We've ARRIVED!

Well we have made it to our new home, Sequim Washington! After a whirlwind two week trip to Southern California (we'll write a separate blog about that trip soon), we picked up our trailer yesterday from the repair facility and moved back into it. It was so good to be back in our spacious home after being in the rental trailer. We were treated so well by the rental company that we'd highly recommend them if you're ever in the Portland Oregon area and needing a motorhome or trailer. Give Veronica a call at RV Northwest, they really understood how hard it was for us to be without our home and the uncertainty of when we'd get it back from the repairs.

Joss had to run an errand this morning on her way to Sequim and Robby went with her and the kittens. She took I-5 to Olympia, then headed off on Highway 101 towards Sequim. The pictures above are from her leg of the journey. Sawyer and I took the truck and trailer straight up I-5 to Tacoma, WA. Then we headed Northwest, eventually joining up with Joss and Robby where the 104 meets the 101. We caravaned into Sequim this evening and after setting up the trailer, headed to our favorite Mexican food restaurant just a couple blocks away.

It's good to put down the leveling jacks on the trailer and know that we are staying put for a while. How long you ask? We don't know what the future will bring but we're renting space 26 on a month to month basis at Gilgal Oasis RV Park for now. We'll start looking around at houses, barns, vacant land, boat slips, you name it! Just kidding about the boat slips though.

Next week I start my new job with a division of The Home Depot. The boys start school and Joss starts investigating our new hometown and looking at properties.

When we told some friends down south that I was going to work at/for The Home Depot, we got a few raised eyebrows. I won't exactly be stocking the shelves (not that there's anything wrong with that of course) but to be honest...it's so beautiful here...I'd pump gas here before going back to So Cal. :)

SEQUIM OR BUST

by Mama Gypsy

The number one reason we did this trip was to find a new place to live. Well, after 14 months of traveling the country we have made our choice, "DRUM ROLL PLEASE!!" we've decided to move to Sequim, Washington. (Sequim rhymes with gym and swim, like sk-wim)

The first question most people ask us is "Why Sequim?" Good question, right!?

Purple Haze Lavender Farm

Sequim pasture

Elk or where they just big deer?

Joss with a new friend at the organic dairy farm

Joss and the boys at the Dungeness Spit

Last December, we spent three weeks in Sequim and it just felt like home. When we were packing to leave for other areas I said to Robert "I'd be perfectly happy just staying here right now." He said he would be too so we talked about it. We both thought that we may regret it if we did not complete the whole year long trip around the country so we decided to go ahead and go. We decided a few years ago that we did not want to have any big regrets like that in our lives any more, so we continued on our trip. Whether we noticed it or not, we found ourselves comparing every other place to the Northwest and specifically to Sequim. We decided pretty much by Valentine, Nebraska (late August this year) that Sequim was IT for us. But, there were still some other areas we were considering right up until last week. We had to get over our fears about what to do for a living there. Sequim is a little bit isolated from the big city, it's two hours or more from Seattle by ferry and about two hours from Tacoma or Olympia by car. But, like we handle most everything these days we decided that we were being led to Sequim by both our hearts and divine intervention, so we'd better just TRUST it and go.

We love Sequim because of it's beauty, weather and extremely friendly people. Sequim is known as the "banana belt" because of its unique location in the rain shadow of the Olympic Mountains. The average annual rainfall in Sequim is only 16 inches, yet 40 miles away, the Hoh Rain Forest boasts an annual rainfall of more than 150 inches, among the highest recorded within the United States. On June 21, 1995, the City leaders passed Ordinance 95-009, prohibiting "weather that may disrupt the plans of its residents and visitors (source: http://www.ci.sequim.wa.us/welcome.cfm)." The quality of life in the Sequim-Dungeness valley is something sought by others, and embraced by its residents.

