Escape Pod Rambles: Family, Friends, and Frustrations

May 31 - June 6

Saturday we packed up and drove across the coastal mountains to the valley to stay at Nate and Rux's house for a few days. We had a nice visit at Nate's favorite pub with Jake, Cessna, and Balen that evening. Sunday I drove to Portland to visit with All Souls member Carolyn MacDonald and her daughter Jill. We had a nice lunch and then toured the Portland Rose Garden.

I will never get over the awe of seeing snow-covered mountains

A quick stop at Ikea for something for the van and I was pleased to see they hadn't caved!

The rest of our stay in Springfield was spent visiting with lovely friends, Sarah and Alan Barlow, (I'm horrible at getting pictures), and Nate and Rux. One day we went to the University of Oregon's Museum of Natural and Cultural History, where Cessna works.

World's oldest shoe was found not far from where we will be working

You can tell we are in the Pacific Northwest! this is just coffee

On Thursday we drove up to the high desert because we had an appointment to repair a few minor issues with the new camper. Of course I had to stop at Sahalie Falls

Matthew chose a beautiful rest area, the Peter Skene Ogden State Scenic Viewpoint, for us to boondock at since it was close to the RV repair place.

Unfortunately, our Friday RV appointment was an exercise in frustration. They were only able to fix a few things, despite the fact that we sent them a detailed list of repairs that needed to be done. They did not have the inventory needed to complete them. We will have to go back in a few weeks, which is inconvenient since we are about 2 hours away. We decided to spend the night at the same spot since it was getting late.

Saturday we drove to Lava Lands to check in. We met our Ranger, Emily, who is now the only FT Ranger for the Newberry Volcanic Monument. Turns out, even though we were asked to come between the 7th and the 10th, they weren't ready for us. The site we'll be staying at might not have electricity yet and definitely doesn't have water yet. We were set up in a dry site near the Lava Land hosts, one of whom was kind enough to hook us up on his electric post. Fortunately we had filled up with some water before we left so that wasn't as much of a concern. Icing on the cake was that Emily was off for the next 3 days so we were on our own. Communication, we are learning, is not a strong suit in this volunteer realm.

Sunday we explored Lava Lands.