhile, Ross had some unexplained gastrointestinal and systemic symptoms that turned out to possible be an H. pylori stomach infection requiring so-called quadruple drug therapy to eradicate. And this is the movie trailer version. And since Ross is supposed to be the more care-free, roll with the flow member of the team, there was some cause for concern that this adventure was turning into a gloom fest. Ross felt that he was letting Robin down by wanting to leave Port Townsend until he heard Robin say, "I love the sun. It's like dope."

4. Roamers Rest Campground near Portland, OR

Taking action has always been an antidote to feeling stuck in a tough situation. Arriving back in Portland to better weather already felt better even though it was just an overnight stop on the way south.

5. Crown Villa RV Resort in Bend, OR

Crown Villa holds a special place in our hearts. In 2012 we arrived at Crown Villa for a week and stayed the summer. We loved Bend, bought a condo, and the rest is history. So we were happy to spend two days here taking care of some final relocation and health-related business. Rather than continuing to pay for storage, we sold our beloved 2013 Jeep Wrangler Rubicon which has been Robin's primary vehicle. Given the crazy auto market, we worry some about replacement costs once we get to our final resting place. Our apologies to our Bend friends we didn’t visit on this stop. Our stopover was rushed and full of errands…we couldn’t bear to say goodbyes all over again.

6. Crystal Crane Hot Springs in eastern Oregon

This place is gorgeous. The weather is gorgeous. The hot springs are relaxing. Things are starting to look up.

7. New Frontier Campground in Winnemucca, NV

This place is ordinary. Wildfire smoke blocks the view of the nearby mountains. Air quality index is above 150. We feel dejected. We both hate wildfire smoke.

8. Sunrise Valley RV in Mina, NV

We've lowered our expectations. The air is clear. So we're OK. We're getting travel weary even though we try to keep our drives under 5 hours, or 250 miles. While changing landscapes and crossing curious towns might be interesting, our bodies don't travel like they did 10 years ago. Stiffness.

9. Oasis Las Vegas RV Resort in Las Vegas, NV

We're in Vegas, baby! Unfortunately, we don't gamble, we don't like big cities, and we don't like noisy places much. But we do love our friends Billy and Jennifer, and we have a great catch up visit with them over meals and several bottles of good wine. Ross met Billy in college when they were both young roosters. Now they're wise old crows married to lovely gals. Thanks, Billy and Jen, for a great visit!

10. Dead Horse Ranch State Park in Cottonwood, AZ

And so here we sit in a beautiful state park campground after enjoying a morning hike and mountain bike ride. The weather is near perfect. We're listening to our favorite radio station, WWOZ in New Orleans, streaming a recording of the 2008 New Orleans Jazz Festival. We've been streaming WWOZ nearly every day for years. "OZ" saved us during the pandemic, and it continues to lift our spirits every morning (as we doomscroll through the latest political, pandemic, and climate news).

And so goes this "catch up" post. Are we still searching for rain? Not really, but yes. More on this later...