We love being on the Straight of Juan De Fuca, the Puget Sound and across the Straight from Victoria BC. The city has water views in many directions, mountain views and beautiful valleys as well. The scenery is amazing. We have beaches galore to choose from and I LOVE a cold weather beach!! Sequim is also in close proximity to the beautiful San Juan Islands the area in which the movie "Free Willy" was filmed and has many pods of orcas living there year round. That's so cool. It is close enough to Seattle to go for the day or take friends who come to visit us (HINT, HINT). In the small town of about 5,500 people we have local organic produce farms, local raw dairy with fresh milk and cheese, local lavender farms to tour, and two festivals a year, the lavender festival and the irrigation festival. But we also have a Home Depot, Wal-Mart and Costco as well as a great Mexican Restaurant (a must for me). It's a small town surrounded by beautiful scenery, rivers, lakes and straights and sounds. Lots of water for us to kayak and canoe around. The whole Olympic Peninsula also has tons of biking trails both mountain and flat as well as fishing, boating and camping. It really is a great place for people like us who really like to live out of doors in nature.

We also felt the people in Sequim were just really friendly and seemed so happy to be living there. Even the teens we met there were polite and friendly and made us feel like this place was a place we could call home. So, in about a week or more, we will!

After we visit our family and friends here in our "old" home of Southern California we will drive up to Portland to pick up our trailer that has been in for repairs, then we'll head to Sequim and the end of our travel adventure will be the beginning of a new adventure for us, a new hometown and new state. We'll continue blogging as we get settled in and let you know how it's all going. Stay tuned as we find employment, get the kids in school and adjust to life as "normal" people who don't move their house every week.

Los Angeles again after 14 months away

We came down I-5 today from our overnight stop in Lost Hills, CA. We were heading to Joss' parent's house to pick up our van we left with them 14 months ago, so we drove straight through Los Angeles via the Interstate. As we neared Los Angeles, the condition of the road worsened with every mile it seemed. Throughout the trip, we've kept an informal poll of various things. One of them being "worst roads". For a time, Oklahoma City had the honors. Then Louisiana took the crown away and held it for many months. Well, today the City of Angels took the award in spades! If you are driving an RV or towing a trailer and need to get to San Diego (or other port-of-call below LA) do your kidneys a favor and figure out a way AROUND Los Angeles!

I assume all the yuppies that cut us off and zig zagged through the traffic didn't notice it as much as we did. I think the suspension of those Beamers, Jags, Benz' and Lexus SUVs is a little more forgiving than our 1 ton, dually pickup with an 8,000 pound trailer.

Besides the road condition, Los Angeles (or the "Greater LA basin" as it's known) also gets the award for the worst drivers. When I say "worst" what I mean to include is "unsafe", "rude", "harried", "impatient" and "stupid". I can say those things because I used to be one. I have worked as a salesperson, driving a company car, around Los Angeles for many years. And being in that position, I was occasionally late, distracted or stressed...sometimes all at once! I drove too fast, cut to close to large vehicles that were moving too slow to pose a danger of hitting me and generally was an jerk of sorts. I was never rude on purpose (okay, almost never) but I can now see how my driving may have been interpreted that way. Ahh the wisdom that comes with age. Age and the experience of driving a 27,000 pound rig all around the country. As we've said before, you don't do ANYTHING fast when you're towing that much trailer. I guess you could say I've mellowed a bit in my driving and there were a lot of people on the road today that certainly HAVEN'T!

But enough of the drivers and roads. What about the beauty of the big city? To be fair, let me preface my comments with the acknowledgement that most Interstates that go through "big" cities don't usually go through the most pretty parts of town. There, that's my disclaimer and if you live in Los Angeles and you love the city...good for you, I hope you've found your little slice of paradise. BUT if you're driving down (or up) I-5, Los Angeles is about the ugliest city we've seen on the whole trip!

We put a positive spin on the visual assault to our senses by telling ourselves that this little trip through LA LA land was to serve as a reminder of why we left in the first place. We have seen such natural beauty all across the country that the smog, haze, concrete, trash and traffic of Los Angeles leaves us no doubt that we've done the right thing.

While we can't wait to see our friends and family while we're down here...we can't wait to head North for the last time!