In the beginning

"Be careful what you wish for, you might get it."

These are words that I have repeated to myself numerous times over the last several months as I've pondered a scheme that Erin and I cooked up last summer over a few bottles of wine with Paula and Shel, out-of-town friends who mentioned that they were looking to stay in Ashland for five months over this summer. "Why don't you stay in our house!" we both said, the wine sloshing out of our glasses. We'd been thinking about renting out our house and traveling for an extended period of time and this seemed like the perfect union of supply (our house) and demand (Paula and Shel's desire for an Ashland home for several months). The details were hashed out over the course of a few weeks and eventually a working, and mostly sober, plan emerged. They'd rent our house from the first of June to the end of October, and we'd clear out our personal possessions (with the exception of one dangerously cluttered closet), leaving our furniture, artwork, books, TV, etc. The one notable exception: Dallas, our fifteen-year-old mutt -- who does not enjoy a trip across town let alone across the country -- would remain at home, under their loving care.

So . . . eventually the day dawned when we found ourselves minus a home, with a cherry bomb red 2004 Toyota Matrix as our temporary abode (and a minor addition on top, in the form of a Thule cargo box).

And so we hit the road.

Ready to hit the road

This is our (partially tentative) plan:  A week in Sunriver, Oregon, visiting the wonderful Williams family (John, Jill, Jackson and Jenna) who happened to have an extra room in their vacation home east of the Cascades > a brief stop in Eugene to see some friends on the way to the coast  > northwards along the coast up to Victoria on Vancouver Island, to stay with Jenny, our Australian friend, who is house-sitting for friends of hers there > back to the mainland for a few nights in a nice hotel in Vancouver by Stanley Park > eastward to Banff and Lake Louise for some northern Rockies camping adventures > then back down south across the eastern parts of Washington and Oregon until we return to Ashland by July 18th, or thereabouts. Erin has a work commitment, providing massage at a retreat up in the Greensprings for a week and from there . . . who knows where.(Okay, we have a pretty good idea where, but stay tuned anyway.)