FINALLY! New photos!

Well.. you will all be happy to know that I finally got the photos uploaded onto the site this morning. Same link... just hit refresh and if you don't see new ones, then empty your cache.

VIEW UPDATED ROADTRIP PHOTOS HERE!!!

I added in about 125 new ones... they go all the way up to seeing the house.... One thing that I forgot to mention in the blog was the fact that I had bruises all over the place during that trip. Ran in to doors, tables, bonked my head on the captain's pit, you name it. Even to the point that I was bending over at one point to feed the dogs and Sirius jumped up and we totally coconutted. So I had a pseudo black eye. You can see how yellow it is on the last page. Trés attractive. For the most part the bruise on my eye is pretty much gone. But I can now imagine how much it hurts to get socked in the eye. Ouch.

It's our first weekend here. We've got Justin's Audi TT and are all going to somehow manage to jam in there and go get some coffee and head over to a new dog park that is supposed to be great. After that.. hopefully the dogs will be wiped out hence becoming less obnoxious... we're going to go check out Fisherman's World (for Vin) and then we will head southwest to Beaverton to check out the Nike Employee Store.

We're going to be finally meeting our landlords today to at some point... A few random things we've found about the house- like the back deck (which will be AWESOME for parties and grillouts with our new grill we will be picking out soon (that we got as a wedding present from someone who shall rename nameles at their request) I also want to check out the Crate & Barrel store too to see if they have any rugs on sale as we definitely need some to quiet this place down a little. Lots more floor in this house. I also actually want tosee in person the stuff we registered for on the wedding registry.

We went to dinner last night at Henry's Tavern. It's two blocks away from WK and was pretty packed. Had a great dinner and then came home and crashed. I think after this weekend will be back to our normal selves. Hopefully.

Anywho... enjoy the photos... comments of course are always wanted.... we hope everyone is doing safe and sound. And when are you coming to visit?

First day at WK

So today was my first day at Wieden
I also just found out we have internet access at home- yipeeee

I am taking home my fresh new powerbook and will be uploading my pictures this weekend! yipee!

First day was good. It's big here. Easy to get lost. Am going to the Nike Employee store this weekend so I can load up on Nike shoes. No more Merrells.

Will be starting a new blog probably over the weekend if I can get to it. seeing as I'm not in VT anymore, we should have a PDX relevant blog.

Have a good weekend!

7303 N Boston Ave & Maguro

So it's really late.
I'm upstairs with the two dogs sleeping slumber party style. Vin is out in the RV. He didnt' want to sleep on the floor.
I accidentally discovered that we have a super weak signal from someone in the neighborhood, but it's strong enough to post a blog!

We got into town and checked out the house. It's REALLY cute. Very reminiscent of living in Winooski. The house is probably about the same age, plaster walls, clawfoot tub, little tiny tiles, and bigger than my house in "the 'nook". The dogs have been sniffing all over the place and have christened the backyard. There are a bunch of dogs in the neighborhood so of course they all had to introdcue themselves to each other via barking.

The three of us decided that sushi was in order and we drove down into south portland to the misty sushi restaurant that has no sign in front of it but normally has a line around the corner. Since it was already 9:15 we didn't have to wait. We ordered a boat load of sushi- and really.. it was the best sushi I have ever had. YUM! (dad- when you guys come to visit we MUST go there. Mom can have teriyaki chicken)

Going to drop off the RV tomorrow and then run errands. I will be posting up new pics tomorrow when we go over to Justin's house for a bit. I'm going to tuck myself into my makeshift sleeping bag next to the floor vent and call it a night.

Goodnight from Portland!

20 miles out of PDX

So we are 20 miles out of PDX. We can see the lights of the city reflecting off the Columbia as we drive along 84.

Can't believe we are HERE.

Slight change in plans

I have cabin fever and am ready to get out of the RV. Hence we've decided that since we are two hours (which now sounds like nothin') east of Portland that we are putting the pedal to the metal and are going to our new home. We called our landlords and they are going to be meeting us tonight. Going to pick up some air mattresses at a Target or something and spend tonight in a space bigger than a breadbox. A little sad to see the road trip end.. but not THAT sad. Currently we are driving along the Columbia River heading west on 84. Washington state is on my right. I can't believe Vin has driven the whole way! I've been the navigator, blogger updater, etc. We are going to clean out Large Marge (my name for the rv) tomorrow and turn it in Thursday morning. Hoping a neighbor has wireless in the neighborhood that we can sponge off of. If so I will put my new pics up. There are a bunch of them!

