Almost there.

There must be rules. And when you make the rules it is usually a good idea to follow. them. We bought a map outline and placed it on the side of the RV. It comes with stickers you can use to fill in the outline. There are rules for when you can get a sticker. The RV must be in the state, we can't just go and stay the night in a hotel. The entire family must be there, I can't get the sticker if I go on ahead. It must be an overnight stay, no drive through. We were driving along the Columbia River Gorge (amazing BTW) on the Oregon side and decided to press on instead of stopping in Stanfield OR as originally planned. The whole time driving we could look over the river and see Washington. Just after the John Day dam we saw a bridge with an RV park beside it. So we crossed the bridge into Washington and stopped. Since I will be working in Washington and we will be exploring the state pretty extensively I figured we had to get the sticker. We also got to go visit a Stonehenge replica while we were at it. Today, on to our final destination.

Serendipity

We planned on going to Craters of the Moon and we did. On the way we saw a sign for Shoshone Falls and thought if might sound interesting. Maybe we will stop on our way back through. Kept going, got to Craters and found it mostly closed. Still had fun playing in the snow. Debated for a while about going home a different route. Decided to go back the way we came. Might be quicker.

Got to the turn where we could either go home or go see the falls. The dog had been in the trailer alone for 8 hours. Decided to go ahead and drive through. Waterfalls are usually cool. Then we get to this bridge, Perrine Bridge spanning an incredible canyon. Got out and explored for a bit then headed out to the falls. It was awesome. How many times did we have the opportunity to make a decision that would have kept us from seeing this place? Yet we found it. These happy little accidents are when we usually find the coolest places. Twin Falls Idaho gets a big thumbs up. I hope we can return here again and take more time to explore.

Out of Utah

Got some snow tonight. Was a first for Sarah and the kids. First time they ever woke up to see everything covered in a blanket of snow. I think Sarah was as excited as the kids though it was hard to tell when Michael woke up at 0630 and wiped the condensation off the window.

Pretty exciting stuff. Snow angels, snowball fights and even a couple of modest snowmen. Everyone had a good time and Daddy got to figure out how to get ice, snow and slush off of the RV enough to pack it up and go. Had to get on the roof to sweep the snow and slush off the slide topper awnings so they would slide in. Slippery but no incidents.

Driving through Utah is amazing. Every time I have ever driven through Utah I have been stunned at how beautiful it is. Thing is, I never heard anyone talk about the scenery in Utah. It was always Colorado, Northern California and even Arizona or New Mexico. Hard to beat Northern Utah. Oh yeah, turns out I am not a big fan of Southern Wyoming. Too windy. Leads to RV repairs.

Long journey halfway through.

Man, this can be tiring. And trying.
driving out of North Platte we started encountering high winds. Turns out it was 40 mph with gusts exceeding 55mph. There were flashing signs at the side of the road advising no light trailers. Makes you question if 12k lbs can be considered light. I think it is. We slowed to 45-50 and kept plugging. Finally made it in to Laramie after stopping at a truck park for an hour or so waiting out what we hoped was the worst of the wind.

The KOA in Laramie offered no protection from the wind. We slept in the kids room with all the slides in because our slide topper awnings were acting as sails and tipping the RV as well as the wear and tear on the toppers. Next day was better. still windy but not ARRRRRRGGGHHHH windy. We explored Laramie and went to the University of Wyoming campus to see some dinosaur fossils then hit the planetarium later Max couldn't sit through the show so I waited outside with him until it was finished. That night Michael and I went out and found some of the constellations they displayed in the planetarium. Kind of neat. More later as time permits. This travel thing is busy.

Back on the road

So we are back to traveling again. Feels good. There is a rhythm to traveling like this that we are still trying to find. Took longer than we hoped to get on the road this morning. Longer than we hoped but about as long as we expected. It is coming back slowly but surely. Crazy, after everything that has happened, that we can still do this. That we can still live like this.

It was again hard to leave family and hard to leave my new friends from work. Harder still because I was there longer and they were all so nice to me. Harder because there for a while we were pretty convinced this whole traveling circus lifestyle was over.

So, we are back on the road. Trying to figure out how to do this again. The window stays the same but the view changes.

Next destination

Got the next contract signed and ready. Headed to Vancouver Washington for 13 weeks. Maybe I'll start updating the blog regularly again. The trip to Houston hasn't particularly been anything I wanted to tell the world about.

Vancouver looks nice. Can't wait to get on the road. The trip alone will be more adventure and excitement (the good kind we hope) than we had in all of our stay here in Houston. I enjoyed working with the fine people of Houston Northwest Medical Center and will miss them. But...it is time to go.

A lesson in customer service.

There was a change in plans.

Instead of whisking away to the American Southwest for our next stop we stayed in Houston to deal with some oncological OB/GYN problems. This has been yet another trip through the healthcare system from the patient's perspective. This is almost always highly educational. This time is no exception.

We sat with contract in hand preparing to sign when the phone rang. It was Sarah's OB saying some blood tests had come back elevated and that cyst looked different and he thought it should just come out. So, we scheduled the surgery for two days later. YAY expediency! Still, probably not wise to commit to a contract a few states away until we had more info. Surgery day, the doctor comes out of surgery and informs me that he found some things he didn't like and it was either endometriosis (prognosis - irritating but not a big deal.) or carcinomatosis (prognosis - 18 - 24 months to live with multiple invasive and quality of life reducing surgeries to get you that far) He would know for sure by next week. Oh yeah, did I mention that this was on the LAST DAY of my contract here? Yeah, no stress. Luckily, my contacted hospital was willing to renew my contract for 10 more weeks while we sorted this out. This was a long ugly weekend. Customer service in healthcare lesson #1 "Don't tell someone they might have a horrible fatal disease unless you KNOW they do." Now, I see where this one can't be a hard and fast rule. I think he really believed that it was carcinomatosis. He wanted to prepare us for the worst.

Then we found out about a specialty in medicine. There are such things as Oncology OB/GYN surgeons. Turns out there are doctors who do nothing but deal with cancers of female reproductive organs. Now we had to deal with this guy.

Turns out our lesson from the regular OB doctor was but a minor quibble. That, is for the next post.