On the Road Again!

Yes! We are back in the bus. Not for a year this time, but we are planning to spend about 2 ½ months on the road. We left home on Thursday, March 15^th and our tentative plan is to spend a few weeks in Oregon State Parks, a few weeks moochdocking with family in California, and then hit some of the National Parks we missed on our first go ‘round. We have reservations at Pinnacles National Park in central California. After that, weather permitting, we will make our way to Death Valley National Park. From there it gets very fuzzy. We’re leaving it open with the goal of landing somewhere warm and sunny. Hopefully with awesome scenery, hiking, and some mountain biking. 

Home is where you park it. :)
Today it's Milo McIver State Park in Oregon.

It seems impossible that nearly eight months have passed since we pulled back into our driveway, ending our year-long RV adventure. I guess it’s the full hours and packed days that tend to fly by. If you caught our last couple of posts, you know we’ve been busy raising Riley. As a new parent (of any species!) can tell you, babies take up a lot of time and energy. Especially really big babies!

It has been a total joy watching him grow from that (relatively) tiny 19-pound puppy to his current 9-month-old, 160+ pound self. I cannot begin to convey how wonderful it is to have a big dog back in the house. There are still times I think of Callie and miss her terribly, but a slobbery Riley kiss is the best medicine imaginable.

What a difference a few short months can make!

It will be interesting to see how having a big dog along changes how we travel. Although we started the long trip in 2016 with our mastiff Callie, she passed away very early in our travels, so we never had to accommodate a furry person’s needs and schedule. I’m sure we’ll figure it out and Riley will be happy to train us. Fair warning: If you’re not a dog person, I’ll apologize in advance since there will probably be a great deal of content and photos featuring the incredibly handsome puppy brother. 😊

Origami Mastiff.
After the first night we used a baby gate to encourage Riley
to sleep on this own bed in the front of the coach. 

So where are we now? Our first stop was Milo McIver State Park in Estacada, OR. Of course, getting here turned out to be a bit more challenging than it should have been. Rog and I have talked about how ridiculous it is to set arbitrary self-imposed deadlines and then stress out if we don’t meet them, and yet ... there I was doing the crazy chicken dance trying to get everything loaded, the house cleaned, check lists completed, and out the door. We were an hour and a half behind (the arbitrary, self-imposed) schedule. Not too bad, I thought. Until... about 30 miles down the road I do a head slap. Oh crap, guess what I forgot? There are very few items that could not be easily replaced, but I managed to leave one of them, my computer! We pulled over and unhooked the toad so I could make the mad dash back home to grab my laptop. All packed up and ready to go, and still sitting on my desk. Of course, with rush hour traffic that “dash” took more than two hours. Ugh! We didn’t pull into our campsite until 8:30 pm and had to set up in the dark in a steady rain. Something we hadn’t done in our entire year on the road, we managed our first day of this trip. And so the adventure begins… 😊

I will say, Milo McIver was worth the effort. This may become my new favorite local camping spot. Gorgeous sites with lots of trails, Estacada Lake for kayaking, the Clackamas River for fishing, the River Mill Dam, a fish hatchery, disc golf, a big off-leash doggie play field… we won’t scratch the surface in the four days we’re here. On Friday, we took Riley to explore the trails. There are miles of interconnected hiking and equestrian trails. We ended up doing about 6 or 7 miles (a bit more than we intended!), and still didn’t see even half of it.

Estacada Lake. 

Riley's first dip in the Clackamas River.

What a handsome boy!

River Mill Dam

Rog & Riley on the River Mill Trail.

The drippy weather makes for lush greenery and impromptu waterfalls.

Let's play ball!!

Oh, and did I mention we’re not too far from Portland and that means we managed a shopping trip to the Columbia outlet, lunch at the dog friendly and delectable Tin Shed Garden Café, and then a short stroll to Salt & Straw for delicious handcrafted ice cream. Happy, happy, joy, joy! 

Salt & Straw in Portland. Riley is officially a fan! :)

Riley also got to experience his first campfire and he is proving to be a fantastic traveler. He is so calm and patient. He loves the walkies and, as long as Daddy is within touching distance, is happy to hang with whatever we want to do. What a sweetheart!

Life is good.