The Oregon Interpretive Center was really cool. Life size dioramas (Very realistic... right down to the poo stuck in the oxen's tails!) But we watched a (way too long) video on the Donner Party and then went out and saw a part of the real Oregon Trail.

Anyhoo.... this has been really fun. We're glad so many people have enjoyed our travel log. Will post again when we arrive in PDX.

Officially in Oregon

We're in Baker City. Stopping for some early lunch before we hit the museum. Iwill try to upload pics if we have wireless tonight. We're staying in The Dalles tonight- don't know where yet. Rolling into Portland tomorrow ahead of our stuff. We got a call from John our driver and he's stuck in Illinois waiting on a part and for weather to clear up. More news later. Vin is antsy.

Rainbows & Elk

Just saw an amazing rainbow after driving through some showers. Close to Boise and we've seen a lot of elk- one guy even had an elk ranch right off of 84. Lots of wind turbines. We keep criss crossing the Snake River and went through Snake River Canyon. Still feelin' mighty relaxed from our marination in the hot springs.

One thing that we've noticed is that people in the midwest sure like their fireworks. Lots of fireworks shops. Do they really sell that many I wonder?

I'm really looking forward to going to the Oregon Trail Museum (outside of Baker City) tomorrow. Apparently you can still see wagon wheel ruts still. Reminds me of Pompeii in a way.

Anywho... service is getting low. Later taters....

If you're ever in Idaho

Wow! We are leaving Lava Hot Springs... it was AWESOME. A little place that you pay $5 to get into and there are these gravel-bottomed pools that are all hpt spring fed. No sulphur so it wasn't stinky. We sat in the middle pool- had to have been like 115 degrees. The snow was lightly falling with the hot water bubbling up around us. I went and had my massage while Vin got pruney.

We had lunch at this place called Johnnys. It had the old vinyl swivel barstools and great food.

Getting back on the highway now to head towards Ontario, Oregon. We're staying at a true RV Park that's right on the Snake River called Oasis Campground. It's about 4 hours away.

Nighty Night

I wanted to add one last thing in. Vin didn't mention that our camp site is right next to a little place that has 3 pet donkeys. What is with donkeys out here?

They also like to bray alot. Like at 10.25 when you are getting ready to go to bed. And the dogs like to freak out each time they do it. It's more funny than anything else... trailer parks....donkeys....fake log cabins....hotdog aroma.... yeah... good times.

We're going to try and head over to hot Lava Springs tomorrow and I am REALLLLLLLY hoping that we can sit in some pools tomorrow. Help get rid of "flat ass" from riding in the car for a week. I'm really excited to check out the Oregon Trail Museum too. It is really interesting to look around while we are driving and imagine what it would have been like to be in a wagon heading out west.

Going to hop up into my little cave now and watch some more "sex in the city" with vin's laptop and headphones. Need to drown out donkey noise and Vin's snoring...

nighty night...

Roadtrip photos

I'm currently uploading a photo gallery on my website because Blogger just sucks and its taking WAY TOO LONG to load up just a few images. This way you can see a bunch of them.

I realize that after awhile.. they all look a little the same. But hey. I'm taking pictures out of an RV.

The directory is loading up on the site now so it will be up in a bit. It takes awhile to load 146 images.

Once that's loaded, we're going to head into town (in the RV) to get some Mexican food for dinner. Olé!

VIEW ROADTRIP PHOTOS HERE!!!

Crap weather in Brigham, Utah

Spotty service available today. Took some great pictures in Wyoming. I had a bumpy but restful nap in the back this morning and woke up to sunny clear skies and beautiful scenery. It truly is being out in the wide open. Have had some spotty snow here and there- now being one of those spots. We're close to tonight's spot in Idaho and we just saw that there are natural hot springs close by and we are going to definitely go check those bad boys out. I haven't been to natural hot springs since I lived in Texas and I can't wait. I played a little solitaire todaybut didn't win too much. Picked out M&Ms out of the trail mix. Will try to update the pics tonight.

Our first pump out

So we're attempting to do the first pump out. The rule so far has been pee only so it won't be that bad. But Vin went to pull out the tube and it's rotted out. One of the many things to add to the list of things about the RV that have been a bust so far. We've kept a running list and plan on making a call in the next few days.

Anywho. Long night and didn't sleep very well and it wasn't because of Vin's snoring either. Had to go the bathroom at 4.30am and the dogs were up and they needed to go out too. So the three of us head out for a bathroom run. It had stopped snowing and it was pretty quiet. Except for the hum of trucks going by on the highway. Which literally is about 100 ft away.

So I'm off to walk the dogs for their morning walk. They are tied up right now outside so I could sweep out and clean up a bit. Trying to get some fresh air in the joint as it still has a slight rank odor of dinner from 2 nights ago.


Laters.. we're off to idaho today and blogger isn't letting me upload my pictures right now.

Sleepin' in a trailer park

We've just pulled into tonight's KOA. A real jem. Going to try and get some free wireless from the Days Inn that's about 30 ft away. Can't wait to take some pictures in the morning. Lightly snowing. Just had an AWESOME bbq dinner. The dogs will be stoked when they see some leftovers in their bowls shortly.

In the great wide snowey open

So it's been a day of limited cell service. We're about 15 min away from tonights stopping point in Laramie, Wyoming. The snow is coming down pretty good.. looks like winter. Hoping that the water tank does not freeze up on us. Very glad we filled up on propane. Stopping for some dinner at the powder river rib company (no hot dogs tonight) and then to the campground to chill. I'm going to watch my dvd's from Parker and Vin is going to read. hoping that we are close to the showers because we didn't have one yet today and I feel skanky. But the snow COULD be a deterrant. No WiFi tonight so pics have to wait until tomorrow.

A chilly night up over the cab

I've been sleeping up over the cab in the coffin-esque bed. There is about 3 ft of vertical space up there. I figured that it would be warm up there because "heat rises". Last night, JACK rose. So I was pretty much fully under the covers all night. Only woke up a few times to Suki growling (watch dogs!)

We're getting ready to head out. Vin is filling up the water tank currently and then we need to fill up the gas tank. The RV only had the renters guide in German (sweet.) So luckily we downloaded the english version from their website and have that on the laptop for figuring out how to do all that stuff.

Looks like we're heading into some semi-crappy weather. We'll keep you posted from the road. Never got my Shamrock Shake yesterday. Maybe they will still have them at Dirty Ron's. All I know is that we're up early enough so Vin can have his McMuffin.

Hunkered Down in Omaha

We've pulled in to our Omaha, Nebraska KOA for the night. Definitely not as kute and kozy as the one last night. We're going to pop some laundry in (need clean pants.) and take the dogs for a stroll. Then we're calling it a night.

Vin made dinner tonight. Mac and cheese and hotdogs (all beef!) A nice, sodium-filled dinner for two, which is sure to mean I will have little hotdogs for fingers when I wake up. Excellent!

Chasing the western sunset

We been chasing the sunset on probably the straightest stretch of highway yet. Pictures will go up tonight once we get the laptop out and the photos off the camera. Vin is on his 3rd day of driving. I keep offering to drive but he's all into it. Or he's just afraid of me driving a 25' RV for the first time. Suki has been on my lap for most of the day today and Sirius has pretty much been comatose except for our stop for lunch. We are about an hour away from tonight's stop in Gretna, NE. More news later...

Forgot to mention...

So I forgot to tell you what the donkeys were for.

Donkey Basketball.

That's right. People ride donkeys and playbasketball. And they wear these little rubber shoes too. He ws trimming their hooves because he didn't have a game that night so he figured he would stop and take care of a few things.

Funny.

Donkeys at the World's Largest Truck Stop

We just are getting back on the road after stopping at the World's Largest Truck Stop. (how do they determine thay anyhow...) We filled up the tank, put in some oil, took the dogs for jaunt down the little stretch of grass next to the exit. A guy had pulled up next to us with trailer full of donkeys. He had taken a few of them out. We decided while we were eating our sandwhiches that we needed to take a picture of that. I mean really. Who would ever get the chance to see donkeys at the world's lagest truck stop? Once we get to Nebraska we will upload today's pics. Classic.

Ed Flynn is Correct

That's right. Miles per gallon.
Here is a picture of what we have been looking at all day.

Just crossed the Mississippi

We just crossed into Iowa a few minutes ago. Going to hit a rest stop soon for a dog break and some lunch. We're on 280W and will be back on good ole 80W in about 5 minutes. From there it's 313 miles to the next KOA. Not the most exciting day except for the Adult Shop that was literally in the middle of a dirt pile right next to the highway in Chicago. Of course it had a lot of patrons.

Guess what...

the number "9.75" stands for? Really.... someone venture a guess.....

ps- Nick,my camera battery was dead yesterday, so that's why we didn't have any...

Lunchtime

Just stopped for some gas right nd walked the dogs. We had our first RV lunch- sammies and chips.
We're about an hour and 45 minutes until we hit Cleveland. We'll be waving at Jen Fox from the highway!

Everyone should have a Treo!

we are about 40 miles away from pennslyvania (that's pennsyltucky to you, kaszuba and frank!)

The RV is much quieter so far today- wind is not bad. we stopped at target this morning to load up on some groceries and a bathing suit because some of these koa's have hot tubs! we've been reading everyone's comments so far. Vin was very excited to learn that he hadn't lost his red hat (thanks jackie!) The dogs are sleeping... I've been checking email and weather on the treo. what a great thing to have on a trip like this!
I finally feel like I'm starting to relax a bit- amazing what not having a job for a bit can do for you.
More news later.. going to stop for lunch and walk the dogs in a bit.

A Brand New Day!

After probably one of the best nights sleep I've had in the last month and a new shower (I even exfoliated!) I feel like a new person. Even the dogs seem much more relaxed.. but let's see how long that lasts before we fire up the RV.

We're on our way to Indiana. Never been. I just have the "Gary Indiana" song in my head from "The Music Man". We're going to make a quick stop at Wegmans to pick up some stuff for lunch and dinner (our first culinary exploration - wait- kulinary exploration at the KOA) and a quick stop at Target to get some stuff to buffer the noise in the RV. And some stretchy pants to wear.

Can't remember if this KOA has WiFi or not... if there is we will be sure to update!

I'm riding in a giant can on wheels.

Picked up the RV this morning in Salem, Ma. You can't miss it. After watching an informational video in a smelly office with two nervous dogs. We signed the paperwork and were free to start the adventure! We moved all of the stuff out of the mini van and into the RV, which was a tad ghetto. But hey- this is an RV and we're out on an adventure so we got rollin'- Vin in the RV and me in the mini van, we still had to drop it off in Cambridge at the car rental place. Dropping off the car was not as simple as one might think. We had a big ass RV to think about on these narrow Boston street afterall... After a slight run in with a school bus, we both managed to make our way and dropped off the car.



So FINALLY! We're driving! We get on 90 finally and we're going in the right direction. WEST.

The wind was blowing at 30 mph and let me tell you- it made for a noisy ride, as well as the constant rocking back and forth. I passed the time by reading the newest issue of Marie Claire and making shims out of paper towels and jamming them into the noisiest spots.

We pulled into Syracuse (let's go orange!) to spend the night and Ursula and Jim's place. Had some Thai food and caught up. After a few glasses of red wine.. I'm tired.

Top 'o the Mornin' at York Beach

Bright and early here on the Nubble in York, Maine.

Loading day was long. It started out sunny and nice out- 50º in March! Vin dropped me off at the airport and I picked up the rental car- which was actually a mini van. We met back and house and waited for the driver to show up to load our stuff up.



We're sitting drinking our coffee when this behemoth tractor trailer pulled up- it was HUGE and took up half the street. John the driver comes in with his assistant Dennis to survey all of the crap we have. (And really. At this point it IS all crap.) The loading commences and they start hauling stuff out. For the most part everything went nice and smooth. The piano proved to be the usual challenge. It wouldn't sit on the cart because the bottom part is a little warped (hey. it's 90+ years old.. we have to cut it some slack) They tried putting it on the cart, they tried wheeling it out, you name it. They even tried picking it up but no one wanted to pop a hernia. At this point I was getting more and more nervous with each attempt so I decided to go distract myself by vacuuming upstairs. Shem stopped by with Sylvia and we had a little visit with them while they moved the piano out of the house. Finally I saw them making their way up into the truck and breathed a sigh of relief. I had been enviosioning it either tipping over and going through the floor, tipping over and going through the porch, you name it.. I thought it.

Finally around 4 we started getting close to having hardly anything in the house. I kept cleaning while they kept loading. The flat bed which was being used to load the car and boat into the truck was supposed to be showing up and we wanted to see how they were going to get Vin's boat into the truck. We waited. And waited. Waited some more. The tow truck guy calls- they're running late. So we go back to loading. I took apart the trusty futon and chair to help move things along. Cleaned some more. Robin showed up to say bye and see the empty house. Which BTW was a little sad. It was a great little house.

At about 5.30 we realize that the tow truck is STILL not there and we have a half hour before we have to pick up the dogs from doggy daycare. John tells us we don't have to wait around so we start doing the paperwork, say our goodbyes and get in the mini van.

I forgot to mention. It was now 34º out and snowing. Yeah. Love that Vermont weather. Started out 50º and sunny... ended cold windy and shitty. Awesome!


We picked up the dogs, packed them into the van and head south. Pulled into York at about 9.30pm. Celebrated our departure from Vt with some champagne with Nick and Jess. I headed up and went to sleep with Suki, Sirius and Mike's dog Gretchen. We hunkered down and went to sleep.

Got up at 6am this morning and took the dogs out for a little potty action. It's really windy out still. Got a load of laundry running and we're meeting Jess for breakfast at 8.30am and then we head out to pick up the RV in Salem, Mass.

I have a bunch of pictures to add up but it's not letting me upload images.. so we'll try again later.

Vince's Roadtrip Update

So Meghan does not get all the credit for this blog. Wanted to fill in the blanks, but actually there's not much else to say.
We did really well in terms of packing quick, being organized and getting things done, even though my project manager might disagree on our efficiency.
The movers were great, and I really really hope they were careful with my boat. We left before it was loaded because the flatbed driver was "busy doing something else".
Nice to come to Maine before heading west. Although I think the dogs are a little confused. Little do they know it's about to get even more confusing for them, because thier little home is going on wheels for 8 days.
We're on the way to get a bagel, pick up the RV, watch the RV training video, drop off the rental car, and head to Syracuse so Meghan can buy a new sweatshirt.
From NY, we head west on 90 to Indiana, near Notre Dame, so Meghan can buy another new sweatshirt.
From Indiana, we head to Nebraska, and we'll probably look for cheesy t shirts for Meghan to buy along the way.
Nebraska to Wyoming via Rt 80. Heading up to Laramie where our Komfort KOA Kampground is located.
From Laramie, we'd like to check out Yellowstone, via West Yellowstone, but the roads may be gnarly for the RV, so that's optional.
Wyoming will lead to Idaho, Pocatello to be correct. I'd love to spend some time out there before we head to Oregon.
I also wanted to head to Bend, OR to take a look around. I know there's a good brew pub there, and I actually have a fishing buddy who lives there. Or at least he used to. He took me down the Deschutes river for trout one year in a drift boat.
So from Bend, we'll head over to Portland and drive to 7303 N Boston ave. I wonder what the neighbors will think of us living in the RV the first night.
The funniest part of the whole trip will be dropping Meghan off at a world class advertising agency, where she just landed a great job at Wieden and Kennedy, in a 25 foot Class C RV with two little dogs co-piloting.
We'll keep y'all posted along the way.

VRL

Packin' Day

We made it through packing day. They arrived at 8.30am this morning and left around 4pm. There are boxes everywhere and I have a slight sense of satisfaction knowing that I didn't have to do any of the actual packing. I could get used to this...

Anyhow.. the dogs are at daycare and I'm just sitting here at the computer- the one thing that isn't packed yet thinking about "Loading Day" which is tomorrow. We have to pick up the rental car- which somehow magically got upgraded to a mini van or SUV and trust me we need the room- and then we watch as all of our crap gets loaded into a giant semi. Should be fun.. digital camera is charged up and ready to go for that one!

I uploaded some pics to check out- here's the house with the boxes everywhere and then here our Bob and Angelo- the packers. They were awesome- they even did me a favor and brought the washer and dryers up the stairs!